Andreasen, Dan

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Andreasen, Dan

Personal

Married; children: three.

Addresses

Home—Orlando, FL. Agent—Shannon Associates, 630 9th Ave., New York, NY 10036.

Career

Artist and illustrator. Also worked as a sculptor for American Greetings Corporation.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

(Adaptor) Rose Red and the Bear Prince, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

With a Little Help from Daddy, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 2003.

A Special Day for Mommy, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 2004.

The Giant of Seville: A "Tall" Tale Based on a True Story, Abrams Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2007.

The Baker's Dozen: A Counting Book, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2007.

ILLUSTRATOR

Dianne Case, Love, David, Lodestar Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Alison Cragin Herzig, The Boonsville Bombers, Viking (New York, NY), 1991.

Valerie Tripp, Meet Felicity: An American Girl, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1991.

Valerie Tripp, Felicity Learns a Lesson: A School Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1991.

Valerie Tripp, Felicity's Surprise: A Christmas Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1991.

Barthe DeClements, The Bite of the Gold Bug: A Story of the Alaskan Gold Rush, Viking (New York, NY), 1992.

Valerie Tripp, Changes for Felicity: A Winter Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1992.

Valerie Tripp, Felicity Saves the Day: A Summer Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1992.

Valerie Tripp, Happy Birthday, Felicity!: A Springtime Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1992.

Virginia T. Gross, The President Is Dead: A Story of the Kennedy Assassination, Viking (New York, NY), 1993.

Alison Cragin Herzig, The Boonsville Bombers, Puffin (New York, NY), 1993.

Susan Shreve, Joshua T. Bates Takes Charge, Knopf (New York, NY), 1993.

Steven Kroll, By the Dawn's Early Light: The Story of the Star-spangled Banner, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1994.

Elaine Moore, Grandma's Garden, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard (New York, NY), 1994.

Kathleen Leverich, Brigid Bewitched, Random House (New York, NY), 1994.

Kathleen Leverich, Brigid Beware!, Random House (New York, NY), 1995.

Kathleen Leverich, Brigid the Bad, Random House (New York, NY), 1995.

Elaine Moore, Grandma's Smile, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard (New York, NY), 1995.

Steven Kroll, Pony Express!, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1996.

Tres Seymour, Black Sky River, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Maria D. Wilkes, Little House in Brookfield, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.

Joseph Bruchac, Eagle Song, Dial Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Roger Lea MacBride, New Dawn on Rocky Ridge, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

Jean Van Leeuwen, Touch the Sky Summer, Dial Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Maria D. Wilkes, Little Town at the Crossroads, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

Susan S. Adler, Meet Samantha: An American Girl, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1998.

Susan S. Adler, Samantha Learns a Lesson: A School Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1998.

William Anderson, Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Halley Came to Jackson (with audiocassette), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.

Roger Lea MacBride, On the Banks of the Bayou, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.

Maxine Rose Schur, Samantha's Surprise: A Christmas Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1998.

Tres Seymour, We Played Marbles, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Valerie Tripp, Changes for Samantha: A Winter Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1998.

Valerie Tripp, Happy Birthday, Samantha!: A Springtime Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1998.

Valerie Tripp, Samantha Saves the Day: A Summer Story, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1998.

Maria D. Wilkes, Little Clearing in the Woods, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.

Roger Lea MacBride, Bachelor Girl, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

Valerie Tripp, Felicity's New Sister, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1999.

Valerie Tripp, Samantha's Winter Party, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 1999.

Rosemary Wells, Streets of Gold, Dial Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Melissa Wiley, Little House by Boston Bay, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

Valerie Tripp, Samantha Saves the Wedding, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2000.

Maria D. Wilkes, On Top of Concord Hill, HarperTrophy (New York, NY), 2000.

Julie Clay, The Stars That Shine, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

Naomi Judd, Naomi Judd's Guardian Angels (with compact disc), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

Valerie Tripp, Felicity's Dancing Shoes, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2000.

Susan S. Adler, Maxine Rose Schur, and Valerie Tripp, Samantha's Story Collection, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2001.

Verla Kay, Tattered Sails, Putnam (New York, NY), 2001.

Ann McGovern, If You Lived in the Days of the Knights, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.

Valerie Tripp, Felicity Takes a Dare, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2001.

Valerie Tripp, Felicity's Story Collection, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2001.

Valerie Tripp, Samantha and the Missing Pearls, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2001.

Melissa Wiley, On Tide Mill Lane, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Celia Wilkins, Across the Rolling River, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Marion Dane Bauer, Love Song for a Baby, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

Margaret Wise Brown, Sailor Boy Jig, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Ann Boyajian) Tamara England, Michelle Jones, and Peg Ross, Samantha's Friendship Fun, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2002.

S.A. Kramer, Night Flight: Charles Lindbergh's Incredible Adventure, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 2002.

