Salvatore "Sal" Murdocca (born April 26, 1943) is an American children's book

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 ...

. He is best known as Sal Murdocca, illustrator of the ''

Magic Tree House ''Magic Tree House'' is an American series of children's books written by the American author Mary Pope Osborne. The original American series was illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca until 2016, after which AG Ford took over . Other illustrators ...

'' series written by

Mary Pope Osborne Mary Pope Osborne (born May 20, 1949) is an American author of children's books. She is best known as the author of the ''Magic Tree House'' series, which sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, ...

(from 1992) and the nonfiction ''Magic Tree House Fact Checkers'' by Osborne and collaborators (from 2000)—about 50 and 30 volumes respectively to 2014. Murdocca grew up in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and attended the

High School of Art and Design The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City, New York State, United States. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and more ...

in New York City, majoring in illustration. After graduating in 1960, he spent another year studying at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at American Fine Arts Society, 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists ...

while apprenticing in a commercial art studio. After a successful nine-year career as an advertising and magazine illustrator, Mr. Murdocca gradually turned to children's book illustration. Since 1970, Mr. Murdocca has authored ten books and illustrated hundreds of education, mass market, and trade books. He has illustrated books by such noted authors as

Elizabeth Winthrop Elizabeth Winthrop ( Alsop; born September 14, 1948) is an American writer, the author of more than sixty published books, primarily children's fiction. She is best known for the classic middle-grade novel, '' The Castle in the Attic'' and its s ...

(''Dancing Granny'',

Marshall Cavendish Marshall Cavendish is a subsidiary company of Times Publishing Group, the printing and publishing subsidiary of Singapore-based conglomerate Fraser and Neave (which in turn currently owned by ThaiBev, the beverage company in Thailand), and at pre ...

, 2003),

Eve Bunting Anne Evelyn Bunting (née Bolton) (born December 19, 1928), also known as Eve Bunting, is a Northern Ireland-born American writer of more than 250 books. Her work covers a broad array of subjects and includes fiction and non-fiction books. Her no ...

, Bill Martin Jr.,

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

Charles Grodin Charles Sidney Grodin (April 21, 1935 – May 18, 2021) was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including '' The Virginian''. After a small part ...

, Alan Benjamin,

Laura Numeroff Laura Joffe Numeroff (born July 14, 1953) is an American author and illustrator of children's books who is best known as the author of ''If You Give a Mouse a Cookie''. Early life Numeroff was born in Brooklyn, New York, and is the youngest of t ...

, Edward Packard, Jeanne Bendick, and

. He has also illustrated several series, including George E. Stanley's ''Third-Grade Detectives'', ''Scaredy Cats'', and Mary Pope Osborne's ''

'' series. In the early 1980s, Mr. Murdocca taught writing and illustration for two years at the

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 has written the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

for an opera inspired by his own book, ''The Hero of Hamblett'', published in 1972. His art work has been recognized by The Society of Illustrators, the Art Director's Club in NYC and the Children's Book Council. His writing has been recognized by the

Literary Guild The Literary Guild of America is a mail order book club selling low-cost editions of selected current books to its members. Established in 1927 to compete with the Book of the Month Club, it is currently owned by Bookspan. It was a way to encourag ...

. He was a winner in an international short story competition in 1978. Mr. Murdocca is also an award-winning fine artist who has participated in many one-man and group shows of his watercolor and acrylic paintings. His fine art has been represented by galleries in Nyack, NY, SOHO, NYC, and in France.

External links

Salvatore Murdocca
at Simon & Schuster : S&S is the publisher of ''Third-Grade Detectives'' by George E. Stanley (10 volumes) and ''Landry News'' by

Andrew Clements Andrew Elborn Clements (May 29, 1949 – November 28, 2019) was an American author of children's literature. His debut novel ''Frindle'' won an award determined by the vote of U.S. schoolchildren in about 20 different U.S. states. In June 2015, ...

* Living people 1943 births American children's book illustrators People from Brooklyn Art Students League of New York alumni Place of birth missing (living people) High School of Art and Design alumni {{US-illustrator-stub