Donna & Carl TenBrink | Sonos Product Development
Meet The Author of Prehistoric Pals: Donna TenBrink
Donna TenBrink was born in New Jersey and moved to California as a teenager. She attended California State University Fullerton where she earned a master’s degree in Communicative Disorders. Donna has worked as a Speech Language Pathologist in public schools treating students with mild to severe communication impairments and delays. She cherishes being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend. Educators in a school setting are challenged and amazed by the uniqueness of each student they encounter. Children enter the classroom with their own set of strengths and weaknesses which allow them to either excel somewhat effortlessly or struggle quite painfully. Donna was inspired to reflect on these experiences and develop stories for the adorable dinosaur-vehicle characters who come alive as they face predicaments and learn to work together.
Upon retirement, Donna jumped on board with her husband, Carl the imagineer and kid at heart, to develop stories and toys that come alive with Prehistoric Pals. She knows you will enjoy the characters, the artwork, and meaningful stories teaching teamwork, kindness, and perseverance.
Meet The Founder, Illustrator, and Logo Designer of Prehistoric Pals: Carl TenBrink
The man that does it all! Carl TenBrink has been creating toys, games, a variety of consumer products, and other inventions most of his life. After college and a year of studying at the University of Barcelona and the Escuela Massana art school in Barcelona, Spain, Carl founded Sonos Product Development.
Sonos Product Development began out of a rented garage during the summer of 1983 in Huntington Beach, Southern California’s Surf City. Since then, Sonos Product Development has been immersed in the design revolution of sun-soaked SoCal ever since. Sonos Product Development was there at the beginning of personal computing and brought to life the first portable PCs for Eagle Computers. With this, Sonos also created the concept of, and prototyped, the world’s introduction of ‘Laptop’ computers.
Sonos was chosen from a list of 12 companies to build the first, full size, concept car on the west coast for General Motors Advanced Concepts Center. They provided everything from concept designs through to production solutions in the infancy of laparoscopic surgical devices and have contributed a multitude of products to this emerging field. Sonos Product Development has designed, engineered, prototyped, and produced a wide variety of consumer electronics and medical devices for major manufactures and start-up companies.
Carl and the Sonos Elves have also created Happy Meal Toys for McDonalds and Burger King. They invented mechanisms and sculpted prototypes for thousands of children’s toys for Mattel, Hasbro, Galoob Toys, Fisher Price and dozens of other toy manufacturers. Carl and his team of elves have brought to life toys for movies and retail for Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse, Warner Brothers, Looney Toons, Thomas the Tank Engine, WWE, Hello Kitty, Star Wars, Hot Wheels, and Barbie.
Prehistoric Pals: The Best Dinosaur Toys and Books For Children
The Prehistoric Pals books and toys are the newest creations from the minds of Donna and Carl TenBrink. From Brontie, Gronk, and Bianca, Donna and Carl TenBrink hope to bring more characters to life to become a part of the Prehistoric Pals universe! Thank you for being a part of the journey! We at Prehistoric Pals hope to bring together friendships, families, and more along the way with our stories of teamwork, love, and bravery. Shop Prehistoric Pals toys, books, and clothes to start your own prehistoric journey by bringing the pals home with you today!