Valerie Tripp, Felicity Discovers a Secret, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2002.

Valerie Tripp, Samantha's Blue Bicycle, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2002.

Rosemary and Tom Wells, The House in the Mail, Viking (New York, NY), 2002.

Melissa Wiley, The Road from Roxbury, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Douglas Wood, A Quiet Place, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

William Anderson, River Boy: The Story of Mark Twain, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

Bruce Balan, The Balloon Man, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Troy Howell) Sarah Masters Buckey, Samantha's Special Talent, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2003.

Shana Corey, Joan of Arc, Random House (New York, NY), 2003.

Celia Wilkins, Little City by the Lake, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

Sharlee Glenn, Keeping up with Roo, Putnam (New York, NY), 2004.

B.G. Hennessy, The Attic Christmas, Putnam (New York, NY), 2004.

Alison Jeffries, Sam and the Bag, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2004.

Melissa Wiley, Across the Puddingstone Dam, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Little Spotted Cat, Dial Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Bunny Crumpacker, Alexander's Pretending Day, Dutton (New York, NY), 2005.

Rhonda Gowler Greene, Firebears: The Rescue Team, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2005.

Sandra Day O'Connor, Chico, Dutton (New York, NY), 2005.

Celia Wilkins, A Little House of Their Own, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

Lisa Church, reteller, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (based on the novel by Jules Verne), Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 2006.

Kristin Earhart, Starlight, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2006.

Oliver Ho, reteller, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (based on the novel by Mark Twain), Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 2006.

Kathleen Olmstead, reteller, Oliver Twist (based on the novel by Charles Dickins), Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 2006.

Kathleen Olmstead, reteller, White Fang (based on the novel by Jack London), Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 2006.

Valerie Tripp, Felicity's Short Story Collection, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2006.

(With Troy Howell) Valerie Tripp and Sarah Masters Buckey, Samantha's Short-Story Collection, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2006.

Tania Zamorsky, reteller, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 2006.

Bill Cochran, The Forever Dog, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2007.

Joy N. Hulme, Stable in Bethlehem: A Christmas Counting Book, Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 2007.

Stephen Krensky, Too Many Leprechauns; or, How That Pot o' Gold Got to the End of the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

(With others) Teri Witkowski and Jennifer Hirsch, Minute Mysteries Two: More Stories to Solve, Pleasant Company Publications (Middleton, WI), 2007.

Karen Kingsbury, Let's Go on a Mommy Date, Zonderkidz (Grand Rapids, MI), 2008.

Michelle Meadows, Pilot Pups, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2008.

Eileen Spinelli, Hug a Bug, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2008.

Sidelights

Dan Andreasen is the illustrator of several highly regarded picture books, including Steven Kroll's By the Dawn's Early Light: The Story of the Star-spangled Banner and Douglas Wood's A Quiet Place. A former sculptor for American Greetings Corporation, Andreasen has also provided the artwork for Valerie Tripp's Felicity Takes a Dare and numerous other titles in Pleasant Company's popular "American Girls" book series. In

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addition, he has produce self-illustrated volumes such as The Giant of Seville, a picture book that a Publishers Weekly contributor praised as "a folksy, big-hearted tale."

Andreasen, whose detailed oil paintings have been used by such companies as Fanny Farmer and Marshall Fields, has enjoyed successful picture-book collaborations with Rosemary Wells, Tres Seymour, and other talented authors. In one of his illustration projects, Grandma's Garden by Elaine Moore, a young girl makes a spring visit to her grandmother's country home, where the two prepare the land for planting. "Andreasen's realistic, earth-tone paintings ably portray the wealth of feelings shared by the pair," observed Booklist critic Kay Weisman. The illustrator also teamed with Kroll on Pony Express!, which chronicles the history of the nineteenth-century mail service. Andreasen's paintings, "rendered with near photographic quality, clearly convey the human cost of this effort," Weisman stated, and a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that his illustrations showcase the riders' "unflagging spirit and determination as they battled to get the mail through on time."

A Kentucky farm is the setting of Seymour's We Played Marbles, which recounts a U.S. Civil War battle. Ac- cording to Booklist critic Helen Rosenberg, Andreasen's oil paintings "beautifully capture the drama of the past as well as the serenity of the present." In The House in the Mail, written by Rosemary and Tom Wells, a family constructs a house using a kit offered in the 1928 Sears, Roebuck catalogue. "Andreasen's art adheres to the scrapbook premise, sacrificing a more dynamic rhythm and palette to offer neatly compiled images in muted colors," observed a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. A young boy learns to enjoy the pleasures of solitude in A Quiet Place. "The pretty, framed, full-page pictures have an old-fashioned Saturday Evening Post feel to them," remarked Hazel Rochman in a Booklist review of the book, and a Kirkus Reviews contributor stated that Andreasen's "lifelike illustrations provide just the right accompaniment on this imaginative journey."

