Mélanie Watt (born August 20, 1975 in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec) is a Canadian children's author and illustrator. She is best known for '' Scaredy Squirrel'', which won the Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award and was published in French as ''Frisson l'écureuil.'' Melanie Watt's other major picture book series is ''Chester'', which is about a cat named Chester who competes with Watt for the chance to write and illustrate his books. ''Chester'' (2009), the first book in the series, received a

starred review A starred review is a book review marked with a star to denote a book of distinction or particularly high quality. A starred review can help to increase media coverage, bookstore placement and sales of a book. Outlets that published starred review ...

from ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

''. As of 2012, she has sold over two million books that have been translated into 23 languages.

Biography

As a child, Mélanie Watt enjoyed drawing the comic strip character

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

. The ''Scaredy Squirrel'' series is influenced by Watt's childhood experiences, including her childhood fear of sharks. She received a BA in graphic design from the

Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...

. In 1999, while enrolled in an illustration class taught by Michele Lemieux, Watt wrote her first story, ''Leon the Chameleon''. One of her inspirations is children's book author

Mo Willems Mo Willems (born February 11, 1968) is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and children's book author. His work includes creating the animated television series '' Sheep in the Big City'' for Cartoon Network, working on '' Sesame Stre ...

. She currently resides near Montreal.

Awards and honours

Five of Watt's books are

Junior Library Guild Junior Library Guild, formerly the Junior Literary Guild, is a commercial Book sales club, book club devoted to juvenile literature. It was created in 1929 as one of the enterprises of the Literary Guild, an adult book club created in 1927 by Samue ...

selections: ''Leon the Chameleon'' (2001), '' Scaredy Squirrel'' (2006), ''Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend'' (2007), ''Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach'' (2008), and ''Scaredy Squirrel at Night'' (2009).

Works

'' Scaredy Squirrel''

* ''Scaredy Squirrel'' (2006) * ''Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend'' (2007) * ''Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach'' (2008) * ''Scaredy Squirrel at Night'' (2009) * ''Scaredy Squirrel Has a Birthday Party'' (2011) * ''Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping'' (2013) * ''Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Halloween'' (2013) * ''Scaredy Squirrel Visits the Doctor'' (2022)

''Chester''

* ''Chester'' (2009) * ''Chester's Back!'' (2013) * ''Chester's Masterpiece'' (2010)

Other works

* ''Leon the Chameleon'' (2001) * ''Colors'' (2005) * ''Augustine'' (2009) * ''You're Finally Here!'' (2011) * ''Have I Got a Book for You'' (2013) * ''Bug in a Vacuum'' (2015)

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, Melanie 1975 births Canadian women children's writers Canadian children's writers in French Living people Writers from Montreal Université du Québec à Montréal alumni Forest of Reading Award winners Canadian women illustrators Canadian children's book illustrators