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Dr. Michael Sampson is a Fulbright Scholar and an American children's writer best known for easy-to-read books that feature rhythmic and repetitive language. Sampson's first children's book, The Football That Won, was written solo in 1992 and illustrated by Ted Rand. Later, Sampson wrote 21 books with his best friend and mentor Bill Martin, Jr., including Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 and The Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry. Sampson taught at Texas A&M University–Commerce for 25 years before moving to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. In August 2010 he was selected as Dean of the School of Education at Southern Connecticut State University. In July 2012 he became Dean of the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. In the summer of 2014, he moved to New York City to become Dean of the School of Education at St. John's University. In 2021-2022, he taught at a university in Europe as a Fulbright Scholar. Early life Born in Denison, Texas, to Roy and Ida Faye Sampson, Sampson studied in the Denison public schools until grade three, at which time his family (brothers Bill and Bryan and sister Patsy) moved to Tom Bean, Texas. As early as fourth grade, Sampson dreamed of one day being a writer. By the time he reached fifth grade, he had read every book in the Tom Bean library. He had written a series of books featuring Frank and Joe of The Hardy Boys fame, and even had a poem published in a national magazine. In sixth grade he joined the school's junior high football team, and received the inspiration for a book he would publish 30 years later, The Football That Won. He lived for football and books in grades 6–12. During summers, he worked as a lumberjack in Damariscotta, Maine, building his body strength. As a senior, he was a captain on the Tom Bean Tomcats football team, where he won the school's academic award and was named to the Class B Texas State All Star Team. Education During high school, Michael Sampson worked as a lumberjack in Maine during the summers and as a short order cook at a café in Sherman, Texas, from 5 until 11 P.M. most nights. Despite this, he won a scholarship to East Texas State University, where he earned a degree in 1974 in Political Science with a teaching endorsement. He became a teacher in the Commerce public schools, where he taught grades K-3; 4, and 6. During this time he attended evening classes, earning a Master of Sciences degree in Reading. He left Texas for Arizona in 1977 to enroll in the Ph.D. program at the University of Arizona, where he studied under Roach Van Allan, and Ken and Yetta Goodman. He completed his Ph.D. in Reading in 1980. Academic writing In 1980 Michael Sampson accepted a faculty position at Texas S&M University–Commerce. In 1986 he published his first professional book, The Pursuit of Literacy. Four years later he published the creative, theme-based literature program Experiences with Literacy, which was co-authored by Bill Teale and Roach Van Allen. In 1992, he published his book on the language arts, Pathways to Literacy. The second edition of Pathways to Literacy: Process Transactions was published in 1996 and the third edition, Total Literacy, in 2003. During these years, Sampson was also published in The Reading Teacher and The Reading Research Quarterly. He is currently completing a text book on linguistics named Sounds of Language. Collaboration with Bill Martin Jr Michael Sampson met children's author and educator Bill Martin Jr at a reading conference in Tucson, Arizona in 1978. The two immediately become best friends and collaborators. Sampson began working with Bill Martin and his workshops for teachers that summer. Within five years, the two had built the conferences into the Pathways to Literacy Conference, with sites in 12 American cities. Through the years, over 50,000 teachers had been trained by the two and their staff of outstanding classroom teachers in 30 sites across the United States. In 1992, Martin moved from New York to Texas to build a house beside Sampson on 26 acres (110,000 m2) on the banks of the South Sulphur River. Martin named the land "Woodfrost" as a reflection of his love for Robert Frost and Frost's poetry about the woods. For the next 12 years, Sampson and Martin wrote daily, creating 21 books for children, including award winners: I Pledge Allegiance (illustrated by Chris Raschka) and New York Times best sellers Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? (illustrated by Eric Carle) and Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3, (illustrated by Lois Ehlert). Sampson's book "Spunky Little Monkey" was published by Scholastic in 2017. Michael Sampson and Bill Martin shared a common love of poetry. Speaking of his writing partner, Sampson said: "Poetry allowed him to become a reader – if he could hear it, he could read it. And as a writer, Bill worked with his ear. How his writing sounded was the most important thing. Poetry was his mentor. It inspired and guided him." Their picture book Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are you Waking Up was featured on NBC's Today Show on December 12, 2008 and recommended as a great Christmas gift for young children. The sequel, "Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are you Going to Sleep" was published in March 2011, and the third book in the series, "Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are you Going to School?" was published in August, 2013. His book with Simon & Schuster, Listen to the World, was published in March 2016, and celebrated Bill Martin Jrs 100th birthday. In 2023, Sampson published another collaboration with Bill Martin Jr, Bing! Bang! Chugga! Beep! Later life After ascending to the rank of full professor at Texas A&M University–Commerce, where he was department head and director of the doctoral program, Sampson left for full-time writing and consulting in 2004. He used this time to do author visits across the United States and countries in South America and Eastern and Western Europe, including Italy, Great Britain, Germany and Ukraine. Many of these trips were made to military bases to entertain children of troops involved in the Middle Eastern wars. In 2007, Sampson returned to academia to teach writing and research at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. In 2010 Sampson became Dean of the School of Education at Southern Connecticut State University. In July 2012, he became dean of the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. Since 2014, he has lived and worked at St. John's University in New York City. He continues to speak at schools, book festivals, and teacher conferences. In the spring of 2020, Sampson was named by the US Department of State as a Fulbright Scholar to Ukraine for 2021. His assignment was delayed by covid until Fall 2021, where he taught at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University and Alfred Nobel University. He was evacuated from Ukraine due to the Russian invasion in Feb 2022 to Warsaw, where he continued to support Ukraine through his writings Awards ALA Notable Children's B.... Discover the Olivier Dunrea popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Olivier Dunrea books.