Jon Klassen author page

Jon Klassen biography

Jon Klassen is a Canadian author and illustrator of children’s books, originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario. His author-illustrator books include I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, We Found a Hat, The Skull, The Rock from the Sky, The House with Nobody in It, and the Your Places and Your Things board book series.

I Want My Hat Back was named a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book and a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year. This Is Not My Hat won the 2013 Caldecott Medal and the 2014 Kate Greenaway Medal. We Found a Hat completed the Hat trilogy.

Klassen has illustrated many books by other writers. His illustration work includes Mac Barnett’s Extra Yarn, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, Triangle, Square and Circle; Lemony Snicket’s The Dark; Caroline Stutson’s Cats’ Night Out; Ted Kooser’s House Held Up by Trees; Amy Timberlake’s Skunk and Badger series; and Sara Pennypacker’s Pax series.

Extra Yarn and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole were both Caldecott Honor Books. Cats’ Night Out, illustrated by Klassen and written by Caroline Stutson, won a Governor General’s Literary Award. Klassen has also worked on animation projects, including design work for DreamWorks Feature Animation and LAIKA’s feature film Coraline.

Klassen co-created and co-executive produced Shape Island with Mac Barnett. He is a member of the Order of Canada and was named the 2026 recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.