Marc Simont

Marc Simont (November 23, 1915 – July 13, 2013) was a Paris-born American artist, political cartoonist, and illustrator of more than a hundred children's books. Inspired by his father, Spanish painter Joseph Simont, he began drawing at an early age. Simont settled in New York City in 1935 after encouragement from his father, attended the New York National School of Design, and served three years in the military.

Simont's first illustrated children's book was published in 1939. He won the 1957 Caldecott Medal for U.S. children's book illustration, recognizing A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry, and he was a runner-up both in 1950 (The Happy Day by Ruth Krauss) and in 2002 (The Stray Dog: from a true story by Reiko Sassa retold by Simont).

He also illustrated The 13 Clocks, recruited by the writer James Thurber (1950); In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Lord (1984); Glaciers by Wendell Tangborn (1988); Top Secret by John Reynolds Gardiner (1995); My Brother, Ant by Betsy Byars (1996); and The Beautiful Planet: ours to lose, which he also wrote (2010).

Simont and writer Marjorie Sharmat created the boy detective Nate the Great in 1972 and he illustrated the first twenty cases, through 1998. The series has continued with illustrations "in the style of Marc Simont".

One library catalog record for Nate the Great and the hungry book club (Delacorte, 2009) credits "by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat; illustrated by Jody Wheeler in the style of Marc Simont", although the closing explanation is not on the front cover.^[1]

As cartoonist for the Lakeville Journal (Connecticut) he won the 2007 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism from Hunter College.

He died at his home in West Cornwall, Connecticut on 13 July 2013 at the age of 97. He is survived by his wife Sara "Bee" Dalton.^[2]

Works

All are illustration only, unless otherwise noted.

• The Pirate of Chatham Square: A Story of Old New York (1939)
• The Happy Day (1949, Caldecott Honor Book)
• The 13 Clocks (1950)
• How to Get to First Base: A Picture Book of Baseball (1952)
• Jareb (1952)
• The Wonderful O (1957)
• Nate the Great (1972)
• A Tree Is Nice (1956, Caldecott Medal winner in 1957)
• Nate the Great Goes Undercover (1974)
• Nate the Great and the Lost List (1975)
• The Beetle Bush (1976)
• Nate the Great and the Phony Clue (1977)
• Nate the Great and the Sticky Case (1978)
• Nate the Great and the Missing Key (1981)
• No More Monsters for Me! (1981)
• Nate the Great and the Snowy Trail (1982)
• The Philharmonic Gets Dressed (1982)
• In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (1984)
• Nate the Great and the Fishy Prize (1985)
• The Dallas Titans Get Ready for Bed (1986)
• Nate the Great Stalks Stupidweed (1986)
• Volcanoes (1986)
• Glaciers (1988)
• Nate the Great Goes Down in the Dumps (1989)
• Many Moons (1990)
• Nate the Great and the Musical Note (1990)
• Nate the Great and the Stolen Base (1992)
• Nate the Great and the Pillowcase (1993)
• Top Secret (1995)
• My Brother, Ant (1996)
• Ant Plays Bear
• Every Time I Climb a Tree
• The Goose That Almost Got Cooked (1997, author/illustrator)
• Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden (1997)
• Nate the Great and Me - The Case of the Fleeing Fang (1998)
• How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World
• The Stray Dog (2003, author/illustrator; Caldecott Honor Book)
• The Beautiful Planet: ours to lose (2010, author/illustrator)

References

External links

• Bio at HarperCollins
• Review of Simont's "No More Monsters for Me!" with images.
• New York Times obituary
• Publishers Weekly obituary
• LA Times obituary
• The Horn Book obituary