Peter Brown (born February 24, 1979) is a New York based American writer and illustrator, known for children's picture books. In 2013, Brown was awarded the Caldecott Medal for his illustration of Creepy Carrots!.
Peter Nathan Brown was born on February 24, 1979 in Hopewell, New Jersey to Kate McGinnity, a teacher, and a astrophysicist father. Brown was educated at Hopewell Valley Central High School, and attended animation classes at Mercer County Community College whilst still in high school.
From 1997âÂÂ2001, Brown studied at the ArtCenter College of Design.
In 2002, Brown moved to New York City in order to be closer to the publishing industry. He was working on animated TV shows when he signed a book deal to write and illustrate his first picture book, Flight of the Dodo.
Brown quickly wrote his second and third books, and his career as an author and illustrator of childrenâÂÂs books was under way. Since then Brown has written and illustrated many books for children and earned numerous honors, including a Caldecott Honor, a Horn Book Award, two E.B. White Awards, two E.B. White Honors, a ChildrenâÂÂs Choice Award for Illustrator of the Year, two Irma Black Honors, a Golden Kite Award, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award and multiple New York Times bestsellers that include the novels The Wild Robot, The Wild Robot Escapes, and The Wild Robot Protects. An animated film based on The Wild Robot was released in 2024.
Four of Brown's books are Junior Library Guild books: You Will Be My Friend! (2011), My Teacher Is a Monster! (2014), The Wild Robot (2016), and The Wild Robot Escapes (2018),
Six of Brown's books have landed on the New York Times bestseller list: Children Make Terrible Pets, The Curious Garden, The Wild Robot, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, You Will Be My Friend!, and The Wild Robot Escapes. The Wild Robot, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, and My Teacher is a Monster! are also IndieBound bestsellers. The Wild Robot Escapes is also a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller.
In 2009, The Curious Garden was named one of the best children's books of the year by Publishers Weekly.
In 2010, The New York Times named Children Make Terrible Pets one of the best illustrated children's books of the year.
In 2014, My Teacher is a Monster! was named one of the best children's books of the year by Publishers Weekly.
In 2016, The Wild Robot was named one of the best children's books of the year by Kirkus Reviews, the New York Public Library, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness.
In 2019, The Wild Robot Escapes was named one of the best children's books of the year by Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, the New York Public Library, and School Library Journal.
The same year, Booklist included The Wild Robot on their "50 Best Middle-Grade Novels of the 21st Century" list.
Four of the books Brown has illustrated are Junior Library Guild selections: Kaline KlattermasterâÂÂs Tree House (2008), Creepy Carrots! (2012), Creepy Pair of Underwear! (2017), and Creepy Crayon! (2022).
Creepy Carrots!, Creepy Pair of Underwear, and Creepy Crayon! are New York Times bestselling books. Creepy Carrots! is also an IndieBound bestseller.
In 2017, Amazon, the Los Angeles Public Library, and Kirkus Reviews named Creepy Pair of Underwear one of the best children's books of the year.
In 2022, Kirkus Reviews named Creepy Crayon! one of the best children's books of the year.