Peter Brown (4) (1979–)
Author of The Wild Robot
For other authors named Peter Brown, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Peter Brown grew up in Hopewell, New Jersey. He received a B.F.A. in Illustration from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. After college, he moved to Brooklyn, New York and spent several years painting backgrounds for animated TV shows. In 2003, he got a book deal to write and show more illustrate his first picture book Flight of the Dodo. His other works include The Curious Garden, which won the 2010 E.B. White Award and the Children's Choice Award, Children Make Terrible Pets, and You Will Be My Friend. He is the illustrator of Creepy Carrots! by author Aaron Reynolds. His title Mr. Tiger Goes Wild made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2013. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Peter Brown
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Brown, Peter Nathan
- Birthdate
- 1979-02-24
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Art Center College of Design (BA, Illustration)
- Occupations
- children's book author
- Short biography
- Peter Brown writes and illustrates books for young whippersnappers. He grew up in Hopewell, New Jersey, where he spent his time imagining and drawing silly characters. He studied Life Lessons at the School of Hard Knocks, and then got his B.F.A. in Illustration from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
After college Peter moved to Brooklyn, New York and spent several years painting backgrounds for animated TV shows. And then in 2003 he got a book deal to write and illustrate his first picture book FLIGHT OF THE DODO, which is a story that involves bird poop...in case you're into that kind of thing. Since then he's written and illustrated three more picture books, and illustrated several other books for young whippersnappers. His books have been adapted into plays and animated short films, they have been translated into a dozen languages, and they include the 2010 E.B. White award winner, Children's Choice Award winner, and New York Times bestselling books THE CURIOUS GARDEN.
His books CHILDREN MAKE TERRIBLE PETS, YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND! and his latest book, CREEPY CARROTS! are also New York Times bestsellers and award winners. CREEPY CARROTS! written by Aaron Reynolds has also been named a 2013 Caldecott Honor book.
You can find out more about Peter and his books at peterbrownstudio.com - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
Hopewell, New Jersey, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Roz gets taken to the robot repair factory for repairs and then shipped out to help at a Hilltop Farm for the Shreef family. She makes friends with the cows on the farm, as well as the two children, who are always asking for more stories about the robot on the island. Roz misses her friends and adopted goose son, Brightbill, back on the island and is always planning the perfect time for her escape. But she can’t do it alone.
I feel like I loved this second book in the series just a little show more more than I did the first. I think because I was so invested in Roz and Brightbill reuniting. I sat up so late one night reading this and gasping and chuckling so hard that I would worry about waking my partner up. When I finally persuaded myself to stop for the night, the chapter I started with first thing the next morning ended in a cliffhanger and I would have stayed up even later to read more if I had continued.
Throughout the novel, I loved that everyone had heard stories, or rumors, about a robot mother and her duck son and how excited they were to finally meet Roz. Because of this, Roz had so many allies everywhere she went and it made her escape more realistic in a way (even with talking animals).
The illustrations were a wonderful addition to this, just like in the first. I especially liked to read about Peter Brown’s writing and illustrating process that he talks about in the end. It kind of made the illustrations even more fun.
Overall, this book has great lessons and opportunities to open doors for discussion about kindness, helping one another, love, the meaning of home, and what it means to be human. The writing in this is still simplified, just like the first one (childlike, but with older themes), but I believe both children and adults will love it - just like I did. show less
I feel like I loved this second book in the series just a little show more more than I did the first. I think because I was so invested in Roz and Brightbill reuniting. I sat up so late one night reading this and gasping and chuckling so hard that I would worry about waking my partner up. When I finally persuaded myself to stop for the night, the chapter I started with first thing the next morning ended in a cliffhanger and I would have stayed up even later to read more if I had continued.
Throughout the novel, I loved that everyone had heard stories, or rumors, about a robot mother and her duck son and how excited they were to finally meet Roz. Because of this, Roz had so many allies everywhere she went and it made her escape more realistic in a way (even with talking animals).
The illustrations were a wonderful addition to this, just like in the first. I especially liked to read about Peter Brown’s writing and illustrating process that he talks about in the end. It kind of made the illustrations even more fun.
Overall, this book has great lessons and opportunities to open doors for discussion about kindness, helping one another, love, the meaning of home, and what it means to be human. The writing in this is still simplified, just like the first one (childlike, but with older themes), but I believe both children and adults will love it - just like I did. show less
Bobby thinks his strict new teacher is a monster after she disciplines him for flying a paper airplane in class. But when he stumbles across her one day at the park, he finds that perhaps she isn’t so bad after all.
This is a great book for teaching about empathy. Bobby can only see his perspective from the beginning, but he learns to see his teacher Ms. Kirby as a person in her own right. The book doesn’t take a didactic role in doing this. Instead, it is a fun story with tiny little show more adventures, like the wind blowing away a hat, some quacking ducks, and so forth.
The illustrations are a little more flat and cartoonish than I usually like, but I must admit they work very well with this particular story. There is a ton of emotion shown in all the different facial expressions for both Bobby and Ms. Kirby. Furthermore, the artist subtly changes Ms. Kirby‘s appearance from a monster into a woman so well that at first you don’t even notice that it’s happening. It is a fantastic visual representation of what is going on in Bobby’s thinking.
