Jon Klassen was born in Canada. He spent much of his childhood playing alongside his siblings in the forrest. His love of nature would later influence his art style to include mnay motifs found in the forrest. As a child, he always loved stories. However, it wasn't until second grade that he began to develop a love for storytelliing through art. His parents saw that he was artistically talented and did their best to help him continue to develop his gift. When he was a child he critically injured his hand. His father rushed him to the hospital and begged the doctors to help his son's hand because his son was an artist. Thankfully, there was a skilled orthopedic surgeon at the hspital that night. This experience positively affected Jon Klassen in many ways. Jon became even more passionate about his craft, because his father believed in him. As Jon grew over the years, he began to apply his artisitic abilites to the animation field. He was blessed to be a part of the Dreamworks studio team that created Coraline and Kung Fu Panda. However the process of creating films usually takes about four years. The long waiting period between creating a film and producing the film left Jon wanting to create a product with a quicker production speed. As a result he began to dabble in the Children's Illustrations field. His first childen's book that he illustrated was Cats Night Out. He later wrote and illustrated I Want My Hat Back which was the prequel to his Caldecott Award winning This is Not My Hat.
This biography was written by Jon's good friend and colleague Mac Bennet. Bennet wrote the storyline of Extra Yarn with Klassen's illustrative capabilities in mind. With the help of Klassen, Bennet was able to create a beautiful and cohesive children's book.
Author:
Magen Rauscher
Last modified:
5/2/2015 3:18 PM (EST)
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