Christopher Manson is a children's book

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

noted for his use of traditional

hand tools A hand tool is any tool that is powered by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches, pliers, cutters, files, striking tools, struck or hammered tools, screwdrivers, vises, clamps, snips, hacksaws, drills, and kni ...

to painstakingly make the

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s that fill his several highly acclaimed works.

Background

Born in Buffalo,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Manson graduated in 1975 from the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The univ ...

in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, having specialized in

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

.Diana L. Winarski,
An 'Enormous good time' with Christopher Manson," ''Teaching Pre K-8''
', March 1995, accessed 4 July 2008. He also obtained a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

from the

State University of New York at New Paltz The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an a ...

(SUNY New Paltz).Biographical sketch of Christopher Manson, book jacket, Delno C. West and Jean M. West, ''Uncle Sam and Old Glory'' (New York: Atheneum Books, 2000.) He returned to Buffalo, where he took a job at a local arts council in arts management, a position that required

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

skills. "It wasn't for me," he later recalled. "I figured out that I was tired of helping others make their art."

Career

After illustrating a friend's

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

, he published the phenomenally popular children's book, '' MAZE: Solve the World's Most Challenging Puzzle'' (1985), issued by the major publishing house

Henry Holt and Company Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. Currently, the company publishes in the fields ...

. The book promised a $10,000 award to whoever solved the book's many visual puzzles, and even though the contest has long since ended, the book remains in print, and was reissued as a computer game in

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

format. Manson summed up his approach to his authoring and illustrating children's books like so: "What I'm really after is the perfect book. The kind where you just can't imagine the words without the pictures, or the pictures without the words . . . like ' 'Winnie-the-Pooh''_author_A._A.">Winnie-the-Pooh.html"_;"title="'Winnie-the-Pooh">'Winnie-the-Pooh''_author_A._A.A._A._Milne.html" ;"title="Winnie-the-Pooh''_author_A._A..html" ;"title="Winnie-the-Pooh.html" ;"title="'Winnie-the-Pooh">'Winnie-the-Pooh'' author A. A.">Winnie-the-Pooh.html" ;"title="'Winnie-the-Pooh">'Winnie-the-Pooh'' author A. A.A. A. Milne">Milne. But there aren't that many out there to point to as perfect. I'm constantly working toward it." He added, "Even if I won the 40 million dollar lottery, I'd still do this — I'd have a fancier studio, but I'd still do this."

Works

Author and illustrator: *'' MAZE: Solve the World's Most Challenging Puzzle'' (1985) *''The Rails I Tote: Forty-Five Illustrated Spoonerisms to Decipher'' (1987) *''The Practical Alchemist: Showing The Way An Ordinary House-Cat May Be Transformed Into True Gold'' (1988) *''A Gift For The King: A Persian Tale'' (1989) *''Two Travelers'' (1990) *''The Crab Prince: An Entertainment For Children'' (1991) *''The Marvellous Blue Mouse'' (1992) Illustrator: *''The Norman Table: The Traditional Cooking of Normandy'' (1985) *''A Farmyard Song'' (1992) *''The Tree in the Wood: An Old Nursery Song'' (1993) *''Good King Wenceslas'' (1994) *''Till Year's Good End'' (1997) *''Over the River and through the Wood'' (1998) *''Uncle Sam and Old Glory'' (2000) *''Black Swan/White Crow'' (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manson, Christopher American children's writers Living people American children's book illustrators Writers from Buffalo, New York People from Rockville, Maryland State University of New York at New Paltz alumni NSCAD University alumni Artists from Buffalo, New York Year of birth missing (living people)