Author Spotlight: Chris Haughten

Guess what, I love author/illustrators!! Yes, all right, you knew that. But I do. I love how each author/illustrator has their own style and how it flows through all of their books.

Chris Haughten has a style that feels vintage. It, for whatever reason, reminds me of the old days when books had only two or three colors because of the complicated printing process. His illustrations are subtle but they use bright contrasting colors. Is that an oxymoron? Maybe. I think that the way he uses colors monochromatically in varying shades is what gives that subtlety to the pictures. They are different from anything else I’ve ever seen.

George is a good dog, and he tries to be good, but there is a cake, and he looooves cake…and dirt (under those flowers), and he looooves to dig…..

Little Owl has fallen out of the nest, but luckily Squirrel knows exactly who he’s looking for, maybe…sort of.

The fellows in this story have a plan to catch a bright and lovely bird. It might not be a good plan, though. The featured image at the top of this entry is from this story.

Every kid has had nights like this, where they just aren’t tired. Poor little Bear doesn’t want to go to bed but what do you do when everyone else is sleeping?

Unfortunately, I have not read the next  books. They look so fun, but I don’t own them (yet) and neither does my wonderful public children’s library.