Snow, Alan 1959–

Personal

Born 1959, in Bexley Heath, England. Education: Attended art college in Salisbury, 1975-79.

Addresses

Home and office—Bath, England.

Career

Animator, designer, and illustrator. Cofounder, Domestic Funk Products (media company). Has also worked a sound engineer for musical groups, including Tears for Fears.

Awards, Honors

Milia d'Or award, and British Interactive Media Association Award, both for P.A.W.S: Personal Automated Wagging System.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Baby Bear Learns Colors, Penguin (New York, NY), 1988.

Baby Bear Learns Numbers, Penguin (New York, NY), 1988.

Baby Bear Learns Shapes, Penguin (New York, NY), 1988.

Baby Bear Learns Opposites, Penguin (New York, NY), 1988.

Colors, Shapes, Words, and Numbers, Derrydale Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Animals, Birds, Bees, and Flowers, Derrydale Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Holidays, Parties, People, and Places, Carnival, 1989, published as Vacations, Parties, People, and Places, Derrydale Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Machines, Cars, Boats, and Airplanes, Derrydale Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Baby Bear's Shopping Day, Penguin (New York, NY), 1989.

Baby Bear's Noisy Farm, Penguin (New York, NY), 1989.

Baby Bear's Hide and Seek, Penguin (New York, NY), 1989.

Baby Bear's Best Friends, Penguin (New York, NY), 1989.

Playgroup, Treehouse, 1990.

The Merry Christmas Joke Book, Armada (London, England), 1990, revised edition, Collins (London, England), 1996.

The Monster Book of ABC Sounds, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1991.

My First Atlas, Troll Associates (Mahwah, NJ), 1992.

Reader's Digest Children's Book of Poetry, Reader's Digest Kids (Pleasantville, NY), 1992.

My First Dictionary, Troll Associates (Mahwah, NJ), 1992.

My First Encyclopedia, Troll Associates (Mahwah, NJ), 1992.

Alan Snow's Wacky Guide to Tricks and Illusions, Walker (London, England), 1992.

Alan Snow's Wacky Guide to Paper Fun, Walker (London, England), 1992.

Alan Snow's Wacky Guide to Outdoor Fun, Walker (London, England), 1992.

Alan Snow's Wacky Guide to Food Fun, Walker (London, England), 1993.

How Dogs Really Work!, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1993.

The Truth about Cats, Collins (London, England), 1995, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1996.

How Santa Really Works, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2004.

Here Be Monsters!: An Adventure Involving Magic, Trolls, and Other Creatures (first book in the "Ratbridge Chronicles"), Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2005, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2006.

Pants Ahoy! (first published in Here Be Monsters!: An Adventure Involving Magic, Trolls, and Other Creatures), Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2008.

The Man in the Iron Socks (first published in Here Be Monsters!: An Adventure Involving Magic, Trolls, and Other Creatures), Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2008.

Cheese Galore! (first published in Here Be Monsters!: An Adventure Involving Magic, Trolls, and Other Creatures), Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2008.

Developer of P.A.W.S: Personal Automated Wagging System (a CD-ROM based on How Dogs Really Work!), Voyager (New York, NY), 1995.

ILLUSTRATOR

Jonathan Clements, Christmas Crackers, Armada (London, England), 1987.

Bill Howard, The Holiday Joke Book, Armada (London, England), 1988.

Burton Marks, The Hamlyn Calculator Activity Book, Hamlyn (London, England), 1988.

Richard Powell, How to Deal with Babies, Watermill Press (Mahwah, NJ), 1990.

Richard Powell, How to Deal with Parents, Watermill Press (Mahwah, NJ), 1990.

Richard Powell, How to Deal with Friends, Watermill Press (Mahwah, NJ), 1991.

Richard Powell, How to Deal with Monsters, Watermill Press (Mahwah, NJ), 1991.

My First Atlas, World International, 1991.

My First Dictionary, World International, 1991.

My First Encyclopedia, World International, 1991.

Richard McGilvray, Don't Climb out of the Window Tonight, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1993.

