‘Few stars in the firmament of children’s books have risen so meteorically as Chris Van Allsburg’

Publishers Weekly

Chris Van Allsburg was born in 1949 and grew up in Grand Rapis. He began his university life studying law but the changed to major in fine arts and then went onto receive an M.F.A in sculpture from the Rhode Island school of Design. 

Walter Lorraine, Director of the Children’s’ Book department saw his potential to create children’s books and Chris went onto write and illustrate The Garden of Abdul Gasazi using a remarkable 140 carbon pencils! 

He has had two one man shows at the Alan Stone Gallery and his work has been shown in the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. 

Van Allsburg has won the prestigious Caldecott Medal twice, for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi in 1980 and for Jumanji in 1981.  Chris Van Allsburg’s picture book

The Polar Express was made into a feature film in December 2004 by Warner Bros and stars the Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks. The DVD was released in December 2005.