Nancy L. Clouse is a local Michigan artist, teacher, and children’s book illustrator and author. She has illustrated four different children’s books, including Puzzle Maps U.S.A. and Pink Paper Swans.

She also illustrated Sebgugugu the Glutton: A Bantu Tale from Rwanda, a children’s book written by Verna Aardema, also from Michigan. The story is about Sebgugugu, who lives in a hut with his wife and their two children. They only own one cow, but Sebgugugu wants many more things, so he begs Imana, the Lord of Rwanda, to help his family. While Imana does help Sebgugugu with delicious food, he is not satisfied and continues to ask of things from Imana. In the end, Sebgugugu must learn hard lessons about greed and ingratitude.

For the illustrations, Clouse chose to use a cut-paper collage technique. The images are full of the colors and textures of Rwanda. The GVSU Art Museum has the original cut-paper illustrations from the books in its collection.

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