Arthur Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Messy room "Clean your room!"

This article needs to be improved. Specifically, it needs: references.
Help Arthur and edit this page!

This article is about the author. You may be looking for the character.
4227 80342229014 3700544 n

Marc Tolon Brown (born November 25, 1946) is the creator, illustrator, and author of the Arthur books. He is also the co-developer of the TV series, which he served as executive producer for from the tenth to 25th seasons.

Best known as Arthur's creator, Brown has been working with him for more than 25 years. Born one night when he was telling a bedtime story to his son, Arthur soon evolved into the book Arthur's Nose, published in 1976. Since then, Brown has written and illustrated more than thirty Arthur books, and has illustrated many other books—including one with his wife, author/illustrator and psychologist, Laurie Krasny Brown. Though Arthur's Nose was the first title he wrote, the first book he ever illustrated was What Makes the Sun Shine?, a children's nonfiction title written by famed science fiction author Isaac Asimov.[1]

Brown was born in 1946 in Erie, Pennsylvania. In the third grade, he attended Lakewood Elementary, where most of his life experiences would become a childhood sensation. His passion for drawing was kindled at age six by the loving attentions of his grandmother ("Grandma Thora"), who saved his artwork in her bottom bureau drawer. "I knew it must be special," he recalls, "because she didn't save many things." Besides encouraging his artwork, she bequeathed him her gift for weaving imaginative stories "on command" for her grandchildren. And it was she who built an education fund that helped him pay for art school at the Cleveland Institute of Art, which he attended from 1964 to 1969.

Before creating the Arthur book series, Brown worked at various jobs, including stints as a truck driver, short-order cook, college professor, television art director, and children's book illustrator. In addition to his work with WGBH developing the Arthur television series, he continues to create new books.

As of this moment, Brown lives in Hingham, Massachusetts with his wife and young daughter. He also has two grown sons. His own childhood and the experiences of his three children are his main inspiration for the Arthur stories. His son Tolon is now a producer on the show.

Brown has released two titles for 2015, Monkey: Not Ready for School and The Little Shop of Monsters with Goosebumps author R.L. Stine.

In later episodes of Arthur, he appears as an animated background character.

Gallery

Series Credits

  • Co-developed for Television (seasons 1 - 25)
  • Characters Adapted for Animation (seasons 1 - 25)
  • Creative Producer (seasons 3 - 8)
  • Executive Creative Producer (season 9)
  • Executive Producer (seasons 10 - 25)

External links

References

  1. Teaching With Favorite Marc Brown Books (Scholastic Professional Books)
Advertisement