Steven Kellogg Books

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Steven Kellogg is an American author and illustrator that writes stories for children. He has produced more than a hundred books over the decades that his career has spanned. Born to Robert and Hilma Marie in 1941 in Connecticut, Kellogg was drawn to art and storytelling from a very young age.

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He noticed that many of the adults in his vicinity were doing jobs that they did not love. A few of them enjoyed what they did. But quite a number were miserable. This left an impression on the author who decided that he would find a way to earn a living out of his artistic skills.

Of course, before he could fulfill his dreams, Kellogg needed to fine-tune his talents, a task he approached with fervor. The author took every opportunity that came his way to draw. He had two sisters that he would regale with stories.

They had a game where he would sit in between them and then feverishly produce drawings to match the stories he was telling. He would keep passing these drawings from one sister to the other, drawing as fast as possible until the three of them were buried in paper.

The game was decent training for the boy. Kellogg’s love for art persevered throughout his school years. And once he left high school, the boy found a place at the Rhode Island School of Design. No one was particularly surprised when he chose illustration as his major.

The classes he took showed Steven Kellogg how to match pictures to stories. His life took a turn for the better when he landed a fellowship that took him to Florence in Italy. This period was one of the most fulfilling of his life. But Kellogg never stopped drawing. If anything, he poured more of his efforts into the activity.

Once he returned to the US, Kellogg started actively pursuing his publishing dreams. This involved sending his artistic ideas for books to publishers. The author had to survive. So he did some teaching. But whenever the opportunity arose, he would poke and prod the publishing arena.

Eventually, someone reached out to the illustrator and gave him the opening he needed to become a full-time storyteller. He immersed himself in the process of creating stories, putting books together, organizing the illustrations and following each project from its infancy all the way to the final stage when his books reached the hands of readers.

During those same years, Kellogg raised a family. He married Helen Hill in 1967. They settled down on an old farmhouse in the Connecticut Hills with their six children. They shared their home with numerous dogs and cats. In the years that followed, the author’s renown grew.

People discovered Steven Kellogg’s love for animals and literacy through his advocacy. They discovered the work he was doing to support animal shelters, not to mention the thousands of schools and libraries he was visiting in his attempt to generate interest in reading, and their adoration for the illustrator grew.

According to the author, his ideas for stories always emerged from the memories of his childhood. He always endeavors to make each book as fun to read as it is to look at. He wants the words on the page and their corresponding illustrations to be equally engaging.

Steven Kellogg Awards

Kellogg has accumulated a bevy of prizes and accolades over the course of his extensive career, including Parent’s Choice, Boston Globe-Horn Book, and Irma Simonton Black Awards, to mention but a few. He was also awarded the Regina Medal.

Best Steven Kellogg Books

The illustrator has been commended for his distinct and detailed watercolor and pen drawings, with some of the best books in his bibliography including:

Paul Bunyan: Paul Bunyan is a figure from American Folklore. Steven Kellogg does what he can to bring the character to life using frenetic illustrations in this short children’s book that reveals Bunyan’s great feats which include gouging out the Grand Canyon and digging the Great Lakes.

Johnny Appleseed: John Chapman originated from Massachusetts. His birth had the Revolutionary War for a backdrop. As soon as the opportunity arose, Chapman headed West, planting the orchards that would supply apples to the settlers he was certain were following behind. Over the years, larger-than-life legends about his life emerged such as the tales of his pet wolf, tree-top hammock, and bear friends.

When Does The Next Steven Kellogg book come out?

Steven Kellogg doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Best Is Yet to Be and was released on September, 14th 2018. It is the newest book in the Steven Kellogg Short Story Collections.

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