Chris Van Allsburg

Chris Van Allsburg (born June 18, 1949) is an American author and illustrator of children's books. He twice won the Caldecott Medal, for Jumanji (1982) and The Polar Express (1985), both of which he wrote and illustrated, and both of which were later adapted into successful motion pictures. He received the Caldecott Honor Medal in 1980 for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Michigan in April 2012.