ABOUT JONATHAN FENSKE

two-time theodor seuss geisel honor-winning author and illustrator

the short version

Jonathan Fenske is the author and illustrator of thirty-five books for children, including A Crabby Book™ series, part of Scholastic’s Acorn imprint. He is a two-time winner of the Geisel Honor for Nothing Fits a Dinosaur (2022) and A Pig, a Fox and a Box (2016). Ten of his children’s books are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections.

Before he started writing children’s books, Jonathan was a gallery artist, and his paintings have appeared on HGTV.com, in New American Paintings, and are in collections such as the Booth Western Museum and the Arthur Blank Family Foundation. He lives in Greenville, S.C., with his wife, Jennifer, and their three daughters.

the longer version

Jonathan Fenske was born in Florida, so he knows all about life at the beach. The sand and the sea (and one crabby crab) were his inspiration for A Crabby Book™ series, part of Scholastic’s Acorn imprint. He is a two-time winner of the Geisel Honor for Nothing Fits a Dinosaur (2022) and A Pig, a Fox and a Box (2016). Ten of his children’s books are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections.

Jonathan’s picture books include A Unicorn, A Dinosaur and A Shark Walk Into a Book (March 2023), I'm Fun, Too! (the first-ever LEGO® picture book), After Squidnight, and the “side-splittingly smelly” Something Stinks!, as well as Barnacle Is Bored and its follow-up, Plankton Is Pushy.

Before he started writing children’s books, Jonathan was a gallery artist, and he was mostly known for painting images of vintage toys in unusual situations. Jonathan’s works have appeared on HGTV.com, in New American Paintings, and are in collections such as the Booth Western Museum and the Arthur Blank Family Foundation.

When his first daughter was born, Jonathan found out he enjoyed reading to her so much, he thought he would try writing and illustrating a children’s book. It’s harder than it looks! These days, Jonathan creates his books from Greenville, S.C. where he lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their three children. You can find him running (a lot) and hiking mountains (his favorite thing ever).

press kit

Click on any of the files below to download them and use them for press and media features. Once the file opens, right click and select "Save Image As". Publishing-related requests and rights inquiries can be sent to Jonathan’s literary agent, Carrie Hannigan at HG Literary.