Austin SCBWI

Ever since I co-authored a Howard Cosell parody in third grade, I’ve been drawn toward writing as a community activity, and there’s no better place in the world for that than Austin, Texas. In the decade or so since I was a fledgling in the local children’s literature scene, I’ve written picture books THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS (about the guys who invented those colors) and SHARK VS. TRAIN (about, um, a shark versus a train) and the young adult nonfiction thriller CAN I SEE YOUR I.D.? TRUE STORIES OF FALSE IDENTITIES. I’ve also considered myself lucky pretty much every single day to get to do what I love alongside Austin’s terrific authors, illustrators, librarians, and booksellers — and to count those same folks among my friends.

SHARK VS. TRAIN (Little, Brown; 2010; illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld) was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller. It was a finalist for the 2011 Children’s Choice Book Awards and named one of the best books of 2010 by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Parents, The Washington Post, Barnes & Noble, and The Bank Street Children’s Book Committee. It was a Junior Library Guild selection, received a silver honor from the Parents’ Choice Awards, and has been included on statewide reading lists in Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming.

THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS (Charlesbridge, 2009; illustrated by Tony Persiani), the biography of the inventors of those daylight-fluorescent oranges, yellows, and greens you see every day, won a Sibert Honor from the American Library Association. It was named one of the best books of 2009 by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and The Washington Post and has been included on statewide reading lists in Maine, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.

My newest book is CAN I SEE YOUR I.D.? TRUE STORIES OF FALSE IDENTITIES, a young-adult nonfiction thriller profiling impostors and other masqueraders, published by Dial Books for Young Readers in April 2011. It was named a Junior Library Guild selection, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and was called “riveting” by Kirkus Reviews.

For more information about me, my books, and my presentations to students, writers, educators, and librarians — and to read my late-1970s work The Ozzie Bros. Meet The Monsters, inspired by Star Wars, the Muppets, Abbott & Costello, and the movie-monster books I loved to check out from my elementary-school library — please visit me at http://www.chrisbarton.info.

You can also follow me at http://twitter.com/Bartography or mail me at P.O. Box 170151, Austin, TX 78717.