John A. Rowe was born in Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, and studied fine art in England and Austria. His colorful illustrations and eccentric compositional style have won him much acclaim. He is the winner of the 1995 BIB Grand Prix Award for Children’s Book Illustration in Bratislava. Books by John A. Rowe include Monkey Trouble, which was nominated for the German Young Readers Prize, J. A. Teddy, I Want a Hug, and his enormously popular version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes.