Crockett Johnson - American author and illustrator, 1906-1975 Crockett Johnson Best known as the creator of Harold and the "Purple Crayon Books” and as illustrator of Ruth Krauss’s The Carrot Seed, Crockett Johnson was a cartoonist whose simplest, sparest, and boldest outlines produced unforgettable, gently humorous, and always endearing caricatures
James Fenimore Cooper - American author, 1789-1851 James Fenimore Cooper An anecdote about James Fenimore Cooper tells us that while he was reading a British novel one evening, he threw the book down in disgust, saying he could write a better story. Responding to his wife’s challenge to do so,
Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky - Russian illustrator, 1891-1970 Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky About his youth, the Russian-born Feodor Rojankovsky remarked: “Two great events determined the course of my childhood, I was taken to the zoo and saw the most marvelous creatures on earth: bears, tigers, monkeys and reindeer; and, while my admiration
Arthur Burdett Frost - American comic artist and illustrator, 1851-1928 Arthur Burdett Frost In the golden age of American illustration (1880-1915), Arthur Burdett Frost was one of the stars of a distinguished company and, like his fellow luminary and close friend Howard Pyle, equally an adults’ and a children’s illustrator.
Philip Pullman - British novelist and playwright, b. 1946 Philip Pullman With the publication of The Ruby in the Smoke in England in 1985 (1987 in the United States), Philip Pullman, a former schoolteacher raised in Rhodesia, Australia, London, and Wales, launched his career as a writer of young adult
George MacDonald - Scottish author, 1824-1905 George MacDonald Experts in children’s literature consider George MacDonald’s fantasies both enlightening and entertaining. Children often think they are just plain fun. Fantasy writers have often turned to his books for inspiration. Whatever the audience, one thing is certain: The author’s stories contain highly