Hope Library invites the community to a special reading by author and illustrator Chris Van Dusen, Saturday, July 1 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Everyone has their favorite Chris Van Dusen book – from the Mr. Magee series to “Circus Ship” and “Big Truck, Little Island,” and many more. Hope Library is pleased to welcome our neighbor from Camden for this special event.
From Chris’s website, chrisvandusen.com: “I was born in Portland, Maine on St. Patrick’s Day, 1960. As a child, my brothers and I would spend hours drawing pictures. We didn’t have video games or computers to entertain us, so we drew instead. One of my brothers would sketch intricate war scenes. Another would draw animals so realistic you’d swear they were breathing. My specialty was aliens, robots, and monsters. Dr. Seuss and Robert McCloskey were my heroes. I loved the rhythm of Dr. Seuss’ words and I was fascinated by the meticulous detail of Robert McCloskey’s illustrations. I had no idea back then that I’d end up writing and illustrating children’s books when I grew up.
“After high school, I studied fine art at The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and graduated with a BFA in 1982. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do. First, I was a waiter, and then I was offered a part-time job at a magazine for teenagers. Eventually, I started drawing cartoons and illustrations for the magazine, and my career as an illustrator was born.
“For more than 10 years I worked as a freelance illustrator specializing in art for kids. I was doing mostly editorial work and my illustrations appeared in magazines like Nickelodeon, Family Fun, and Disney Adventures. One day I started thinking about drawing a picture of a boat stuck high up in a tree. I thought that would be a really funny and intriguing illustration. At the same time, a refrain kept running through my head — ‘Mr. Magee and his little dog, Dee/ Hopped in the car and drove down to the sea.’ The combination of these two things eventually became my first book, ‘Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee’ which was published in 2000. I’ve been busy writing and illustrating children’s books ever since.
“Now I live in a beautiful little town on the coast of Maine with my lovely wife Lori and a yellow lab named Opal. We have two sons; our oldest, Ethan, lives in California and our younger son, Tucker, lives in Maine. Life is good.”
