Marc Simont

Marc Simont
Born	(1915-11-23)November 23, 1915 Paris, France
Died	July 13, 2013(2013-07-13) (aged 97) Cornwall, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation	Artist, cartoonist, illustrator
Nationality	American
Period	1939–2013
Genre	Children's literature including picture books
Notable works	Nate the Great series
Notable awards	Caldecott Medal 1957

Marc Simont (November 23, 1915 – July 13, 2013) was a Paris-born American artist, political cartoonist, and illustrator of more than a hundred children's books. Inspired by his father, Spanish painter Joseph Simont, he began drawing at an early age. Simont settled in New York City in 1935 after encouragement from his father, attended the New York National School of Design, and served three years in the military.

Simont's first illustrated children's book was published in 1939. He won the 1957 Caldecott Medal for U.S. children's book illustration, recognizing A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry, and he was a runner-up both in 1950 (The Happy Day by Ruth Krauss) and in 2002 (The Stray Dog retold by Simont).

He also illustrated The 13 Clocks and The Wonderful O, by the writer James Thurber (1950); In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord (1984); Top Secret by John Reynolds Gardiner (1995); My Brother, Ant by Betsy Byars (1996); and The Beautiful Planet: Ours to Lose, which he also wrote (2010).

Simont and writer Marjorie W. Sharmat created the boy detective Nate the Great in 1972, and he illustrated the first twenty cases, through 1998.

As cartoonist for the Lakeville Journal in Connecticut, he won the 2007 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism from Hunter College.

He died at his home in West Cornwall, Connecticut on 13 July 2013 at the age of 97. He was survived by his wife Sara "Bee" Dalton.

Notable works

• The Happy Day (1949, Caldecott Honor Book)
• The 13 Clocks (1950)
• A Tree Is Nice (1956, Caldecott Medal winner in 1957)
• The Wonderful O (1957)
• Nate the Great (1972)
• In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (1984)
• Many Moons (1990)
• The Stray Dog (2000, author/illustrator; Caldecott Honor Book)

External links

• Works by Marc Simont at Faded Page (Canada)
• Bio at HarperCollins
• Review of Simont's "No More Monsters for Me!" with images.
• New York Times obituary
• Publishers Weekly obituary
• LA Times obituary
• The Horn Book obituary