Jon Agee

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Jon Agee (born 1960) is a children's book writer and illustrator whose work centers around wordplay. Since 1981, he has published more than 31 books. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Agee was born in Nyack, New York in 1960. He attended Cooper Union School of Art and graduated with a BFA degree. [2]

Career

Agee's art style is known for its "trademark blocky ink-and-watercolor illustrations," according to The New York Times . [3]

In the 1990s, he wrote two musicals for children for the Tada! theater company, [4] one of which was titled B.O.T.C.H, short for Bureau of Turmoil, Chaos and Headaches, a fictional New York City agency in charge of disrupting city functioning. [5]

He has written cartoons for The New Yorker . [6]

Agee has published several books of palindromes and word play such as anagrams and oxymorons. [4] He became interested in them after a friend started writing them. "I liked the way absurdity and logic were intertwined," Agee said. [4] In its review of Agee's book of 60 illustrated oxymorons called Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp? [7] The New York Times wrote that "it would be a near miss, if not a minor catastrophe, not to take the calculated risk of treating the whole family to this instant classic." [7]

His books include the 1996 picture book Dmitri the Astronaut , Smart Feller Fart Smeller , and many more. [8] [9]

At the first annual Symmys palindrome awards, he won in the short palindrome category for "An igloo costs a lot, Ed! Amen. One made to last! So cool, Gina!". [10] He also won in 2021. [4]

Personal life

Agee lives in San Francisco with his wife, Audrey. [2] He enjoys crossword puzzles. In 2003, New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz wrote that Agee had thanked him for including his name in a Friday crossword and joked that "he would not be satisfied until his name appeared in a Monday puzzle, the easiest of the week, where every answer is supposed to be familiar to most solvers. Only then would he know that he had truly arrived." [11]

List of works

Picture books

Collections of word play

  • Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!: And Other Palindromes (1991) [8] [9]
  • So Many Dynamos!: And Other Palindromes (1994) [8] [9]
  • Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp?: And Other Oxymorons (1998) [8] [9]
  • Sit on a Potato Pan, Otis!: More Palindromes (1999) [8] [9]
  • Elvis Lives!: And Other Anagrams (2000) [8] [9]
  • Palindromania! (2002) [8] [9]
  • Smart Feller Fart Smeller: And Other Spoonerisms (2006) [8] [9]
  • Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle Your Tongue (2009) [9]
  • Mr. Putney's Quacking Dog (2010) [8] [9]
  • Otto: A Palindrama (2021) [8] [9]

As illustrator

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References

  1. ↑ Saxon |, Antonia. "Q & A with Jon Agee". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  2. 1 2 "About". www.jonagee.com. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  3. ↑ Paul, Pamela (September 14, 2011). "Boys at Play". The New York Times . Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hill, Angela; correspondent (2021-11-17). "SF author Jon Agee's whimsical word play yields a book of palindromes". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2024-01-26.{{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  5. ↑ Graeber, Laurel (January 2, 1998). "Family Fare". The New York Times . Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  6. ↑ Smith, Sarah Harrison (December 18, 2013). "Christmas for Keeps". The New York Times . Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  7. 1 2 Combes, Abbott (November 15, 1998). "Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp?". The New York Times . Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 "Books by Jon Agee and Complete Book Reviews". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Word Play Books". JonAgee.com. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  10. ↑ Williams, John (March 11, 2013). "Palindrome Prize Winners Announced in Oregon". The New York Times . Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  11. ↑ Shortz, Will (March 3, 2003). "Crossword Memo: What's in a Name? Five Letters or Less". The New York Times . Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 "Picture Books". JonAgee.com. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  13. ↑ Durell, Ann; Sachs, Marilyn (1990). The Big Book for Peace. New York: Dutton children's books. ISBN   0525446052.
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