About the Author & Illustrator

Jodi Scheve graduated from Purdue University in 2003 with a BS, majoring in Management and minoring in Management Information Systems and Human Resources.  You may be asking yourself, "How did she get her start writing children's books with her business background?"  She grew up with a love for learning.  

In 2010, her first son, Richie was born.  Jodi couldn't find a good book that taught the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet when her son was three years old.  She wanted to teach Richie the alphabet, so she could begin teaching him how to read.  During her morning run on the treadmill, she saw a news story about cows.  The combination of cows and ABC's motivated her to create her first picture book in 2013, "The Cow Jumped Over the ABC's."  It teaches children the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet by following the journey of the cow jumping over the ABC's.  With her success on her first book, she continued to teach educational concepts through more picture books, including counting to one hundred, shapes and colors, and important concepts about differences, attitudes and bullying.  

Jodi's books give a fun twist to learning.  She is married to Rich, and they have two boys, Richie and Jude.  Her hobbies include traveling, running, family time and reading.  Most of her book ideas are inspired by her travels and daily runs that she prefers completing outside, rain or shine.  Her family of four have been fortunate to travel to seventy-one countries and visit the seven New Wonders of the World.  Exploring archeological sites, experiencing a country's culture and respecting how people live differently around the world continue to influence her writing.  

In her new Early Reader Chapter Book Series, "The Adventures of Mr. Prickleypants," she was inspired by Jude's hedgehog and their Northern European summer trip of 2024.  Just before they left on their vacation, Jude had just purchased a real African Pygmy hedgehog as a pet whom he named Mr. Prickleypants.  While visiting Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden and Finland, they kept noticing hedgehog souvenirs everywhere they looked.  Then, during her morning run in the forest in Vilnius, Lithuania, she spotted a real European hedgehog on the trail.  The locals told her that it was extremely rare to see a real hedgehog in the wild and that she was very fortunate to have seen one.  This inspired Jodi to begin writing the Prickleypants Series.  Children can learn fun facts about different countries and invaluable life lessons in this ten book set.  Jodi will continue to write creative stories that are exciting because she is passionate about teaching children in this way. 

Rich Scheve graduated from Purdue University in 2003 with a BA, majoring in Psychology and minoring in English, Religious Studies and Philosophy.  Again you may be questioning, "How did he get into illustrating his wife's children's books for the Mr. Prickleypants Series?"  During his school years, Rich always loved dabbling in art.

After reading the first book in the series, "Mr. Prickleypants Goes to Northern Europe," he was moved to pick up his pencil and sketch pad that evening.  Rich was reminded how much he enjoyed art, not only did it give him a creative outlet, but he found it peaceful and relaxing.  After many pencil sketch attempts, he finally became satisfied with the character drawing he created for Mr. Prickleypants, capturing his personality perfectly.  

Jodi was impressed with Rich's artwork and she said, "Maybe we could be a team, like Jan and Stan Berenstain?"  Rich thought this sounded like a terrific idea.  He would be able to use his hidden talent, and his imagination could run wild.  Creating the illustrations for the Mr. Prickleypants Series has been rewarding for Rich.  The visuals he has created for the Prickleypants Series add heart and emotion to each story.