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Anderson, Derek

Published onJul 30, 2021
Anderson, Derek
·

(1969 - )

Quick Facts

Alumnus Derek Anderson is an internationally recognized children’s author and illustrator of the series “Little Quack.”


Source: https://www.derekanderson.net/AboutDerek.html

Derek Anderson, an Iowa State University alumnus and internationally recognized children’s author and illustrator, is well known for the whimsical characters in his illustrations and stories. Anderson began his rise to prominence in the children’s publishing world by illustrating the book series Little Quack, which features a charming family of ducks and ducklings. Hotrod Hamster, Story County Here We Come, Walking Dragons, and Ten Pigs in a Tub: An Epic Bathtub Adventure are just a few of his subsequent successes.

During his author visits and presentations, Anderson relates how he began drawing and reading voraciously with his family in Ames, Iowa, during his preschool years. “Somehow I don't think I ever really had a choice,” He says. “Writing and painting chose me.”

Anderson has always loved to draw and share his illustrations, and points to the success of his childhood drawing of an Easter rabbit as his initial step toward illustrating. He shared the finished drawing with his school principal, who promptly pinned it up on his office wall.

Anderson also loved to read and devoured books both at home and at the library, where the librarians encouraged and expanded his reading interests. Reading fueled his desire to become a writer and an illustrator, but young Anderson was hindered by a belief that authors and illustrators were magical beings, perched on very high pedestals unreachable by a mere human like himself. However, after he and his family listened to an author speaking at Ames Public Library, Anderson realized that authors are just regular people and set his sights on a career writing and illustrating.

Anderson graduated from Ames High School in 1987 and received an Art degree from Iowa State University in 1991. He credits Iowa State University for exposing him to so many rich experiences and interesting people, and names several mentors who helped him along the way, including Richard Heggen, a painting instructor who was also a storyteller, who would weave in and out between the desks, intertwining long tales about art and life. Mixing paint to create just the right color was his legacy for Derek. He credits Bill Boon, an instructor of Design in Society whose teaching style was both interesting and unpredictable. Boon emphasized failure more than success, reasoning that, “You will learn more from your failures than you ever will your successes.” Derek has found this to be true in his own life. Anderson’s boss at Postal Express (later Copyworks), Scott Neasham, helped Derek set goals and meet them.

Following graduation, Anderson designed and sculpted figurines for Warner Brothers and Disney, honing the skills needed to pursue his dream of writing and illustrating children’s books. After he began working as an illustrator, he incorporated his home community, family, and experiences into the books he illustrated by drawing familiar images such as the ISU campanile, his dog, and even himself as the second grader who wrote his first story. Thanks to his career as a successful author, Anderson is now able to share his magic with children and adults around the world, encouraging others to dream and achieve.

Anderson is an American Library Association/Children's Book Council Children's Choice Book Award winner, a National Parenting Publication Gold Award for Little Quack by Lauren Thompson, and a National Parenting Publication Gold Award winner, 2005, for Little Quack's Bedtime, also by Lauren Thompson.

At this writing in 2017, he continues to write and illustrate from his studio at his home he shares with wife Cheryl in Minneapolis, Minnesota.


Selected Sources

“Derek Anderson (1969–) Biography - Personal, Addresses, Career, Honors Awards, Writings, Sidelights.” Personal, Addresses, Career, Honors Awards, Writings, Sidelights - York, Readers, Quack, and Little - JRank Articles. Accessed November 22, 2019. http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2181/Anderson-Derek-1969.html.

“Derek Anderson (1969–) Biography - Personal, Addresses, Career, Honors Awards, Writings, Sidelights.” Personal, Addresses, Career, Honors Awards, Writings, Sidelights - York, Readers, Quack, and Little - JRank Articles. Accessed November 22, 2006. http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2181/Anderson-Derek-1969.html#ixzz4tLnFIxNW.

“Welcome to the WORLD of Derek Anderson.” Welcome to the WORLD of Derek Anderson. Accessed February 24, 2006. http://www.derekanderson.net/.

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