A five-time Lowell Thomas award winner, Peter Mandel is a regular contributor to the travel sections of The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. His books for children are published by Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Hyperion, and Henry Holt, among others, and include two new picture book releases: 'Jackhammer Sam' from Macmillan and 'Zoo Ah-Choooo' from Holiday House. 'Jackhammer Sam' was called "wonderful and overwhelming, rattling and mesmerizing" by Publishers Weekly. "If a new Walt Whitman broke up sidewalks with a jackhammer, this is exactly what his 'Song of Myself' would be," said The Chicago Tribune. 'Zoo Ah-Choooo' is a PBS Reading Rainbow selection. "Lively pen-and-ink and watercolor cartoon illustrations join with the humorous text to tell the tale with panache," said School Library Journal. Published several years ago, 'Bun, Onion, Burger' (Simon & Schuster) was named a Summer 2010 Children's Indie Next pick by the American Booksellers Association. Mandel, who lives in Rhode Island with his wife, Kathy, and cats, Emily and Cecil, has written for Harper's, The Wall Street Journal, Reader's Digest, The International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune. One of his Boston Globe articles won the 2005 Lowell Thomas gold award from SATW for adventure travel article of the year. Stories of his for The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun and The San Diego Union-Tribune won Lowell Thomas awards in 2003, 2006, and 2007. His books have been part of exhibits at The Smithsonian and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and have been translated into Japanese, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish and Danish.