The child of Holocaust survivors, Martin Lemelman was raised in back of a Brooklyn candy store. His graphic memoir, Two Cents Plain: My Brooklyn Boyhood is about that experience. It was selected as one of the Best Memoirs of the Year by Kirkus Reviews. His graphic memoir, Mendel’s Daughter is the story of Jewish family life in Poland in the 1930’s and his mother’s miraculous survival in the Holocaust. The book was an Austin Chronicle pick for Best Books of 2006 and was a New York Public Library Selection- “Books For The Teen Age 2007” and the book has been published in the UK, France, Spain and Poland.. He has been a freelance illustrator since 1976 with over 30 children's books for such clients as McGraw/Hill, Children's Television Workshop, Scholastic, Crayola and the Jewish Publication Society, among others. Lemelman is retired from the Communication Design Department at Kutztown University where he was a Professor. He is currently working on a graphic novel based on two U.S. Civil War diaries.