Jonathan London (born March 11, 1947) is an American writer of

children’s books Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

, best known as the author of the popular Froggy series.

Early life

London was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a career Navy officer and London lived with his parents and brother Jeff on or near Navy bases all over the country, including

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, until he was 18 years old. In college at San Jose State University he studied history and social sciences but became a poet. After receiving an MA in Social Sciences he joined a dance company in San Francisco, wrote poetry and short fiction, and travelled around the world.

Career

London published around 200

poems Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

and short stories in literary magazines, worked in a union labor job, and didn’t make a living as a children’s book author until he was 45. His first published picture books were first told to his sons when they asked him to tell them a story. Aaron was five and Sean was two. They liked his stories so much he wrote them down, and one of them became FROGGY GETS DRESSED, which became a bestseller and is on 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 a ...

100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know list. Since then he has published over 120 books, including 30 Froggy books. Over 16 million Froggy books have sold in North America, and they are published in 8 languages, including Mandarin, Russian,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, Greek, and Spanish. Many Froggy titles have appeared on the New York Times and other bestseller lists. London also writes picture books about wildlife, including ''Pup The Sea Otter'' (illustrated by his son Sean London), and has published Aaron’s Wilderness Trilogy of middle grade novels: ''Desolation Canyon, Bella Bella, and Grizzly Peak'' (illustrated by Sean London).

Awards

The Froggy series and other titles by London have received numerous awards and honors, such as the

100 Picture Books Everyone should Know list

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:London, Jonathan 1947 births Writers from Brooklyn San Jose State University alumni American children's writers Living people Writers from San Francisco