José Aruego (August 9, 1932 – August 9, 2012) was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

author and illustrator. He was born in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

and once worked as a lawyer. He died in New York City, where he lived for decades, on August 9, 2012.

Background

Aruego graduated from law school at the University of the Philippines and passed the bar. He came to New York City in 1956 and studied at

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

. He started to pen cartoons and this was when his career really took off. Many of his cartoons were published in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

and

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

Books

Aruego wrote 82 children's books. He lectured extensively at elementary schools, insisting on sketching a character into every book that he signed and teaching students to draw his alligators. Among his best known books were ''Whose Mouse Are You?'', ''Leo the Late Bloomer'' and ''Gregory the Terrible Eater''. He worked alongside Ariane Dewey in creating books that were about animals. Their first book was published in 1969. In 2006, they reunited to produce ''The Last Laugh'', a picture book that had a strong anti-bullying message.

References

External links

José Aruego: A Filipino Illustrator

1932 births 2012 deaths Filipino illustrators Artists from Manila Writers from Manila Writers from Metro Manila Writers from New York City {{Philippines-writer-stub