Believe this local Kiddie-Lit guy when I say that there is no children’s magazine as prestigious as Cricket. It is the goal of many authors and illustrators to appear in it. So I was mightily impressed when children’s book creator and UW-Eau Claire Associate Professor Ned Gannon published not one, but five illustrations for a story in the October issue of Cricket. Ned connected with Cricket’s Senior Art Director Karen Kohn at a writers/illustrators conference in Madison last year. She contacted Ned a month later and sent the story and contract. Ned took on the story – Cowgirl Morning by Bryn Fleming, a story of a ranch girl and buffaloes – partly because of fond family memories of the Dakotas. The accompanying illustrations are rendered in ink and acrylic, Ned’s family-friendly medium these days. The L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library subscribes to Cricket for those wishing to read the story and view all five pictures. Ned’s other artwork can be found on his website NedGannon.com. Cricket’s website is  www.cricketmagkids.com.