Jack Prelutsky, Poems of A. Nonny Mouse, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Andrew Matthews, reteller, Favourite Stories from Hans Christian Andersen, Orchard Books (London, England), 1993, published as Stories from Hans Christian Andersen, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1993, published as The Orchard Book of Best-loved Stories from Hans Christian Andersen, Orchard Books (London, England), 2005.

Margaret Ryan, Don't Do It, Dani!, Young Lions (London, England), 1994.

Margaret Ryan, Shut Up, Mickey!, Young Lions (London, England), 1994.

Margaret Ryan, Simon's Revenge, Young Lions (London, England), 1994.

Valerie Wilding, Parties and Pumpkins, Collins (London, England), 1995.

Carmen Tafolla, The Dog Who Wanted to Be a Tiger, Celebration Press, 1996.

Bill Gillham, Dirty Dog, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1996.

Bill Gillham, My Dog's Party, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1996.

Bill Gillham, My Pet, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1996.

Helen Paiba, compiler, Funny Stories for Seven Year Olds, Macmillan (London, England), 1998.

Helen Paiba, compiler, Funny Stories for Eight Year Olds, Macmillan (London, England), 1998.

Susan Ring, Gross Anatomy, Innovative Kids, 2002.

Tracy Randinelli, Secrets of Space, Innovative Kids, 2002.

Paul Magrs, Hands Up!, Simon & Schuster (London, England), 2003, published as The Good, the Bat, and the Ugly, Atheuneum (New York, NY), 2004.

Andrea Perry, Here's What You Do When You Can't Find Your Shoe: Ingenious Inventions for Pesky Problems, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2003.

Andrew Murray, On a Tall, Tall Cliff, Collins (London, England), 2004.

A.E. Bowvayne, A Turn in the Grave: A Spectaculous Tale, Usborne (London, England), 2004.

A.E. Bowvayne, A Spell behind Bars: A Spectaculous Tale, Usborne (London, England), 2006.

Andrea Perry, The Snack Smasher and Other Reasons Why It's Not My Fault, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2007.

Also illustrator of dozens of other picture books.

Adaptations

Laika Entertainment has purchased the film rights to Here Be Monsters!

Sidelights

Alan Snow is a British artist and designer who has worked in computer and film animation and book illustration. Born in 1959 in the London borough of Bexleyheath, Snow attended art school in Salisbury, England, where he studied fashion design and illustration. During his career, Snow has designed a children's science museum in Japan; worked as a sound engineer for reggae and rock bands, including Tears for Fears; created an audio sequencer to mix samples of music; helped produce inflatable ball gowns; and designed a toy robot.

In his self-illustrated How Dogs Really Work!, Snow provides a humorous look at man's best friend. The pen-and-ink diagrams depict the inner workings of a canine's body, complete with gears, tubes, cogs, bolts, and sensors. "Neatly handprinted text advances the blueprint effect," remarked a critic in Publishers Weekly. According to Booklist reviewer Ellen Mandel, How Dogs Really Work! "will bring laughs of understanding to dog lovers, young and old." Snow later adapted the work as a CD-ROM titled P.A.W.S: Personal Automated Wagging System. According to a contributor in the International Herald Tribune, P.A.W.S "is relentlessly silly, allowing a player to track canine misadventures from the dog's point of view: digging for bones, being attacked by a cat, being launched like a rocket."

A companion volume, The Truth about Cats, reveals that our furry, lovable pets are actually an alien race from the planet Nip, intent on world domination. Inside each feline's hollow form is a crew of tiny cats, operating the complex machinery needed to fool humans and antagonize dogs. "The hand-lettered text and painstakingly labeled sketches suggest an owner's manual," remarked a Publishers Weekly contributor in a review of Snow's book. The author's "satisfying spoof has an amiable tone of deadpan humor," Carolyn Phelan wrote in her Booklist review of The Truth about Cats. In a more-recent title, How Santa Really Works, Snow explains the mysteries behind St. Nick's massive North Pole operation, including his toy testers and special heated suit. In the words of Phelan, "even nonbelievers will enjoy the fun" in this whimsical holiday tale.

