Mercer Mayer
| Mercer Mayer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 30, 1943 Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Occupation | Artist, illustrator, writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1967–present |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Mercer Mayer (born December 30, 1943) is an American children's book writer and illustrator. He has published over 300 books using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his "Little Critter" and "Little Monster" series of books.
Mayer was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. His father was in the United States Navy, so the family moved many times during his childhood before settling in Honolulu, Hawaii. There, Mayer graduated from high school in 1961. While attending school at the Honolulu Museum of Art, Mayer decided to enter the field of children's book illustration. To that end, he created a portfolio of sketches and peddled them wherever he could. Though his professors feared the young artist would never be good enough to make a living as an illustrator, Mayer was not dissuaded.
Mayer moved from Hawaii to New York City in 1964, pursuing further instruction at the Art Students League of New York, where he met an artist named Marianna who became his first wife. He also met an art director who told Mayer that his portfolio was so bad that he needed to throw it away. Though offended, Mayer did. During his spare time from his job at an advertising agency, the artist created a completely new portfolio. These new sketches persuaded editors at Dial Press and Harper & Row to give him some illustration work.
Mayer published his first book, A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog, at Dial Press in 1967. It was notable for being a completely wordless picture book—one that tells its story entirely through the use of pictures. Mayer was one of the first illustrators to be credited for using this format. Five more books in this series were to follow. He also produced If I Had a Gorilla about the advantages of ape ownership.
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