Chris Van Allsburg
Chris Van Allsburg
Chris Van Allsburgis an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He has won two Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, for Jumanjiand The Polar Express, both of which he also wrote; both were later adapted as successful motion pictures. He was also a Caldecott runner-up in 1980 for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. For his contribution as a children's illustrator he was 1986 U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition for...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth18 June 1949
CountryUnited States of America
I've always thought of the book as a visual art form, and it should represent a single artistic idea, which it does if you write your own material.
The Polar Express was the easiest of my picture book manuscripts to write... Once I realized the train was going to the North Pole, finding the story seemed less like a creative effort than an act of recollection. I felt, like the storys narrator, that I was remembering something, not making it up.
At first, I see pictures of a story in my mind. Then creating the story comes from asking questions of myself. I guess you might call it the 'what if - what then' approach to writing and illustration.
I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write.
I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head
The theory of isolation of certain tasks in certain hemispheres of the brain suggests I shouldn't even be able to speak, never mind write.
I think parents generally know what's best for their children. But I suppose it's possible to be overprotective.
I think, for the most part, our culture embraces that artists are born, not made.
It did occur to me that certainly African-Americans are not underserved in picture books, but those books are almost all about specifically black experiences.
Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic.
I believe that there will be many things that happen to me in my life that I will not be able to explain. Some of those might be magic. I'm not sure.
Peter Rabbit's not a rabbit. Peter Rabbit is a proxy for the child who reads the book, and they imagine themselves in the rabbit's position.
I'm always a bit disappointed when I've finished working on a book.
What kids are exposed to on television is more frightening and horrifying than what they see in my books.