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Cassandra Berger

@cassandradraws

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Kids media 🎨
THE LITTLE POLKA DOT out now!📕
@tenspeedyoungreaders
Character Design 👩‍🏫 at Pratt Institute 🏫
Principal artist for Laurie Berkner 🎵

POSTS STORIES REELS

I noticed my last “hello this is who I am” post was from a few years ago so I am due for a fresh one!

👋 My name is Cassandra, I live in New York with one husband named Nick, one poodle named Maggie Magpie, two little kids named after little birds, and a handful of fish with a wild assortment of names.

I’ve had a long career as an artist in the kids media world including working on tv shows (The Wonder Pets! anyone?) and designing album covers and music video art for the kids music icon Laurie Berkner. I also teach Character Design at Pratt Institute.

My latest and greatest is that I’m now an author/illustrator. My debut picture book THE LITTLE POLKA DOT comes out in Fall 2026 with @tenspeedyoungreaders and my second book is coming out in 2027!   In my free time I make pottery in my basement studio and draw funny comics (and wistful poems) about motherhood.

My instagram page is not strictly curated. If you’re only looking for one thing, you’ll probably get bored of me quickly.

I’m passionate about freedom from g*n viol3nce and sell stickers to raise money for groups working to end g*n viol3nce (sorry, the algorithm hates those words). Check out my Etsy shop in the links up top to snag some and help the cause!

Thanks for stopping by this little corner of the internet and I’m so happy you’re here 👋 🏳️‍🌈 👩🏻‍🎨 📖 ✏️ 🌟 by @cassandradraws

🟡🟡COVER REVEAL🟡🟣🟡

What happens when a polka dot leaves the polka dot pattern to become itself?

Meet THE LITTLE POLKA DOT my debut picture book about being true to yourself and finding the courage to discover who you really are 🌟

Filled with bright colors, funny surprises, and lots of heart, this story is for kids who march to the beat of their own drum – and anyone who could use a cheerful reminder to be themselves. 🌈 ✨

Coming October 6, 2026 🍁
Available for preorder NOW -link in bio! 🔗 by @cassandradraws

I know, how annoying of me to post two announcements of the same thing less than a week apart? But man I’ve been waiting for this coveted Children’s Bookshelf one for so long, I can’t even explain the thrill of opening the newsletter and seeing my face. I’m so proud of this book. I can’t wait to share more!
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#childrensbookshelf #childrensbook #picturebook #polkadot #illustration #kidlitart #artistsoninstagram #tenspeed #tenspeedyoungreaders by @cassandradraws

So sorry for the mouth sounds I’m just too excited, and too petty 🔵💙🔵💙#westchester by @cassandradraws

THE LITTLE POLKA DOT
By Cassandra Berger @cassandradraws

A pattern of polka dots did everything together. Everyone was happy, “except for Little Polka” who couldn’t keep up and felt he didn’t belong. He decided to go off on his own. This opened many possibilities: “‘. . . if I could do anything, BE anything, what would I be?’” he pondered. He thought about what made him happiest—what made him . . . him. Suddenly, he grew an appendage! Then . . . Pop! Pop! Pop, pop, pop! He grew more! They were yellow petals! And suddenly he “felt just right.”

The other polka dots tried it too. With a Pop! Pop pop pop . . . Each dot became wondrously, uniquely themselves!

Cassandra Berger’s sweet story offering thoughtful and uncomplicated assurance about finding and being yourself will make readers smile—and get talking—every time it’s read. The confidence and bravery of Berger’s little hero, who bucks ever-changing popular trends to discover what makes him truly happy, is applicable in so many situations from small friend groups to classrooms to the crushing conformity of social media. Berger’s storytelling is charmingly straightforward as Little Polka Dot asks himself the big questions of life and later leads his fellow polka dots to the secret to happiness.

Underlying Berger’s deceptively simple illustrations are complex questions about the nature of individuality, personality, and independent thought. The story begins with several two-page spreads crowded with nearly identical polka dots, while outlier Little Polka Dot is pushed to the margins. Once Little Polka Dot decides to leave the pattern, however, he appears alone in the center of a completely white page—an image that feels like an oasis of calm amid cacophany. The following pages also suggest the idea of giving kids space and time to think about themselves and the lives they want to lead. When Little Polka is reunited with the others, readers will enthusiastically watch them change and become who they’re meant to be too.