The version of the book I had was a Vox audiobook. The reader did a fantastic job of portraying both characters with an appropriate amount of emotion and nuance. In addition, the audio version contained some simple guitar music in the background. It’s not an overwhelming song but a gentle - or harsh - few chords depending on what the situation calls for. For pages that had only illustrations, a couple of small sound effects were used; for instants, the sound of the water in the park or the wind whooshing a paper airplane.
This book was very entertaining, even for myself as an adult. The two children (ages 3 and 6) I read it with were similarly captivated and were quite impressed that the book could “read itself.” I would highly recommend it, especially for kids entering school, having difficulty liking their teacher, or just for children who could use a dose of seeing from another person’s point of view and/or learning about empathy. show less
This is a great book for teaching about empathy. Bobby can only see his perspective from the beginning, but he learns to see his teacher Ms. Kirby as a person in her own right. The book doesn’t take a didactic role in doing this. Instead, it is a fun story with tiny little show more adventures, like the wind blowing away a hat, some quacking ducks, and so forth.
The illustrations are a little more flat and cartoonish than I usually like, but I must admit they work very well with this particular story. There is a ton of emotion shown in all the different facial expressions for both Bobby and Ms. Kirby. Furthermore, the artist subtly changes Ms. Kirby‘s appearance from a monster into a woman so well that at first you don’t even notice that it’s happening. It is a fantastic visual representation of what is going on in Bobby’s thinking.
The version of the book I had was a Vox audiobook. The reader did a fantastic job of portraying both characters with an appropriate amount of emotion and nuance. In addition, the audio version contained some simple guitar music in the background. It’s not an overwhelming song but a gentle - or harsh - few chords depending on what the situation calls for. For pages that had only illustrations, a couple of small sound effects were used; for instants, the sound of the water in the park or the wind whooshing a paper airplane.
This book was very entertaining, even for myself as an adult. The two children (ages 3 and 6) I read it with were similarly captivated and were quite impressed that the book could “read itself.” I would highly recommend it, especially for kids entering school, having difficulty liking their teacher, or just for children who could use a dose of seeing from another person’s point of view and/or learning about empathy. show less
"Everyone was perfectly fine with the way things were. Everyone but Mr. Tiger." A monochromatic city scene shows prim and proper animals walking upright, with only Mr. Tiger - similarly dressed but with orange fur - looking straight at the reader. Mr. Tiger was "bored with always being so proper," so he starts to make changes: first, walking on four feet, then taking off his clothes and swimming in the fountain, and finally running off to the wilderness. But then he is lonely, and returns to show more the city and his friends, only to find that they have embraced a little wildness and color in his absence: "Now Mr. Tiger felt free to be himself. And so did everyone else."
Just lovely. Gently humorous, and doesn't pit City vs. Nature but encourages everyone to be themselves, with just the right blend of proper and wild. show less
Just lovely. Gently humorous, and doesn't pit City vs. Nature but encourages everyone to be themselves, with just the right blend of proper and wild. show less
Mr. Tiger begins to find the restrictions of polite society rather tiresome in this entertaining picture-book from Peter Brown, eventually going a little bit too wild to stay in the big city with all of his friends. Although his sojourn in the wild is liberating, eventually he finds the solitude too much to bear, returning to the city. Once there he sees signs of change: elements of the wild have begun to encroach on urban life...
As a companion to Brown's The Curious Garden, which looks at show more the creation of a marvelous green garden-city, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild has immense appeal, emphasizing the need for a more natural and less restrictive society, one in which animals (and people!) can be themselves. Read this way, I found it immensely appealing, enjoying both the story and the beautiful artwork, created using multiple media, from pencil to gouache. That said, an alternative reading, one with which I am far less comfortable, suggests the idea that in order to find self-fulfillment one must set aside all of society's restrictions. As always, I am leery of the ways we tie self-indulgence to self-fulfillment in our current society, and depict any form of restriction as a form of stifling of creativity and individuality. As someone decidedly not on board with the idea that we should be allowed to do whatever we want, regardless of the consequences - some restrictions are a good thing, in order to protect the welfare and rights of all! - I am always mindful of the ways in which children's books address issues of creativity and conformity, and the balance between individual rights and responsibilities. I am not sure that Brown's tale really crosses that line, between championing the individual's right to dissent from the group, and depicting all social restrictions as unjust and unjustified, but the issue was at the back of my mind as I read, and one I continue to ponder. show less
As a companion to Brown's The Curious Garden, which looks at show more the creation of a marvelous green garden-city, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild has immense appeal, emphasizing the need for a more natural and less restrictive society, one in which animals (and people!) can be themselves. Read this way, I found it immensely appealing, enjoying both the story and the beautiful artwork, created using multiple media, from pencil to gouache. That said, an alternative reading, one with which I am far less comfortable, suggests the idea that in order to find self-fulfillment one must set aside all of society's restrictions. As always, I am leery of the ways we tie self-indulgence to self-fulfillment in our current society, and depict any form of restriction as a form of stifling of creativity and individuality. As someone decidedly not on board with the idea that we should be allowed to do whatever we want, regardless of the consequences - some restrictions are a good thing, in order to protect the welfare and rights of all! - I am always mindful of the ways in which children's books address issues of creativity and conformity, and the balance between individual rights and responsibilities. I am not sure that Brown's tale really crosses that line, between championing the individual's right to dissent from the group, and depicting all social restrictions as unjust and unjustified, but the issue was at the back of my mind as I read, and one I continue to ponder. show less
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