David A. Carter (born March 4, 1957) is an American

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

. He is best known for his

pop-up book A pop-up book is any book with three-dimensional space, three-dimensional pages, often with elements that ''pop up'' as a page is turned. The terminology serves as an umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvel ...

s for both children and adults. His ''Bugs'' series has sold over 6 million copies.

Career

During the late 1970s, Carter worked as a

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

and advertising illustrator. Until 1987 he worked as an artist, a paper engineer and a book designer for a publishing house. After this he moved into his current career as an author, illustrator, and paper engineer, primarily of children's books. His first book was ''How Many Bugs in a Box?''. Carter often works with his wife, Noelle Carter. Carter has created more than 90 books, including a guide on how to make pop-ups titled, ''The Elements of Pop Up''. He designed a hardback book of graffiti design for the British band

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

's 2011 album

Mylo Xyloto ''Mylo Xyloto'' (pronounced ) is the fifth studio album by British Rock music, rock band Coldplay. It was released on 19 October 2011 in Japan and on 24 October 2011 in the rest of the world. The band worked closely with producer Brian Eno fo ...

. Carter and paper engineer James Diaz were awarded the 2023 Meggendorfer Prize for Best Paper Engineering at the 15th annual Movable Book Society Conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

Personal life

Carter was born on 4 March 1957, at the L.D.S. Hospital in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. He attended

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

. His hobbies include gardening, tennis, skiing and travelling. He lives with his wife, Noelle L. Carter in

Auburn, California Auburn is a city in and the county seat of Placer County, California, United States. Its population was 13,776 during the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Auburn is known for its California Gold Rush history and is registered as a Califo ...

. They have two daughters, Molly and Emma.

Works

Written and illustrated

*''What's in My Pocket?'', Putnam (New York, NY), 1989. *''Surprise Party'', Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 1990. *''Snack Attack: A Tasty Pop-Up Book'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1990. (with Lynette Ruschak) *''Playful Pandas'', National Geographic Society (Washington, DC), 1991. *''In a Dark, Dark Wood'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991, published as ''In a Dark, Dark Wood: An Old Tale with a New Twist'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002. *''Opposites'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1993. *''Colors'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1993. *''Counting'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1993. *''I'm Shy'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1993. *''In and Out'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1993. (with Roger Smith) *''Says Who?'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1993. *''The Elements of Pop-Up: A Pop-Up Book for Aspiring Paper Engineers'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1999. (with James Diaz) *''Flapdoodle Dinosaurs: A Colorful Pop-Up Book'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2001. *''Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?: Fun Flaps and Pop-Up Surprises'', Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002. *''Glitter Critters: David Carter's Pop-Up Book'', Piggy Toes Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2003. *''Let's Make It Pop-Up'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004. (with James Diaz) *''One Red Dot'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2005. *''Woof! Woof!'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006. *''Blue 2'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006.

''Bugs'' series

*''How Many Bugs in a Box?'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1988. *''More Bugs in Boxes'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1990. *''Jingle Bugs'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1992. *''Alpha Bugs'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994. *''Love Bugs'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995. *''Feely Bugs'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995, published in a reduced size edition, 2005. *''Bugs That Go Bump in the Night'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1996. *''Bugs in Space'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997. *''Finger Bugs Love Bug'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997. *''Bugs at Play'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997. *''Bugs at Work'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997. *''Busy Bugs, Lazy Bugs'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997. *''Bugs on the Go'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997. *''Stinky Bugs'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1998. *''Bed Bugs: A Pop-Up Bedtime Book'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1998. *''The Twelve Bugs of Christmas: A Pop-Up Christmas Counting Book'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1999. *''Giggle Bugs: A Lift-and-Laugh Book'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1999. *''Easter Bugs: A Springtime Pop-Up'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2001. *''Chanukah Bugs: A Pop-Up Celebration'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002. *''Peekaboo Bugs: A Hide-and-Seek Book'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002. *''Halloween Bugs: A Trick-or-Treat Pop-Up'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003. *''Beach Bugs'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2008. *''The Big Bug Book'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2008. *''School Bugs'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2009. *''Builder Bugs'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2012. *''Bugs at the Beach'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2016.

Collaborations with Noelle Carter

*''I'm a Little Mouse'', Holt (New York, NY), 1990. *''Merry Christmas, Little Mouse: A Scratch-the-Scent and Lift-the-Flap Book'', Holt (New York, NY), 1993. *''Peek-a-Boo Little Mouse: A Pat & Play Lift-the-Flap Book'', Holt (New York, NY), 1993. *''The Nutcracker: A Pop-Up Adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffman's Original Tale'', Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000. *''Little Mouse's Christmas'', Piggy Toes Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2003.

Notes

External links

David A. Carter's Twitter page David A. Carter's Facebook profile David A. Carter and Noelle L. Carter's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, David A. 1957 births Living people Artists from Salt Lake City Writers from Salt Lake City Pop-up book artists People from Auburn, California