David Macaulay
David Macaulay, p. 19 from Shortcut, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995, ink and felt marker on paper, Lent by the Artist
David Macaulay was born in 1946 in England, and lived there until he was eleven, when his family moved to New Jersey. Macaulay has always been interested in aspects of problem solving such as how things work, an interest that he pursued as an undergraduate at Rhode Island School of Design by studying Architecture. After graduating, he soon began to work as a freelance illustrator and to experiment with creating his own books.
Macaulay has achieved great success with his children's books, which combine his knowledge of architecture with great technical skill and apt textual accompaniment. Many of his books have been made into educational TV programs aired on PBS. Macaulay's books are diverse in form and subject; from the overlapping stories of people and animals in Shortcut to the modern fable of Baaa. In his book The Way Things Work, he collaborated with a scientist who wrote the text, while Macaulay visually explains machines, scientific principles, and complicated processes from zippers to computers with clarity, grace and humor. Ultimately, in all of his books, he serves the noble cause of making education fun.