Andreasen has also earned praise for his self-illustrated titles. In With a Little Help from Daddy, a "simple celebration of a loving relationship," noted School Library Journal critic Gay Lynn Van Vleck, a tiny blue elephant spends a joyful day with its father. The illustrations "make it clear that this is a real team," a Publishers Weekly reviewer stated, and Doug Ward, writing in the New York Times Book Review, noted that Andreasen "fashions a tight weave between his reassuring pictures and his gentle words." A piglet's messy but humorous attempts to surprise its mother are the focus of A Special Day for Mommy. A critic in Kirkus Reviews called Andreasen's "'50s-period illustrations and colors so right they are like comfort food," and a Publishers Weekly contributor stated that "the sturdy, rounded shapes and warm colors of Andreasen's oil paintings exude domestic comfort even as they suggest play."

In The Baker's Dozen: A Counting Book, a work told in verse, Andreasen introduces a jolly baker whose delicious pastries draw thirteen customers to his door. According to Rochman, young readers "will find the messy baking play as much fun as the food." Based on a true story, The Giant of Seville concerns Captain Martin Van Buren Bates, a retired circus performer standing nearly eight feet tall who decides to settle down in Seville, Ohio. When Bates and his equally large wife have problems adjusting to small-town life, the residents pitch in to make the couple feel welcome. "Andreasen extends the tale's old-fashioned feel in detailed, color-washed ink drawings of townspeople in nineteenth-century dress," observed Gillian Engberg in Booklist, and a contributor in Kirkus Reviews described the work as "a clever blend of tall-tale telling, historical anecdote and giant-sized appeal that truly measures up."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 1994, Kay Weisman, review of Grandma's Garden, p. 1842; April 15, 1995, Lauren Peterson, review of Brigid Bewitched, p. 1509; December 15, 1995, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Brigid the Bad, p. 705; March 1, 1996, Kay Weisman, review of Pony Express!, p. 1177; February 15, 1998, Helen Rosenberg, review of We Played Marbles, p. 1020; October 15, 1998, Carolyn Phelan, review of Halley Came to Jackson, p. 426; May 1, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of Streets of Gold, p. 1593; January 1, 2001, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The Stars That Shine, p. 956; February 15, 2002, Hazel Rochman, review of A Quiet Place, p. 1023; September 1, 2002, Kathy Broderick, review of Love Song for a Baby, p. 134; January 1, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of Keeping up with Roo, p. 876; April 1, 2004, Julie Cummins, review of A Special Day for Mommy, p. 1367; February 1, 2007, Gillian Engberg, review of The Giant of Seville: A "Tall" Tale Based on a True Story, p. 45; July 1, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of The Baker's Dozen: A Counting Book, p. 63.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2002, review of A Quiet Place, p. 429; May 1, 2003, review of With a Little Help from Daddy, p. 673; March 1, 2004, review of A Special Day for Mommy, p. 217; March 15, 2005, Alyssa Satin Capucilli, review of Little Spotted Cat, p. 348; December 1, 2006, review of Too Many Leprechauns; or, How That Pot o' Gold Got to the End of the Rainbow, p. 1222; January 15, 2007, review of The Giant of Seville, p. 69; March 1, 2007, review of The Forever Dog, p. 218.

New York Times Book Review, June 1, 2003, Doug Ward, review of With a Little Help from Daddy, p. 24; December 19, 2004, Constance Decker Thompson, review of The Attic Christmas, p. 27; May 15, 2005, Jessica Bruder, review of Little Spotted Cat, p. 20.

Publishers Weekly, February 5, 1996, review of Pony Express!, p. 90; December 8, 1997, review of Pioneer Girl, p. 72; January 14, 2002, review of The House in the Mail, p. 60; April 14, 2003, review of With a Little Help from Daddy, p. 68; March 29, 2004, review of A Special Day for Mommy, p. 61; August 8, 2005, review of Firebears: The Rescue Team, p. 232; March 12, 2007, review of The Giant of Seville, p. 56.

School Library Journal, July, 2002, Jody McCoy, review of A Quiet Place, p. 102; May, 2003, Gay Lynn Van Vleck, review of With a Little Help from Daddy, p. 108; July, 2004, Jane Marino, review of A Special Day for Mommy, p. 66; April, 2005, Lisa Gangemi Kropp, review of Alexander's Pretending Day, p. 96; June, 2005, Blair Christolon, review of Little Spotted Cat, p. 106; July, 2005, Wendy Woodfill, review of Firebears, p. 74; March, 2006, Marlene Johnson, review of Very Funny, Elizabeth!, p. 203; August, 2006, Cheri Dobbs, review of The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, p. 132; February, 2007, Kirsten Cutler, review of Too Many Leprechauns, p. 90; April, 2007, Robin L. Gibson, review of The Giant of Seville, p. 119.