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Chris Van Allsburg was born in 1949 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When he was young, he liked to draw. He always felt that he would rather hold a crayon than hold a football. There was a lot of peer pressure for him to play sports, and not to draw so much. Chris soon gave in and stopped drawing. He played Little League, and he also spent time catching tadpoles.
He went on to The University of Michigan, and there he discovered that he wanted to be an artist. When Chris was a freshman, he took a course in figure drawing. From there, he took more and more art classes. Chris' major became Fine Arts. His senior year, Chris graduated with a B.F.A. Later, he went to The Rhode Island School of Design where he received his M.F.A. in sculpture.
After Chris had graduated, his reputation spread wider as a talented sculptor. In the late 1970's, he took a break and began drawing, and then married his wife, Lisa. Lisa was a grade school teacher and later became the producer of a t.v. show. His wife urged Chris to show his pictures to a book publisher, and when he did, they accepted him right away.
In 1979 he published his first book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. He won a Caldecott Honor in 1980 for it. He then published the book JUMANJI in 1981. JUMANJI then became a full-length movie starring Robin Williams and The Polar Express which has sold over 2.5 million copies. Allsburg has since then published many children's books. We are very proud that he grew up in East Grand Rapids.
