Jon Klassen (born November 29, 1981) is a Canadian writer and illustrator of children's books and an animator. He won both the American

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 ...

and the British

Kate Greenaway Medal The Carnegie Medal for Illustration (until 2022 the Kate Greenaway Medal) is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Librar ...

for children's book illustration, recognizing the 2012

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

'' This Is Not My Hat'', which he also wrote. He is the first person to win both awards for the same work. ''This Is Not My Hat'' is a companion to Klassen's preceding picture book, '' I Want My Hat Back'' (2011), which was his first as both writer and illustrator. Both books were on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list for more than 40 weeks; by April 2014 one or the other had been translated into 22 languages and they had jointly surpassed one million worldwide sales. Both books were recommended for children ages 5+ by the Greenaway judges. Klassen's "hat" trilogy was completed with the publication of '' We Found a Hat'' (2016).

Early life and education

Klassen was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, Canada, in 1981 and grew up in

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario. He studied animation at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses ...

, graduated in 2005, and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Career

In 2005, he made an animated short with Daniel Rodrigues, ''An Eye for Annai''. He worked on animation of the feature films ''

Kung Fu Panda ''Kung Fu Panda'' is an American martial arts comedy media franchise that started in 2008 with the release of the animated film '' Kung Fu Panda'' produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping (primarily v ...

'' (2008) and ''

Coraline ''Coraline'' () is a 2002 British dark fantasy horror children's novella by author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman started writing ''Coraline'' in 1990, and it was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for ...

'' (2009) and he was art director for the 2009 animated music video of "

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" is the fifth song from U2's 2009 album ''No Line on the Horizon''. The song was released as the album's third single in a digital format on 25 August 2009 and in a physical version released on 7 Sept ...

" by U2. In 2010, Klassen achieved international recognition when he was awarded the

Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration The Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian illustrator for a children's book written in English. It is one of four children's book awards among the Go ...

for his work on the picture book ''Cats' Night Out'', written by Carolyn Stutson. He also illustrated ''The Mysterious Howling'' by Maryrose Wood, the first novel in a HarperCollins series called ''The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place'' along with the second and third, and the first edition hardcover of the fourth novel in the series. His first solo picture book was ''I Want My Hat Back'', published by

Candlewick Press Candlewick Press, established in 1992 and located in Somerville, Massachusetts, is part of the Walker Books group. The logo depicting a bear carrying a candle is based on Walker Books's original logo. History Sebastian Walker launched Walker Boo ...

in September 2011. It features a bear looking for his hat, who finally finds it and then off-page eats the rabbit who stole it. ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' named it one of the "10 Best Illustrated Children's Books for 2011". The book was published in September by Candlewick Press. Klassen said of the ending, which has been called a "subversive risk", that "there was no other way for it to end". It achieved considerable commercial success, and even became an

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

when people started "posting their own versions of the story". Pamela Paul praised the book in review for ''The New York Times'': "it is a wonderful and astonishing thing, the kind of book that makes child laugh and adult chuckle, and both smile in appreciation ...

t is T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is d ...

a charmingly wicked little book and the debut of a promising writer-illustrator talent." According to the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', "the joy of this book lies in figuring out the explicit plot from the implicit details in the pictures." There has been some discussion of the ending, however: is it appropriate in a children's book that one character kills another without repercussion? A bookseller, who "need dto go on record as saying I LOVE this book", reported that some customers love it until they turn the last pages. It was a runner-up for the American

Geisel Award The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award (commonly abbreviated as the Geisel Award) is a literary award by the American Library Association (ALA) that annually recognizes the "author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished book for beginning reade ...

(books for beginning readers) and made the Greenaway shortlist. Klassen modified the story in a companion book one year later, ''This Is Not My Hat'' (Candlewick, 2012). It features a little fish who steals and wears the hat of a big fish, whom the little one evades until the last pages. Finally the big fish swims back into the book, wearing the hat, with no sign of the thief. This one won the Caldecott and Greenaway Medals, from the American and British professional librarians respectively. According to the award committee, "With minute changes in eyes and the slightest displacement of seagrass, Klassen's masterful illustrations tell the story the narrator doesn't know." Klassen was also awarded with a Caldecott Honor that same year for Extra Yarn, only the second time that has happened. The Greenaway recognizes "distinguished illustration in a book for children", not necessarily a picture book. According to the British judges, "The format and layout work perfectly to convey the underwater location with the movement of the action flowing with the water from left to right. ... The juxtaposition of text and image works with perfect comic timing. Amazing expression is conveyed by the eyes and dramatic tension by little bubbles." The Greenaway is paired in a London announcement and presentation ceremony with the Carnegie Medal for children's literature, which recognized a controversially grim young-adult novel in 2014. According to the press release, "both winners independently argued that children benefit from stories without happy endings." Klassen said in his acceptance speech, "Making a book, you're kind of going out on a limb in the belief that what you think of as a satisfying story is the same as what other people think of as a satisfying story. This doesn't mean everything in the story turns out alright for everybody, but you, as a storyteller, try and make sure it ends the way the story should end." Klassen illustrated ''The Dark'' (2013), written by

Lemony Snicket Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American author Daniel Handler and a fictional character of his creation. Handler has published various children's books under the name, including ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which has sold over 60 millio ...

