Bio

David Catrow's favorite subject in school was math. Why? Well, Mr. Hirsch's class was where Catrow did some of his best drawings! Catrow's zany illustrations have illuminated over 30 books for kids, and his editorial cartoons are syndicated in more than 900 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Not bad for someone who started out as a pre-med major at Kent State and later worked as a paramedic for ten years. During this time Catrow also worked as a freelance artist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Akron Beacon-Journal. Art finally emerged as his definitive career, and he's never stopped since.

Catrow's illustrations in Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell make you fall instantly in love with the short, clumsy, and buck toothed Molly Lou. He continues his spirited style of illustration in his newest book, We the Kids. In this book, Catrow makes understanding the Preamble to the Constitution accessible to children and even fun!

His work in She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head earned Catrow recognition when it was named the New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year in 1995. Catrow's watercolor and crayon illustrations for Take Me Out of the Bathtub, a collection of sing along traditional tunes set to loopy new lyrics, were praised for their cartoon-like absurdity and outlandish nature. And his slimy and goopy illustrations of a school science project gone awry in The Fungus That Ate My School make you want run for your life! Catrow's clever Dr. Seuss-like lively fungus overtakes a whole school while morphing itself into familiar school staff members it's a laugh aloud read at its best!

This amusing illustrator and his wife, Deborah, live in Ohio and have two children. When asked what would be the one thing he would like to learn to do, Catrow replied that he'd like to learn to catch a Frisbee with his teeth! It's this same offbeat sense of humor that truly colors his art. There's no doubt that Catrow's work has brought chuckles, smiles and even smirks to the young and old.