Q: Where do you live?

A: I live in Brooklyn, New York. If you click on the old man on a bicycle on my home page, you'll see a picture of me on a bicycle near where I live and work. (This old man is a Flash animation, so on iPads and other things like that, he won't be there, and you won't be able to see the picture, unfortunately).

Q: In Rumpelstiltskin, why is there a gold medal on his hat? Why did you put a medal on the back cover?

A: In Renaissance Europe, men sometimes wore medals on their hats for decoration. I thought it would be appropriate for Rumpelstiltskin, to wear a gold medal, since he is after all a maker of gold.

To understand the back cover and the medal on it, take a close look at the picture where the Queen is correctly guessing Rumpelstiltskin's name. Look at his hat. Look at the floor.

Q: In The Shivers in the Fridge, why are there magnets in the fridge?

Q: In October 2010, The New York Times ran an article saying picture books are no longer a staple for children. As an illustrator, do you think they will ever become the MySpace of literature?

A: Anything is possible, but if that does happen, I don't think it will have anything to do with what is in that article. I think that the reporter was trying to explain a misleading statistic (that picture book sales have declined-- whereas they have declined less than other book sales, so as a percentage of overall books sold, they have actually increased) with a mistaken theory (that chapter books are eclipsing picture booksbecause children are being pushed to read higher age-level material). There are of course parents who are guilty of this kind of pushing, but finding some examples to write about doesn't prove that this is the driving force behind an economic change. Picture books are being created for children older than pre-readers, and children, parents and educators are aware of that.

Q: Is there a self-portrait of you in The Wheels on the Bus? And is it supposed to be set in Miami?

Follow-up Q: What's the significance of the license plate on the bus? And of Overtown Public Library?

The bus has as its license plate number 3.1416. That's the number pi (or π), which is a measurement involving the distance around the edge of a circle. Wheels going around through the book made pi seem like the perfect license plate number. It was a last-minute change to the art when I thought of this, and I made one slight mistake-- Daniel, thank you for noticing it!

And since the bus is always going "all over town," (which I liked better than another popular version, "all around the town," I thought it would make a sort of sense if the end point of the journey was Overtown. And the library was definitely a good place to finish up.

Q: Do you use yourself as a model for the characters in some of your illustrations?

A: Yes and no. The only time I really did this on purpose was for one of my first books, What Amanda Saw, where I somehow photographed myself as the little girl Amanda's father and drew realistic pencil drawings from the photos. After that, I've resorted to posing when I couldn't invent a figure convincingly, and needed some real-life reference. So although I tried to disguise myself, photographs of me were the basis for the fathers in both Hansel and Gretel and Rapunzel, and I even put myself in Rumpelstiltskin's reclining position for that book's title page, to see how legs and elbow go together.

Q: In your book"The Wheels on the Bus," there are the initials REM on a building. Is this referring to the band R.E.M.?

A: Claudia, this was one of several little nuggets that I stuck into The Wheels on the Bus just for the amusement of my friends and family. Unfortunately, you've asked about the one (the only one, I think) whose meaning I have completely forgotten! It was not a reference to the band R.E.M. (though if any band members or fans have thought it was, I'm happy to let them think so). I remember putting those initials there for a friend, and it might have had to do with the friend's business, but I'm afraid the answer to your question is going to remain a mystery. If you check through Wikipedia's list of possible REM's, you find some interesting ones: an Egyptian fish god, a unit of radiation dosage, an android from the TV series "Logan's Run." None of these ring a bell. But thanks for asking!

Q: What was your first illustration?

A: Although at the age of 14, I drew a hand that was used in a diagram in a math textbook written by my father, I was first published on my own merits when I was in college. As an 18-year-old sophomore, I got an appointment to show my work to the art editor of the New York Times, who asked me to make a drawing for an article called something like "Autumn is a Woman." It was written by Verlyn Klinkenborg, who still writes editorials for the newspaper.

Q: What was your first book?

A: I illustrated a novel by Avi. The title was "Emily Upham's Revenge, or How Deadwood Dick Saved the Banker's Niece, a Massachussetts Adventure." The cover looked like this:

Q: Did you always know you were going to be a children's book illustrator?

A: No. I thought I might be a painter. Or maybe an architect. Or one of a dozen other things, not all of which were related to art. And I also knew as a child that I liked to make books, often collaborating with friends. But somehow it didn't dawn on me that I could become a children's book illustrator.

Q: Which of your books is your favorite?

A: I can't answer that question because if I chose one book, it would be unfair to all my other books.

Q: Where can we learn more about you?

A: Look for Talking With Artists, Volume III, by Pat Cummings.

Q: Where and how do you speak about your work?

A: I very much enjoy giving presentations about almost any of my books. These include lots of pictures, along with explanations of the stages of bookmaking, research, technical challenges, and other issues that relate to what I do. Much of it is pretty funny. I often draw to illustrate points, either at an easel or straight into my computer for projection on a screen; I can draw very fast (though not as fast as Stephen Kellogg, if you've ever seen him give a presentation!) I find I generally communicate well with all ages of audience, and try to adjust the content of my talks accordingly, whether they be Kindergartners, graduate students, or the general public. This is the part of my website for people who might be interested in arranging a visit from me.

Q: What kind of bicycle do you ride?

Q: What is brown and sticky?

Q: What is your favorite color?

Q: What was your best Halloween costume?

A: I was in third or fourth grade and made a traffic-light costume out of a big box. I went trick-or-treating holding a flashlight inside it with me. When I got to a house, I would point the flashlight at the inside of the top light, and the words "trick or treat!"would show in the red translucent lens; then I would hold the flashlight up to my middle, yellow lamp until I received a treat, and then "Thank you!" would show in the green, bottom lamp.

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