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]
Jon Agee was born in Nyack, New York in 1960. He attended Cooper Union School of Art and graduated with a BFA degree. [2]
Jon 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]
Jon Agee has published several books of palindromes and word play such as anagrams and oxymorons. [4] He became interested in them after his 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]
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]
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]
Jon Agee was born in Nyack, New York in 1960. He attended Cooper Union School of Art and graduated with a BFA degree. [2]
Jon 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]
Jon Agee has published several books of palindromes and word play such as anagrams and oxymorons. [4] He became interested in them after his 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]
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]