Template:Short description Jon Agee (born 1960) is a children's book writer and illustrator whose work centers around wordplay. Since 1981, he has published more than 31 books.[1]
Early life and education
Agee was born in Nyack, New York in 1960. He attended Cooper Union School of Art and graduated with a BFA degree.[2]
Career
Agee's art style is known for its "trademark blocky ink-and-watercolor illustrations," according to The New York Times.[3]
In the 1990s, he wrote two musicals for children for the Tada! theater company,[4] one of which was titled B.O.T.C.H, short for Bureau of Turmoil, Chaos and Headaches, a fictional New York City agency in charge of disrupting city functioning.[5]
He has written cartoons for The New Yorker.[6]
Agee has published several books of palindromes and word play such as anagrams and oxymorons.[4] He became interested in them after a friend started writing them. "I liked the way absurdity and logic were intertwined," Agee said.[4] In its review of Agee's book of 60 illustrated oxymorons called Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp?[7] The New York Times wrote that "it would be a near miss, if not a minor catastrophe, not to take the calculated risk of treating the whole family to this instant classic."[7]
His books include the 1996 picture book Dmitri the Astronaut, Smart Feller Fart Smeller, and many more.[8][9]
At the first annual Symmys palindrome awards, he won in the short palindrome category for "An igloo costs a lot, Ed! Amen. One made to last! So cool, Gina!".[10] He also won in 2021.[4]
Personal life
Agee lives in San Francisco with his wife, Audrey.[2] He enjoys crossword puzzles. In 2003, New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz wrote that Agee had thanked him for including his name in a Friday crossword and joked that "he would not be satisfied until his name appeared in a Monday puzzle, the easiest of the week, where every answer is supposed to be familiar to most solvers. Only then would he know that he had truly arrived."[11]
List of works
Picture books
- If Snow Falls (1982)[12]
- Ellsworth (1983)[8][12]
- Ludlow Laughs (1985)[8][12]
- The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau (1988)[8][12]
- The Return of Freddy LeGrand (1992)[12]
- Flapstick (1993)[12]
- Dmitri the Astronaut (1996)[8][12]
- The Return of Freddy Legrand (1999)[8][12]
- Milo's Hat Trick (2001)[8][12]
- When Z Goes Home (2003)[8][12]
- Terrific (2005)[8][12]
- Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? (2006)[8][12]
- Nothing (2007)[8][12]
- The Retired Kid (2008)[8][12]
- My Rhinoceros (2011)[8][12]
- The Other Side of Town (2012)[8][12]
- Little Santa (2013)[8][12]
- It's Only Stanley (2015)[8][12]
- Lion Lessons (2016)[8][12]
- Life on Mars (2017)[8][12]
- The Wall in the Middle of the Book (2018)[8][12]
- I Want a Dog (2019)[8][12]
- My Dad Is a Tree (2023)[8][12]
Collections of word play
- Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!: And Other Palindromes (1991)[8][9]
- So Many Dynamos!: And Other Palindromes (1994)[8][9]
- Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp?: And Other Oxymorons (1998)[8][9]
- Sit on a Potato Pan, Otis!: More Palindromes (1999)[8][9]
- Elvis Lives!: And Other Anagrams (2000)[8][9]
- Palindromania! (2002)[8][9]
- Smart Feller Fart Smeller: And Other Spoonerisms (2006)[8][9]
- Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle Your Tongue (2009)[9]
- Mr. Putney's Quacking Dog (2010)[8][9]
- Otto: A Palindrama (2021)[8][9]
As illustrator
- Natalie Babbitt and others, The Big Book for Peace (1990)[13]
- Dee Lillegard, Sitting in My Box (1989)[8][12]
- Tor Seidler, Mean Margaret (1997)[12]
- Erica Silverman, The Halloween House (1998)[12]
- William Steig, Potch & Polly (2002)[12]
References
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Template:Cite news
- ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 8.17 8.18 8.19 8.20 8.21 8.22 8.23 8.24 8.25 8.26 8.27 8.28 8.29 8.30 Template:Cite web
- ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 12.16 12.17 12.18 12.19 12.20 12.21 12.22 12.23 12.24 12.25 12.26 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite book