Author/Illustrator 10: Marc Brown and his Aardvark

I certainly would have never guessed that an eight-year old aardvark could become a PBS star on the show Arthur and that his fame would lead to the stardom of his rabbit friend Buster in Postcards from Buster. It all started with the writing and drawings of Marc Brown.

Marc Brown started the stories by telling them to his son. Mr. Brown had grown up listening to stories in Erie, Pennsylvania from his Grandmother Thora. He was born in 1946 and started writing after attempts at being a truck driver (he got lost) and a short order cook and a tv art director.

An interesting note is that all his books (except his first book, Arthur's Nose) contain the names of his children (Tolon, Tucker and Eliza) tucked into the artwork along with other people and place names that he hides in the pages. He stumbled on this idea on a day when his sons were fighting in his studio. He hid their names in the illustration and it took them an hour to find their names-and thus the tradition was born. For a wonderful interview with Marc Brown, visit this site: http://www.hipark.austin.isd.tenet.edu/grade2/pappert/marc_brown_interview.htm

Thank you Mr.Brown for so many wonderful books and some wonderful tv shows! (I have to add that I really like that Arthur's dad is a professional caterer and the recipes that Mr.Brown concocts for him to make are truly interesting.) For more information about Marc Brown visit the official site at: http://marcbrownstudios.com/