Ray and Milo are based on two real life male penguins who fell in love at the New York Central Park Zoo. They fathered an orphaned egg together- and are our heros and inspiration for the adventures of Ray, Milo and Mango! You can read about the background story by clicking on these links.
MORE ABOUT THIS SITE... GAY PENGUINS IN THE NEWS... |
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About the Author: |
RayLovesMilo.com is the Brainchild of Mark Hollenstein. A former church Pastor, pre school-teacher, and summer camp director, Mark has been creating activities and teaching materials for children and parents for over 20 years. Moved by a ballad he heard sung about two male penguins in love, Mark immediately went to work on a series of children's books revolving around his own charters Ray, Milo and Mango inspired by the real life penguins, Roy, Silo and Tango, of the New York Central Park Zoo fame. From the books, came the concept of an online community for LGBT families offering parenting resources featuring images from all the illustrated books in his series. Mark lives in San Francisco and has 3 grown children of his own. When he is not creating “stuff” for kids and parents, he can usually be found teaching a fitness class at the local gym, or hiking in the beautiful, Bay Area National Parks. He loves roller coasters and root beer floats! Contact Mark here: mark@markhollenstein.com |
About the Illustrator: |
Melanie Vowles Jerdon has been in the industry as an artist and illustrator for many years and currently runs her own design business “Sugar Dipped Designs.” Her passion and creativity encouraged her pursuit of a career for which she was uniquely suited and clearly born to. She has continued to hone her innate gifts and fashion her own individual style. Although classic professional instruction and development enriched her skills—she is largely self-taught in the variety of mediums she so adroitly undertakes. Her talents transcend genre and medium and her colorfully expressive work is as refreshing and unique as her constant commitment to excellence. Spending most of her life in California, she is now happily residing in Austin Texas where she runs her business and is a devoted wife and mother to her newborn son and step-daughters. Contact Melanie here: sugardippeddesigns@yahoo.com |