Chris Barton is an American author of children's books. His books has been included on numerous lists citing the best children's books of the year.

Biography

Barton grew up in

Sulphur Springs, Texas Sulphur Springs is a city in and the county seat of Hopkins County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 15,449. Sulphur Springs is located along the western edge of Northeast Texas. History Sulphur Springs was named ...

, with his parents and older brother, though his father died when Barton was eight years old. Both of his parents, as well as his mother's parents had also grown up in Sulphur Springs. In 1993, he graduated from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

(UT) with a degree in history. During his time at UT, he wrote for ''

The Daily Texan ''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States, with a daily circulation of roughly 12,000 during the fall and spring semesters, and it is among t ...

''. In 2014, Barton pitched the idea of the Modern First Library (MFL) to

BookPeople BookPeople is an independent bookstore in Austin, Texas, and the largest bookstore in the state of Texas. It was founded in 1970 and has been voted the best bookstore by the Austin Chronicle every year since 1995 . BookPeople was voted ''Publis ...

, an independent bookstore in Austin, which they followed up on. MFL "builds on book shoppers' inclination to buy a kid a "classic" picture book and leads them to also buy a new picture book that's more reflective of the modern, diverse society that those kids are growing up in." Barton currently lives in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

with his wife,

Jennifer Ziegler Jennifer Ziegler is an American writer and faculty member at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Biography Ziegler was raised in Texas and is of Mexican-American heritage. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Journalism in ma ...

. Together, they have four adult children.

Awards and honors

Eight of Barton's books are

Junior Library Guild Junior Library Guild, formerly the Junior Literary Guild, is a commercial book club devoted to juvenile literature. It was created in 1929 as one of the enterprises of the Literary Guild, an adult book club created in 1927 by Samuel W. Craig and H ...

selections: ''Shark vs. Train'' (2010), ''Can I See Your I.D.?'' (2011), ''That's Not Bunny!'' (2016), ''Whoosh!'' English and Spanish editions (2016/2019), ''Dazzle Ships'' (2017), ''All of a Sudden and Forever'' (2020), and ''How to Make a Book'' (2021). Barton's books have frequently landed on lists of the year's best books. In 2009, ''The Day Glo Brothers'' was named one of the best children's books of the year by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'', and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

''. ''Shark vs. Train'' was a ''New York Times'' bestseller. Barnes & Noble, '' Kirkus Reviews'', ''

Parents A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...

'', ''

'', and ''

'' named it one of the best children's books of 2010. In 2011,

Bank Street College of Education Bank Street College of Education is a private school and graduate school in New York City. It consists of a graduate-only teacher training college and an independent nursery-through-8th-grade school. In 2020 the graduate school had about 65 full ...

named it one of the best books for children ages five to nine. In 2016, ''Whoosh!'' was named one of the best picture books of the year by the

American Booksellers Association The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a non-profit trade association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States. ABA's core members are key participants in their communities' local economy and culture, and to ...

, Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature, and '' Kirkus Reviews''. The

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...

and the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

named it one of the year's best informational books for children. In 2017, Bank Street College of Education included ''88 Instruments'' and ''Whoosh!'' in their list of the best books of the year for children ages five to nine. They stated ''Whoosh!'' is a book of "outstanding merit." The

National Science Teaching Association The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), founded in 1944 (as the National Science Teachers Association) and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is an association of science teachers in the United States and is the largest organization ...

included ''Whoosh!'' on their list of the best STEM books of the year. The same year, the

named ''Dazzle Ships'' one of the year's best informational books for younger readers, and the

included it on their list of the best books of the year for kids. In 2018, ''What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?'' was named one of the best children's books of the year by '' Kirkus Reviews'', and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

's Graduate School of Education. The following year, the Bank Street College of Education ranked it as a book of outstanding merit, and ''Booklist'' included it on their "Top 10 Biographies for Youth" list. In 2022, ''

'' named ''Moving Forward'' one of the best nonfiction children's books of year.

Publications

Anthology contributions

* "Go to College After High School" in ''Break These Rules'', edited by Luke Reynolds (2013) * “Two-a-Days” in ''One Death, Nine Stories'', edited by

Marc Aronson Marc Henry Aronson (born October 19, 1950) is an American writer, editor, publisher, speaker, and historian. He has written history and biography nonfiction books for children and young adults, as well as nonfiction books for adults about teenage ...

and Charles R. Smith Jr. (2014) * "What Will You Do with a Gift Like Yours?" in ''Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep'', edited by

Melissa Stewart Melissa Stewart is an American author of science-related children's books, who has published over 200 books. Early life and education Stewart grew up in Massachusetts and attended Hampshire Regional High School. She received a Bachelor's degre ...