, which made the Greenaway Medal shortlist of eight books alongside ''This Is Not My Hat''.He teamed up with Mac Barnett again in 2014, on a picture book published by Candlewick, ''Sam and Dave Dig a Hole''.Lodge, Sally (16 January 2014)
"Candlewick Signs New Mac Barnett–Jon Klassen Collaboration"
''Publishers Weekly''. Retrieved 8 Mar 2014. In 2019, ''I Want My Hat Back'', ''This Is Not My Hat'', and ''We Found a Hat'' were released in a boxed set by Candlewick Press as ''Jon Klassen's Hat Box''.

Publications

As author and illustrator * The Hat Trilogy ** '' I Want My Hat Back'' (Candlewick, Sep 2011), ** '' This Is Not My Hat'' (Candlewick, Oct 2012), ** '' We Found a Hat'' (Candlewick, Oct 2016), * ''The Rock from the Sky'' (Candlewick, Apr 2021), * ''The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale'' (Candlewick, July 2023), As illustrator ;With Mac Barnett * The Shape Trilogy ** ''Triangle'' (Candlewick, Mar 2017), ** ''Square'' (Candlewick, May 2018), ** ''Circle'' (Candlewick, Mar 2019), * ''Extra Yarn'' (Balzer + Bray, a

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

imprint, Jan 2012), * '' Sam and Dave Dig a Hole'' (Candlewick, Oct 2014), * ''The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse'' (Candlewick, Oct 2017), * ''

The Three Billy Goats Gruff "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" () is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their ''Norske Folkeeventyr'', first published between 1841 and 1844. It has an Aarne-Thompson type of 122E. The first version ...

'' (Orchard Books, Oct 2022), * ''How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney'' (Penguin Random House, Sept 2023), ISBN 9781536223767 ;Children's picture books illustrated * ''Cats' Night Out'', by Carolyn Stutson (Simon & Schuster, Mar 2010), * ''House Held Up By Trees'', by

Ted Kooser Theodore J. Kooser (born April 25, 1939) is an American poet. He won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2005. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006. Kooser was one of the first poets laureate ...

(Candlewick, Mar 2012), * ''The Dark'', by

(

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

, Apr 2013), ;Other books illustrated * ''The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place'' – series of novels by Maryrose Wood (published by Balzer + Bray) ** Book I: ''The Mysterious Howling'' (Feb 2010), ** Book II: ''The Hidden Gallery'' (Feb 2011), ** Book III: ''The Unseen Guest'' (Mar 2012), ** Book IV: ''The Interrupted Tale'' (Dec 2013), : (Book V: ''The Unmapped Sea'' (Apr 2015), , was illustrated by Eliza Wheeler) * ''Vanished'', by Sheela Chari (Hyperion, July 2011), * ''The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic'', by Allan Wolf (Candlewick, Mar 2013), * ''The Witch's Boy'', by Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin, Sep 2014), * ''The Nest'', by Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Schuster, Oct 2015), * ''Pax'', by Sara Pennypacker (Balzer + Bray, Feb 2016), * ''Skunk and Badger'', by Amy Timberlake (Algonquin, Sep 2020), * ''Pax, Journey Home'', by Sara Pennypacker (Balzer + Bray, Sep 2021), * ''Egg Marks The Spot'', by Amy Timberlake (Algonquin, Sep 2021),

Awards

* 2012 Honor, Irma Black Award * 2013 Honor, Irma Black Award * 2013 Honor, Caldecott Medal * 2013 Winner, Caldecott Medal * 2013 Winner,

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

for Best Picture Book * 2015 Winner, Irma Black Award * 2015 Honor, Caldecott Medal

Notes

References

External links

Klassen
at publisher Candlewick Press (

Walker Books Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...

subsidiary)
"''I Want My Hat Back'' Book Trailer"
– animation (video, YouTube, 5 July 2011)
"An Eye for Annai"
– animation (video, YouTube, 19 December 2005) * (mainly under 'Klassen, J.', previous page of Browse report) {{DEFAULTSORT:Klassen, Jon 1981 births Caldecott Medal winners American children's book illustrators Artists from Winnipeg Canadian animated film directors Canadian children's book illustrators Canadian children's writers Film directors from Winnipeg Governor General's Award–winning children's illustrators Kate Greenaway Medal winners Living people Members of the Order of Canada Sheridan College alumni Writers from Winnipeg Mennonite writers Mennonite artists Canadian Mennonites Caldecott Honor winners Writers who illustrated their own writing