Joe Cepeda Joe Cepeda is an award-winning illustrator of more than thirty-five books for children. He has illustrated books written by numerous notable authors, including Gary Soto, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Arnold Adoff, Monica Brown, Julius Lester, and Toni Morrison. Joe is the author-illustrator of Rafa Counts on Pápa and several early readers from the I Like to Read series, including Up, I Dig, I See, and I Hop. He received his B.F.A. in illustration from California State University, Long Beach, and served as the president of the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles for over a decade. Joe lives in Southern California.