(2020)

Fiction

Standalone books

* ''Shark vs. Train'', illustrated by

Tom Lichtenheld Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

(2010) * ''88 Instruments'', illustrated by Louis Thomas (2016) * ''That's Not Bunny!'', illustrated by

Colin Jack The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district co ...

(2016) * ''Book or Bell?'', illustrated by

Ashley Spires Ashley Spires is a Canadian children's book author and illustrator. She is the creator of the ''Binky the Space Cat'' graphic novels series and the 2014 bestseller, ''The Most Magnificent Thing''. Biography Spires was born and raised in Tsawwas ...

(2017) * ''Fire Truck vs. Dragon'', illustrated by

Shanda McCloskey Shanda Group is a privately-owned multinational investment firm. With offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and Redwood City, the firm invests in public markets, real estate and venture capital, focusing on companies in the fi ...

(2020)

''Mighty Truck'' series

The ''Mighty Truck'' series is illustrated by

Troy Cummings Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Çan ...

. * ''Muddymania!'' (2017) * ''On the Farm'' (2018) * ''The Traffic Tie-Up'' (2018) * ''Zip and Beep'' (2018) * ''Surf's Up!'' (2019)

Nonfiction

* ''The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors'', illustrated by

Tony Persiani Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

(2009) * ''Can I See Your I.D.?: True Stories of False Identities'', Illustrations by

Paul Hoppe Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

(2011) * ''Attack! Boss! Cheat Code!: A Gamer's Alphabet'', illustrated by Joey Spiotto (2014) * ''The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch'', illustrated by Don Tate (2015) * '''The Nutcracker' Comes to America: How Three Ballet-Loving Brothers Created a Holiday Tradition'', illustrated by

Cathy Gendron ''Cathy'' is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life—food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes f ...

(2015) * ''Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions'', illustrated by Don Tate (2016) ** Spanish edition: ''¡Fushhh!: El chorro del inventos súper-húmedos de Lonnie Johnson'' * ''Dazzle Ships: World War I and the Art of Confusion'', illustrated by

Victo Ngai Victo Ngai (born 1988) is an American illustrator raised in Hong Kong. Her work has been described as being highly detailed and precise, referencing comic book drawings, classic children's book illustrations, the work of Japanese painters, and mo ...

(2017) * ''What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan'', illustrated by

Ekua Holmes Ekua Holmes (born in 1955) is an American mixed-media artist , children's book illustrator, and arts organization professional. Holmes' primary method of art making is mixed media collage, by layering newspaper, photos, fabric, and other materi ...

(2018) * ''All of a Sudden and Forever: Help and Healing After the Oklahoma City Bombing'', illustrated by Nicole Xu (2020) * ''How to Make a Book (About My Dog)'', illustrated by

Sarah Horne Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious ...

(2021) * ''Sister, Brother, Family: An American Childhood in Music'', co-written with

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

and

Bobbie Nelson Bobbie Lee Nelson (January 1, 1931 – March 10, 2022) was an American pianist and singer, the elder sister of Willie Nelson, and a member of his band, Willie Nelson and Family. When she was five, her grandmother taught her to play keyboards w ...

, illustrated by

Kyung Eun Han Kyung, also spelled Kyoung, Gyeong, Kyeong, or Kyong, is an uncommon Korean family name, as well as a single-syllable Korean given name and an element in many two-syllable Korean given names. As a family name The 2000 South Korean Census found ...

(2021) * ''Moving Forward: From Space-Age Rides to Civil Rights Sit-Ins with Airman Alton Yates'', illustrated by

Steffi Walthall Steffi is a feminine given name, often a short form ( hypocorism) of Stephanie or Stefanie. Steffi is the name of: * Steffi Duna (1910-1992), Hungarian-born film actress born Erzébet Berindey *Steffi Götzelt (born 1960), East German retired row ...

(2022) * ''Glitter Everywhere!: Where It Came From, Where It's Found & Where It's Going'', illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat (2023)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Chris Writers from Texas University of Texas at Austin alumni 21st-century American writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)