Jon Klassen

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Canadian writer and illustrator (born 1981)

title: "Jon Klassen" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] description: "Canadian writer and illustrator (born 1981)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Klassen" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Canadian writer and illustrator (born 1981) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox writer"]

FieldValue
nameJon Klassen
honorific-suffix
imageJon Klassen.JPG
captionJon Klassen in 2014
birth_date
birth_placeWinnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
occupationIllustrator, writer
period2005–present
genreChildren's picture books, animation
notableworks{{plainlist
awards
::

| name = Jon Klassen | honorific-suffix = | image = Jon Klassen.JPG | caption = Jon Klassen in 2014 | alt = | birth_date = | birth_place = Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Illustrator, writer | nationality = | period = 2005–present | genre = Children's picture books, animation | subject = | notableworks = {{plainlist|

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 and the British Kate Greenaway Medal for children's book illustration, recognizing the 2012 picture book 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, Manitoba, Canada, in 1981 and grew up in Niagara Falls and Toronto, Ontario. He studied animation at Sheridan College, graduated in 2005, and moved to Los Angeles.

Career

In 2005, Klassen made an animated short with Daniel Rodrigues, An Eye for Annai. He subsequently worked as an animator for the feature films Kung Fu Panda (2008) and Coraline (2009)

In 2010, Klassen achieved international recognition when he was awarded the Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration 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 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 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 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 ... [it is] a charmingly wicked little book and the debut of a promising writer-illustrator talent." According to the Chicago Tribune, "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[ed] to 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 (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. 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, which made the Greenaway Medal shortlist of eight books alongside This Is Not My Hat.

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

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 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 (Orchard Books, Oct 2022),
  • How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney (Penguin Random House, Sept 2023),

;Children's picture books illustrated

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

Notes

|1=Publication year for the British CILIP awards is the school year, roughly, September 2012 to August 2013 for consideration in 2014. Publication year for the American Library Association awards is the preceding calendar year. The ALA considers only picture books for the Caldecott Medal. CILIP considers all illustrated children's books for the Greenaway and its judges recommended the eight books on its 2014 shortlist for children as old as ages 9+.

References

References

  1. "Jon Klassen".
  2. (28 January 2013). "Canadian writer Jon Klassen wins U.S. children's book prize". [[CBC News]].
  3. Williams, Nate. (31 December 2008). "Interview with Jon Klassen". Illustration Mundo (illustrationmundo.com).
  4. "Jon Klassen: Bringing Stories to Life". [[Sheridan College]].
  5. (4 August 2008). "Vu sur le www: Des canards, un œil, etc.". [[Libération]]: Ecrans.
  6. (1 July 2007). "Child's Play". [[The Washington Post]].
  7. (4 August 2011). "A Sarmede Jon Klassen: illustratore di Kung Fu Panda". JulieNews.it.
  8. (24 July 2009). "Irish Animator David O'Reilly Directs Latest U2 Video". [[Irish Film and Television Network]].
  9. Sims, James. (23 July 2009). "Sofa Snark: U2 Goes 'Crazy' For Animation". Broadwayworld.com.
  10. Wyatt, Nelson. (17 November 2010). "GG Literary Award winners 'stunned,' 'overwhelmed'". [[Winnipeg Free Press]].
  11. Just, Julie. (11 April 2010). "Children's Books; Bookshelf". [[The New York Times]].
  12. Bird, Elizabeth. (28 May 2011). "Review of the Day: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen". [[School Library Journal]].
  13. Paul, Pamela. (3 November 2011). "The 2011 Best Illustrated Children's Books". The New York Times.
  14. Liu, Jonathan. (20 September 2011). "Picture (Book) Perfect: I Want My Hat Back".
  15. Flinn, Sue Carter. (19 December 2011). "Canadian illustrator Jon Klassen finds success with I Want My Hat Back". [[Quill & Quire]].
  16. Paul, Pamela. (13 October 2011). "Children's Books; Not Just Another Bear Story". The New York Times.
  17. Russell, Mary Harris. "'I Want My Hat Back' by Jon Klassen". [[Chicago Tribune]].
  18. Leavitt, Josie. (September 2011). "Should the Bear Eat the Rabbit?". [[Publishers Weekly]].
  19. "(Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award winners and honor books, 2006–present". ALSC. ALA.
  20. (27 January 2014). "2013 Caldecott Medal and Honor Books".
  21. Robinson, Lolly. (2013-01-29). "Caldecott 2013 post mortem — The Horn Book".
  22. {{efn
  23. "Past Winners (Irma Black Award)". Bank Street College of Education.
  24. (30 November 1999). "Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938-Present". American Library Association.
  25. "Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2013". Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation.
  26. link. (16 March 2016 . Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. [[Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals]] ('''CILIP'''). Retrieved 1 July 2014.)
  27. link. (2014-07-09 . Press release 23 June 2014, with press kit. CILIP. Retrieved 1 July 2014.)

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