Jon Klassen

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Jon Klassen
Born 1981
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Occupation Illustrator, Author
Nationality Canadian
Period 2006–present
Genres Children's picture books, animation
Notable work(s)
  • Cats' Night Out  (illus.)
  • I Want My Hat Back
  • This Is Not My Hat
Notable award(s) Governor General's Award
2010
Caldecott Medal
2013

Jon Klassen is a Canadian writer and illustrator of children's books and an animator. He won the 2013 Caldecott Medal for illustration, recognizing This Is Not My Hat, which he also wrote.[1][2] He is also well known for his 2011 picture book "I Want My Hat Back."

Personal life

Klassen was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1981 and grew up in Niagara Falls and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[3][4] He studied animation[5] at Sheridan College, graduated in 2005,[6] and moved to Los Angeles. In 2006, he made an animated short with Dan Rodriques, An Eye for Annai.[7][8] He worked on the animation for Kung Fu Panda[9] and Coraline[10] and he was art director for the animated music video of I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" by U2.[11][12]

Career

In 2010, Klassen illustrated Maryrose Wood's The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling,[13] and achieved international recognition when he was awarded the Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration for illustrating Carolyn Stutson's Cats' Night Out.[14]

His 2011 book I Want My Hat Back, in which a bear who is looking for his hat eats the rabbit (off-page) who stole it,[15] was selected among the "10 Best Illustrated Children's Books for 2011" by The New York Times.[16] The book was published in September by Candlewick Press.[17] Klassen said of the ending, which has been called a "subversive risk," that "there was no other way for it to end." It achieved considerable commercial success, and even became an internet meme when people started "posting their own versions of the story."[10] In a review in The New York Times, Pamela Paul praised the book: "it is a wonderful and astonishing thing, the kind of book that makes child laugh and adult chuckle, and both smile in appreciation....[it is] a charmingly wicked little book and the debut of a promising writer-illustrator talent."[18] According to the Chicago Tribune, "the joy of this book lies in figuring out the explicit plot from the implicit details in the pictures."[19] There has been, however, some discussion about the book's ending, whether it is appropriate in a children's book that one character kills another without repercussion.[20]

Klassen won the Caldecott Medal for This is Not My Hat, published by Candlewick Press in 2012, which both wrote and illustrated. The annual award by professional librarians recognizes the illustrator of the previous year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". The story features a little fish who steals and wears the hat of a big fish. According to the award committee, "With minute changes in eyes and the slightest displacement of seagrass, Klassen's masterful illustrations tell the story the narrator doesn't know." Unusually, that year Klassen was one of five recipients of a Caldecott Honor, as the illustrator of Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett.[1][2]

Klassen illustrated The Dark written by Lemony Snicket published in 2013.

Selected publications

  • Cats' Night Out, 20??, by Carolyn Stutson, illus. Klassen
  • The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: the mysterious howling, 2010, by Maryrose Wood, illus. Klassen
  • I Want My Hat Back, 2011, Candlewick Press, ISBN 9780763655983
  • This Is Not My Hat, 2012, Candlewick Press, ISBN 9780763655990

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938–Present". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). American Library Association (ALA).
      "The Randolph Caldecott Medal". ALSC. ALA. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Newbery – Katherine Applegate, Jon Klassen win Newbery, Caldecott Medals". ALA Press Release. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "Jon Klassen". Compton's by Britannica. Britannica Online for Kids. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013. 
  4. ↑ "Canadian writer Jon Klassen wins U.S. children's book prize". CBC News. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013. 
  5. ↑ Williams, Nate. "Interview with Jon Klassen". Illustrationmundo.com. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  6. ↑ "Jon Klassen: Bringing Stories to Life". Sheridan College. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  7. ↑ "Vu sur le www : Des canards, un œil, etc.". Ecrans. 4 August 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  8. ↑ "Child's Play". The Washington Post. 1 July 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  9. ↑ "A Sarmede Jon Klassen: illustratore di Kung Fu Panda". JulieNews.it. 4 August 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Flinn, Sue Carter (19 December 2011). "Canadian illustrator Jon Klassen finds success with I Want My Hat Back". Quill & Quire. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  11. ↑ "Irish Animator David O'Reilly Directs Latest U2 Video". Irish Film and Television Network. 24 July 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  12. ↑ Sims, James (23 July 2009). "Sofa Snark: U2 Goes 'Crazy' For Animation". Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  13. ↑ Just, Julie (11 April 2010). "Children's Books; Bookshelf". The New York Times. p. 15. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  14. ↑ Wyatt, Nelson (17 November 2009). "GG Literary Award winners 'stunned,' 'overwhelmed'". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  15. ↑ Bird, Elizabeth (28 May 2011). "Review of the Day: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen « A Fuse #8 Production". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  16. ↑ Paul, Pamela (3 November 2011). "The 2011 Best Illustrated Children's Books". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  17. ↑ Liu, Jonathan (20 September 2011). "Picture (Book) Perfect: I Want My Hat Back". Wired.com. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  18. ↑ Paul, Pamela (13 October 2011). "Children's Books; Not Just Another Bear Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  19. ↑ Russell, Mary Harris. "'I Want My Hat Back' by Jon Klassen". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 
  20. ↑ Leavitt, Josie (September 2011). "Should the Bear Eat the Rabbit?". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2 January 2012. 

External links

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