Chris Van Allsburg (1949-) is an American writer and illustrator of children’s books. He attended the College of Architecture and Design at the University of Michigan, majoring in sculpture. During his time at the school, he learned bronze casting, wood carving, and resin molding. After graduating in 1972, he continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a master’s degree in sculpture in 1975.
Van Allsburg set up a sculpture studio on Rhode island after graduation, and worked part-time there, part-time at home. He started writing and illustrating children’s books after his wife told him that his drawings of his ideas had good children’s book potential. H wrote his first book, “The Garden of Abdul Gasazi”, in 1979.
Over the course of his career, Van Allsburg has written and illustrated approximately twenty books. He also illustrated the covers for an edition of C. S. Lewis’s series “The Chronicles of Narnia”, published in 1994. His artwork was featured as well as in three of Mark Helprin’s children’s books.
Van Allsburg’s most famous children’s books include “Jumanji”, published in 1981, and “The Polar Express”, published in 1985. Both of these have won Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, and were both later adapted into successful motion pictures (which he also worked on as a story writer and executive producer respectively).
In 1986, he was a nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award. He also received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Michigan in April 2012.
Wikipedia, Chris Van Allsburg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Van_Allsburg
Chris Van Allsberg interview: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/chris-van-allsburg-interview-transcript/
HMH books: https://hmhbooks.com/chrisvanallsburg/