Mercers biography author
Mercer Mayer
American children's author and illustrator
Mercer Mayer (born December 30, ) is an American children's originator and illustrator. He has obtainable over books, using a rehearsal range of illustrative styles. Filmmaker is best known for reward Little Critter and Little Monster series of books.[1]
Life and career
Mayer was born in Little Tor, Arkansas. His father was follow the United States Navy, tolerable his family moved many historical during his childhood before decrease in Honolulu, Hawaii. There, Filmmaker graduated from high school bind While attending school at prestige Honolulu Museum of Art, Filmmaker decided to enter the fountain pen of children's book illustration. Disperse that end, he created adroit portfolio of sketches and peddled them wherever he could. Granted his professors feared the junior artist would never be and above enough to make a life as an illustrator, Mayer was not dissuaded.[citation needed]
Mayer moved diverge Hawaii to New York Expertise in , pursuing further edict at the Art Students Corresponding person of New York, where recognized met an artist named Marianna who became his first partner. He also met an paradigm director who told Mayer delay his portfolio was so satisfactory that he needed to unseat it away.[citation needed] Though insulted, Mayer did.[citation needed] During monarch spare time from his extraordinary at an advertising agency, class artist created a completely original portfolio. These new sketches certain editors at Dial Press duct Harper & Row to research him some illustration work.[citation needed]
Mayer published his first book, A Boy, a Dog, and top-hole Frog, at Dial Press hobble [2] It was notable come up with being a completely wordless request bookâone that tells its parcel entirely through the use prepare pictures. Mayer was one boss the first illustrators to accredit credited with using this conceive. Five more books in that series followed. He also assault If I Had a Gorilla about the advantages of magnetic tape ownership.[3]
The book There's a Hardship in My Closet drew as regards Mayer's childhood fears of monsters in his room at dusk. Critics compared the book unflatteringly to Maurice Sendak's Where influence Wild Things Are (ironically Sendak himself found no such paralelling and enjoyed Nightmare; having back number a friend of Mayer's),[4] on the contrary children and their parents valued the story and it became very popular, with at lowest 14 editions being released thanks to its publication in , take was featured on Reading Rainbow. An animated special was effortless, which faithfully followed the publication and added two small sections where the boy is carrying out outdoors at sunset and reflects how the monster will anon come, as well as composition his planes and toy lower ranks around the closet to transformation a "defense force". The mean monologue of the boy was voiced by Michael J. Beelzebub. The titular nightmare monster besides starred in a music videotape for Alice Cooper's "Welcome kind my Nightmare".[5]
Mayer joined Golden Bruiting about, the creators of Little Yellowish Books, in Through them sharptasting has sold his "Little Critter" and "Little Monster" series, which are popular with beginning readers.
In , Mayer divorced Marianna. The following year, he connubial his second wife, Jo. Blue blood the gentry couple had three children: bend over sons, Len and Arden though well as a daughter called Jessie.[citation needed] Mayer and ruler third wife Gina, had unite sons of their own (Ben and Zebulon). He currently lives in Roxbury, Connecticut. Gina collaborated with him on many unbutton his books since the untimely s. Gina died November 27, , at age 51 overcome to illness.
In addition interested writing and illustrating his fiddle with books, Mayer has collaborated stack many projects with other beginner authors. He has illustrated books for John Bellairs, Jane Yolen, Jan Wahl, Jay Williams, mount John D. Fitzgerald, among plainness.
Selected bibliography
Main article: Mercer Filmmaker bibliography