Here Be Monsters!: An Adventure Involving Magic, Trolls, and Other Creatures is the first book in Snow's "Ratbridge Chronicles" series of illustrated fantasy novels. Here Be Monsters! centers on young Arthur, a tunnel dweller who enlists the aid of boxtrolls, cabbageheads, pirates, and retired attorney Wilbury Nibble to defeat the nefarious plans of the renegade Cheese Guild, led by Archibald Snatcher. Snow's "numerous high-quality, black-and-white illustrations bring Ratbridge and its citizens to life, accentuating the comical tone and helping to pace the tale," remarked School Library Journal critic Steven Engelfried. According to a Publishers Weekly contributor, "This veritable city-state of a novel is as sprawling as it is silly."

In addition to his self-illustrated titles, Snow has provided the artwork for dozens of books by other authors. The Good, the Bat, and the Ugly, a work by Paul Magrs, concerns Jason Lurcher, the son of a famous but unstable puppeteer who is lured into his father's business by Tolstoy, a murderous bat puppet. "Snow's black-and-white illustrations are suitably creepy," noted Tim Wadham in a School Library Journal review.

Snow has also illustrated two volume of poetry by Andrea Perry. In Here's What You Do When You Can't Find Your Shoe: Ingenious Inventions for Pesky Problems, the author presents a variety of ingenious contraptions, including "The Sure-Footed Shoe Finder," which are designed to ease the travails of daily life. "Packed with amusing details, the artwork is busy and clever," remarked Sheilah Kosco in School Library Journal. According to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, "Snow's … Rube Goldberg-style drawings combined with spirited verse … give this collection a rocket-powered burst of offbeat humor." Readers learn about the "Puzzle-Piece Eater," the "Scary-Hair Fairy," and the other culprits behind everyday disasters in Perry's The Snack Smasher and Other Reasons Why It's Not My Fault. Here "Snow's loose inky drawings give these characters a wickedly messy appearance," observed Rocky Mountain News contributor Jennifer Miller.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 15, 1993, Ellen Mandel, review of How Dogs Really Work!, p. 753; April 15, 1996, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Truth about Cats, p. 1447; April 1, 2003, Kathleen Odean, review of Here's What You Do When You Can't Find Your Shoe: Ingenious Inventions for Pesky Problems, p. 1407; November 15, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of How Santa Really Works, p. 587; May 15, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of Here Be Monsters!: An Adventure Involving Magic, Trolls, and Other Creatures, p. 59.

International Herald Tribune, May 22, 1995, "On the Multimedia Frontier, Entrepreneurs Reinvent Technology—and Themselves," review of P.A.W.S: Personal Automated Wagging System.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2002, review of Here's What You Do When You Can't Find Your Shoe, p. 1856; June 1, 2004, review of The Good, the Bat, and the Ugly, p. 538; June 1, 2005, review of On a Tall, Tall Cliff, p. 641; June 1, 2006, review of Here Be Monsters!, p. 580.

New York Times Book Review, December 5, 2004, Emily Jenkins, "Santa Claus, C.E.O.," review of How Santa Really Works, p. 54.

Publishers Weekly, August 2, 1993, review of Stories from Hans Christian Andersen, p. 81; August 30, 1993, review of How Dogs Really Work!, p. 95; May 6, 1996, review of The Truth about Cats, p. 80; December 23, 2002, review of Here's What You Do When You Can't Find Your Shoe, p. 70; July 17, 2006, review of Here Be Monsters!, p. 158; January 15, 2007, review of The Snack Smasher and Other Reasons Why It's Not My Fault, p. 51.

Rocky Mountain News, June 8, 2007, Jennifer Miller, review of The Snack Smasher and Other Reasons Why It's Not My Fault.

School Library Journal, May, 2003, Sheilah Kosco, review of Here's What You Do When You Can't Find Your Shoe, p. 140; July, 2004, Tim Wadham, review of The Good, the Bat, and the Ugly, p. 109; August, 2006, Steven Engelfried, review of Here Be Monsters!, p. 130; February, 2007, Amy Lilien-Harper, review of The Snack Smasher and Other Reasons Why It's Not My Fault, p. 111.

Sunday Times (London, England), August 28, 2005, Nicolette Jones, review of Here Be Monsters!, p. 46.

ONLINE

Here Be Monsters! Web site,http://www.here-be-monsters.com/ (July 15, 2008).