Meet John O'Brien, Artist and Illustrator at Embracing the Child

John O'Brien, Author and Illustrator

POOF!

Imagine a wizard and his wife who love to spend the day lounging in their easy chairs. These two will do anything to avoid ordinary household chores. To change the baby's diaper, the wizard waves his wand and--POOF!--he unleashes a chain of events that leads to laughter on every page. Ages 4-8
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BUZZY WIDGET

Buzzy Widget has built the perfect life for himself. He built his car out of an old jnkyard refrigerator. He built his toaster from discarded rocket parts. Buzzy could build just about anything, but he still felt something was missing from his life. Buzzy thinks he knows what is missing and sets out to build it. He receives ALL kinds of suggestions and in the end he realizes what he was missing cannot be built from spare parts. Ages 4-8
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THE BOOKWORM'S FEAST

"Cried the Gentleman Bookworm...
'Here's a bowl of my favorite verses
And a dish of rididulous rhyme!
But might I suggest...?'
Said the host to the to the guest,
'Chew them slowly. One line at a time!'" Ages 4-8
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MOTHER HUBBARD'S CHRISTMAS

A zany twist to an old classic that will keep children laughing throughout the holidays. Mother Hubbard's cupboard may be bare, but that doesn't stop her from keeping Christmas merry and bright for herself and her dog. But her dog is up to mischief, disguising himself as Santa Claus and hiding in barrels when Mother Hubbard sings her carols. Illustrated in John O'Brien's inimitable style, here is the worthy successor to his hilarious THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. Ages4-8
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THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS by John O'Brien
There's plenty of Yuletide laughter when John O'Brien sets his sights on one of our favorite Christmas songs. From the first day of Christmas, when his true love gives him a partridge in a pear tree, the narrator of the song finds himself in one comical mix-up after another. The result is pure, one-of-a-kind O'Brien. Ages 4-8
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John O'Brien, whose illustrations for children have been called inventive, whimsical, witty, wacky, and just plain wonderful, is a prolific, wide-ranging artist. John O'Brien, Author and Illustrator

He has contributed to The New Yorker, Cricket, Highlights for Children, The Washington Post, and Omni, and his cartoons appear weekly in the New Jersey section of The New York Times. John has illustrated more than forty books for children, including the best-selling SIX SLEEPY SHEEP, SIX CREEPY SHEEP, SIX SNOWY SHEEP, AND SIX SANDY SHEEP by Judith Ross Enderle and Stephanie Gordon Tessler; and several books written by Charlotte Foltz Jones [see Science Section] which include: EAT YOUR WORDS and ACCIDENTS MAY HAPPEN. MOTHER HUBBARD'S CHRISTMAS, which O'Brien retold and illustrated, was selected as a Children's Choice title by a joint committee of the International Reading Association and the Children's Book Council.

John was born in Philadelphia, received a B.A. in Fine Arts from Philadelphia College of Art. When John isn't busy at his drawing board, he plays banjo evenings on a paddlewheel boat at the New Jersey shore. He is also a lieutenant on the North Wildwood Beach Patrol where he has been a lifeguard since 1970, and he recently learned to play the bagpipes. He lives in Delran, New Jersey.