The book’s main character is based on his cat, Cricket. His latest venture into the picture book world is Mr. Once the story has come together, then I am free to build that world with detail and nuance and humor and visually interesting things.” I have to get the initial idea down and then ask: What is going on in the pictures? What is this story about? Who is it about? And that analysis, that exploration of ideas, reveals the story. “I have plenty of interesting images, but they don’t all evolve into great stories. As an author/illustrator, he begins every book with a visual stimulus and then the act of drawing sparks the ideas. Since his eureka moment-his epiphany-Wiesner has not stopped telling stories through images. I realized I wanted to tell stories, and I wanted to do it in books.”

“The more I looked at the picture-book field and realized the amazing range of work that was being done, it started to feel like a place where the things I was thinking about could fit in. Then, when Wiesner discovered Lynd Ward’s wordless books, he realized he had found his calling. It was during art school when a teacher and mentor, David Macaulay, demonstrated through teaching and through his own work what a picture book could be. Everything I do today I learned in comic books.” “Comic books were an enormous influence on me it was the first place I saw visual story telling. “I was always interested in drawing, and by the time I was in elementary school, everyone knew me as the kid who drew all the time.” As he continued to draw and to refine his skill, he discovered his passion was not to simply draw, but to tell stories in pictures and in sequential images. Eventually, art became his creative outlet. That imagination was further engaged during trips to the library where he would immerse himself in the wealth of imagery found in art history books and natural history books. These early adventures built an active imagination in the young boy. They enjoyed make-believe activities, playing games, and exploring their surroundings: the woods, a swamp, and even a cemetery. For the most part, it all looks like what any kid at those ages would do.”Īs a child, Wiesner spent his days playing with neighborhood friends.

“My parents saved everything I drew, so kids can see what I did when I was five years old, seven, eleven, and so on. However, when he visits classrooms and gives presentations, examples of his early work suggest otherwise. He is a celebrated author/illustrator with numerous awards, honors, and even three Caldecott medals and two Caldecott Honors. One might assume that David Wiesner was born an accomplished artist.

David wiesner caldecott