Dan Santat (born 1975) is an American author and illustrator known for his children's book '' The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend'', which won the 2015

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Servic ...

for distinguished illustration. He also wrote ''The Guild of Geniuses'' and created the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Comp ...

animated series '' The Replacements''.

Biography

Santat was born in 1975 to Thai immigrants in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

before moving to California when Santat was three.Hsu, Connie. "Dan Santat." The Horn Book Magazine, July-Aug. 2015, p. 55+. Literature Resource Center. Accessed 3 May 2018. After attending high school at

Adolfo Camarillo High School Adolfo Camarillo High School (ACHS) is a public high school in Camarillo, California established 1956. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High School District and serves students in grades 9–12 in east Camarillo, Somis, and the Santa Rosa ...

, Santat graduated from the

University of California at San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

with a bachelor's degree in microbiology. Santat then attended the

Art Center College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred ...

, graduating with distinction. While there he became friends with illustrator Peter Brown. Santat's first children's book, ''The Guild of Geniuses'', was published in 2004 by Arthur A Levine books. He followed that up illustrating the first ''Nanny Piggins'' book written by R. A. Spratt, and the first ''

Otto Undercover The Otto Undercover books are a miniseries of books written by actress Rhea Perlman and illustrated by Dan Santat. They are written in an informal manner and contain illustrations on most pages. The fifth book, ''The Brink of the Ex-Stink-Tion'' ...

'' book series written by

Rhea Perlman Rhea Jo Perlman (born March 31, 1948) is an American actress. She played head-waitress Carla Tortelli in the sitcom ''Cheers'' (1982–1993). Over the course of 11 seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Ac ...

. Since then he has illustrated for other authors, including

Dan Gutman Dan Gutman (born October 19, 1955) is an American writer, primarily of children's fiction. His works include the '' Baseball Card Adventures'' children's book series that began with '' Honus & Me'', and the '' My Weird School'' series. Early li ...

, Barbara Jean Hicks and Anne Isaacs.Jacketflap.com page
/ref> In 2005, Santat created the show '' The Replacements'' for

. Based on a children's book idea he was going to write, the show premiered in July 2006. Santat has spoken of his admiration of those who can do the drawing necessary for animation. He spoke of the challenges of working on ''The Replacements'', "Working creatively with a large corporation and numerous executives was rather frustrating because there was a feeling that there was a process of homogenization to try to appeal to as many kids as possible" and says he prefers the freedom of illustrative styles afforded by book editors. Santat is also a commercial illustrator, with such clients as ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'',

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

, GQ Russia,

Macworld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macin ...

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

, and many others. His work has also appeared at gallery shows - including the ''

I Am 8 Bit iam8bit, Inc. is a media production company, creative policy institute, and art exhibition based in Los Angeles, California. Development iam8bit was originally developed by video game and tech journalist Jon M. Gibson, in the summer of 200 ...

'' art show in 2006, 2007, and 2008.Jacketflap Blog
/ref> In 2010 he turned down the opportunity to create

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

s not wanting to abandon his dream of making children's books. Santat has completed illustrations for over 60 books, 14 of which were published, in 2014 alone. Santat lives in Southern California with his wife Leah, his sons Alek and Kyle, a bird, three dogs, and two cats.

Select bibliography

;Author * ''The Guild of Geniuses'' (2004) * ''Sidekicks'' (2011) * '' The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend'' (2014) * ''Are We There Yet?'' (2016) * ''After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again'' (2017) * ''The Aquanaut'' (2022) ;Illustrator * ''Crankenstein'' (2013) & ''A Crankenstein Valentine'' (2014) written by Samantha Berger * '' Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot'' (2014–2016) (redrawn book series written by

Dav Pilkey David "Dav" Murray Pilkey Jr. (; born March 4, 1966) is an American cartoonist, author, and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known as the author and illustrator of the children's book series, ''Captain Underpants'', and the chil ...

) * ''Drawn Together'' (2018) written by Minh Lê

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Santat, Dan Living people American children's book illustrators American children's writers Showrunners 1975 births Caldecott Medal winners American people of Thai descent American writers