Lane Smith (1) (1959–)
Author of John, Paul, George & Ben
For other authors named Lane Smith, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Image credit: BTSB Bookstore
Works by Lane Smith
Associated Works
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992) — Illustrator — 8,151 copies, 238 reviews
Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things . . .: That Aren't as Scary, Maybe, Depending on How You Feel Abo (2005) — Illustrator — 694 copies, 13 reviews
Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated (2009) — Illustrator — 387 copies, 16 reviews
I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups (2017) — Illustrator — 317 copies, 9 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1959-08-25
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Art Center College of Design (BFA|1983)
- Occupations
- children's book author
illustrator - Awards and honors
- Kate Greenaway Medal (2017)
Caldecott Honor Medal (1992, 2012) - Relationships
- Leach, Molly (wife)
- Short biography
- Lane Smith has written and illustrated a bunch of stuff. Most recently Madam President and John, Paul, Ben and George which were both New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestsellers. His titles with Jon Scieszka have included the Caldecott Honor winner The Stinky Cheese Man. Lane's other high profile titles include Horray for Diffendoffer Day! by Dr. Seuss and Jack Prelutsky and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. In 1996 Lane served as Conceptual Designer on the Disney film version of James and the Giant Peach.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
- Places of residence
- Corona, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Worried about looking like a "dork," a young boy insists that he has no need of glasses in this madcap picture-book from Lane Smith, only to discover that his determined (and highly eccentric) optometrist has an endless string of examples - people, creatures and things - that wear their spectacles with distinction. Can entire planets wear glasses? What about little green men, pink elephants, and Hong Kong flu bugs, asks the boy? "Yes!, Yes!, Yes!," replies the doctor, leading the boy to show more conclude that he has been putting a little to much sugar on his cereal. His perspective changes quite a bit, however, when his new glasses allow him to really see the world around him...
With an amusing story - complete with humorous asides from the smart-alecky young narrator - and wacky illustrations, Glasses: Who Needs 'Em? is an entertaining look at the common childhood experience of getting one's first pair of glasses. Zooming straight into the surreal, the tale is oddly reassuring, presenting the idea that glasses open up new worlds for those who wear them in a fun and fantastic way. The artwork is vintage Lane, complete with all the quirky (and sometimes sinister) details that his fans have come to expect. Recommended to any child who hates the idea of getting glasses, or to fans of the Lane Smith. show less
With an amusing story - complete with humorous asides from the smart-alecky young narrator - and wacky illustrations, Glasses: Who Needs 'Em? is an entertaining look at the common childhood experience of getting one's first pair of glasses. Zooming straight into the surreal, the tale is oddly reassuring, presenting the idea that glasses open up new worlds for those who wear them in a fun and fantastic way. The artwork is vintage Lane, complete with all the quirky (and sometimes sinister) details that his fans have come to expect. Recommended to any child who hates the idea of getting glasses, or to fans of the Lane Smith. show less
Lane Smith has my sense of humor. He is very blunt, and I can sense his frustration with the modern age and the decline in reading amongst youth. I laughed out loud when the donkey asks where the mouse (as in computer mouse) is and a literal mouse (as in the rodent) pops up from under the monkey's hat. The characters are included on the title page, and each are labeled "it's a ____." The donkey is labeled jackass, I found this very humorous myself, essentially the message throughout, if you show more notice this, is "it's a book, jackass." I imagine this spiked some amount of controversy, though it doesn't bother me personally. show less
Hilarious! I strongly recommend that ANYONE who loves books (and we all know that I damn near worship them at times) simply must read this book. It tells of a Jackass (the animal) being exposed to a strange thing called a "book" for the first time. In the process of this simple tale, it also lays out the joys of book reading in such a clear way that I was in awe. I love Lane Smith and am now eager to reader some of the books that I have missed.
A young leaf-clad boy cavorts with kids (of the caprine variety) at the opening of this picture-book celebration of a child's journey through the natural world. A colony of penguins, a smack of jellyfish, a pod of whales, an unkindness of ravens, a formation of rocks, a parade of elephants, a troop of monkeys, and many other groupings of creatures follow, as the boy interacts with each. Finally he arrives back at a tribe of kids, this time of the human kind...
Described on the front jacket show more flap as a book that can be read a variety of ways - as a boy's journey to find his own kind, as a child's voyage of discovery in the natural world - There Is a Tribe of Kids impressed me more with its artwork than with its textual narrative. As expected with a book from Lane Smith, the illustrations were lovely. The two-page spread featuring the elephants, with its rich green background, was a particular favorite. That said, the text felt like nothing so much as a list, and didn't really hold my interest. The three stars are for the artwork. show less
Described on the front jacket show more flap as a book that can be read a variety of ways - as a boy's journey to find his own kind, as a child's voyage of discovery in the natural world - There Is a Tribe of Kids impressed me more with its artwork than with its textual narrative. As expected with a book from Lane Smith, the illustrations were lovely. The two-page spread featuring the elephants, with its rich green background, was a particular favorite. That said, the text felt like nothing so much as a list, and didn't really hold my interest. The three stars are for the artwork. show less
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Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 27
- Also by
- 33
- Members
- 9,469
- Popularity
- #2,537
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 595
- ISBNs
- 196
- Languages
- 14