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 Service ...

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

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

animated series '' The Replacements''. He was awarded the 2023

National Book Award for Young People's Literature The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writer ...

for ''A First Time for Everything.''

Biography

Santat was born in 1975 to Thai immigrants in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

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 State school, 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, Califo ...

, Santat graduated from the University of California at San Diego with a bachelor's degree in microbiology. Santat then attended the

Art Center College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

, graduating with distinction in 2001. While there he became friends with illustrator Peter Brown. Santat also worked as an environment artist for the video game company

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

for a series of Spider-Man games. 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'' book series written by

Rhea Perlman Rhea Jo Perlman (born March 31, 1948) is an American actress and author. She is well-known for playing head waitress Carla Tortelli in the sitcom ''Cheers'' (1982–1993). Over the course of eleven seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten Emmy Awar ...

. 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'', ''The Genius Files'' series'','' and '' My Wei ...

(''The Christmas Genie''), Barbara Jean Hicks (''The Secret Life of Walter Kitty''), and Anne Isaacs (''The Ghosts of Luckless Gulch''). 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'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', ''

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 gentleman ...

'',

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

, GQ Russia,

Macworld ''Macworld'' is a digital magazine and website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG. History ''Macworld'' was founded by David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and Andrew Fl ...

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

, and many others. His work has also appeared at gallery shows - including the '' I Am 8 Bit'' art show in 2006, 2007, and 2008. In 2010 he turned down the opportunity to create

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

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.

Personal life

Santat lives in Southern California with his wife, Leah (a lab manager and technician at Cal Tech), his sons Alek and Kyle, a bird, three dogs, and two cats. His family name is originally "Santatevongchai" (; ) and it was granted to his great-grandfather from the king of Thailand.Santat, Dan. "Audio Name Pronunciation"
''TeachingBooks''. MP3 file. Retrieved 27 March 2024 His family name was later shortened to "Santat" after his parents immigrated to the United States.

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) * '' A First Time for Everything'' (2023)

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 Murray "Dav" Pilkey Jr. (; born March 4, 1966) is an American comic book writer of children's fiction. He is best known as the author and illustrator of the children's book series ''Captain Underpants'' and its spin-off children's graphic ...

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

The Little Engine That Could ''The Little Engine That Could'' is an American folktale existing in the form of several illustrated children's books and films. The story originated and evolved in the early 20th century, but became widely known in the United States after publi ...

'' (90th anniversary edition, 2020) written by Watty Piper

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Santat, Dan Living people American children's book illustrators American children's writers Showrunners of animated series 1975 births Caldecott Medal winners American people of Thai descent American writers Disney Television Animation people Adolfo Camarillo High School alumni National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners University of California, San Diego alumni Writers from Brooklyn