Ten Speed Young Readers @tenspeedyoungreaders 2026
ISBN 978-0593839065

For full review + Activities, click link in bio.

#picturebook #kidsbooks #childrensbooks #readaloud #kidsbookstagram by @cassandradraws

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, The Little Polka Dot style!! 🎃👻

Halloween is the best holiday of the year, it was super fun turning these polka dots from my book into Halloween themed things!

#tenspeedyoungreaders #kidlitillustration #halloween #thelittlepolkadot #picturebook by @cassandradraws

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, The Little Polka Dot style!! 🎃👻instagram loves a video so here’s a video hahah💀

Swipe for the real deal. 👀

Halloween is the best holiday of the year, it was super fun turning these polka dots from my book into Halloween themed things! Which one is your fave? 💛

#tenspeedyoungreaders #kidlitillustration #halloween #thelittlepolkadot #picturebook by @cassandradraws

My next 🟣THE LITTLE POLKA DOT🟡 story time will be at @mtpleasantlib in Pleasantville, NY at 10:30-11am on October 30th! Books will be available for sale from the awesome @scatteredbooks! 📕 🌈

Registration required, the link is in my bio or you can use the QR code. Pass it along! 💛 it’s gonna be so much fun!!
#northwestchestermoms #librarystorytime #westchester #thelittlepolkadot by @cassandradraws

I had a great story time at @watchungbooksellers this afternoon! 🟣🟡 The kids were super engaged and it was just so much fun sharing my new book THE LITTLE POLKA DOT with them. Here’s a fun sped up version of some of the drawing time we do after I finish reading the book.
It’s so fun, I could keep going forever! 🟡🟣

Thank you to everyone who came! ❤️

Thank you for having me @watchungbooksellers 💛 @tenspeedyoungreaders

#kidlit #picturebook #storytime #tenspeedyoungreaders authorlife by @cassandradraws

El pequeño lunarcito no conseguía seguir el ritmo de los demás y empezó a preguntarse si aquel era realmente su lugar.

En vez de rendirse, decidió detenerse y hacerse una pregunta: ¿Qué me hace sonreír? ¿Qué me hace feliz? ¿Qué es lo que me hace ser más yo?

Porque la pregunta adecuada puede transformar más que cualquier respuesta.

Una transformación sin discursos, que contagia sin que nadie señale el camino.

Las mayúsculas, el espacio en blanco, el ritmo entrecortado de los ¡POP!, el color cada vez más vibrante, las formas sorprendentes e inesperadas, la invitación a atreverse y seguir el propio instinto.

#cassandradraws #cassandradraws #childrenbook #albumilustradoparaniños #albumilustrado #childrenbooks #albuminfantil #childrenbooks #librosrecomendados #albumilustrado #albumprimerasedades by @cassandradraws

Attention parents, teachers, and librarians! 🚨 the story in THE LITTLE POLKA DOT picture book naturally lends itself to conversations and activities beyond the book. 🎨

Great news, I have a set of activity sheets ready to go! You can find the PDF on my website (link in bio).

Tag me so I can see the awesome creations your little ones make! (Honestly they’re fun for adults too, so go nuts💛)
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#thelittlepolkadot #kidlitart #activitysheets #momlife #picturebook by @cassandradraws

My next story time event for THE LITTLE POLKA DOT is 2pm next Sunday October 18th at @watchungbooksellers in Montclair, NJ! 🟡🟡🟣🟡

I hope to see you there, it’s going to be so much fun!

Also, if you buy a book or get a book signed, I’ll slip you one of these awesome sticker sheets! 🦀 🍳 🍪 🥒 🍊 now THAT is incentive.

Register at the link in my bio, or via the QR code, OR look it up on Watchung’s website in the event section. The choice is yours! 🌟
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#storytime #watchungbooksellers #thelittlepolkadot #tenspeedyoungreaders by @cassandradraws