Stephen Gammell


Stephen Gammell is an American illustrator of children's books. He won the 1989 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman. His illustrations in Where the Buffaloes Begin by Olaf Baker and The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant earned those titles the designation of Caldecott Honor books. Although he is most widely known for his evocative, nightmarish illustrations for Alvin Schwartz's Scary [Stories to Tell in the Dark] trilogy, he has illustrated nearly seventy books between 1973 and 2013, including nine which he authored himself.

Biography

Gammell grew up in Iowa. His father, an art editor for a major magazine, brought home periodicals that gave Stephen early artistic inspiration. His parents also supplied him with plenty of pencils, paper, and encouragement. He is self-taught.
He started his career with freelance commercial work, but became interested in children's book illustration. His first picture book was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1973: A Nutty Business by Ida Chittum, featuring a "war" between squirrels and a farmer. That same year he illustrated The Search, a juvenile biography of Leo Tolstoy by Sara Newton Carroll.
Gammell is particularly known for the surreal, unsettling illustrations he provided for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a series of horror short stories by Alvin Schwartz that is still an adolescent favorite.
He and his wife, photographer Linda Gammell, live in St. Paul, Minnesota. He works daily in his studio, located over a restaurant.

Works

  • 1973 A Nutty Business
  • 1973 The Search: A Biography of Leo Tolstoy
  • 1974 Let Me Hear You Whisper: A Play
  • 1974 The Wyndcliffe
  • 1975 Thunder at Gettysburg
  • 1975 Nabby Adams' Diary
  • 1976 Meet the Werewolf
  • 1976 The Kelpie's Pearls
  • 1976 Ghosts
  • 1977 A Furl of Fairy Wind
  • 1977 Alice Yazzie's Year
  • 1977 The Wicked One
  • 1978 The Hawks of Chelney
  • 1978 Day of the Blizzard
  • 1978 The Ghost of Tillie Jean Cassaway
  • 1979 A Net to Catch the Wind
  • 1979 Leo Possessed
  • 1979 Yesterday's Island
  • 1979 Stonewall
  • 1979 Meet the Vampire
  • 1980 And Then the Mouse... Three Stories
  • 1980 Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust
  • 1980 Blackbird Singing
  • 1981 Flash and the Swan
  • 1981 Where the Buffaloes Begin —Caldecott Honor
  • 1981 Once Upon MacDonald's Farm
  • 1981 Demo and the Dolphin
  • 1981 Wake Up, Bear...It's Christmas!
  • 1981 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
  • 1982 The Story of Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar
  • 1982 The Best Way to Ripton
  • 1983 Git Along, Old Scudder
  • 1983 The Old Banjo
  • 1984 Waiting to Waltz
  • 1984 The Real Tom Thumb
  • 1984 Thaddeus
  • 1984 More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
  • 1985 Who Kidnapped the Sheriff?: Tales from Tickfaw
  • 1985 Thanksgiving Poems
  • 1986 The Relatives Came —Caldecott Honor
  • 1986 A Regular Rolling Noah
  • 1987 Old Henry
  • 1987 The Great Dimpole Oak
  • 1988 Song and Dance Man —Caldecott Medal
  • 1988 Airmail to the Moon
  • 1989 Dancing Teepees: Poems of American Indian Youth
  • 1989 Halloween Poems
  • 1989 Will's Mammoth
  • 1990 Come a Tide
  • 1990 Wing-A-Ding
  • 1991 The Wing Shop
  • 1991 Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones
  • 1992 The Old Black Fly
  • 1993 Monster Mama
  • 1997 Is That You, Winter?
  • 1997 You Be the Bread and I'll Be the Cheese: Showing How We Care
  • 2000 Twigboy
  • 2001 Ride
  • 2001 The Burger and the Hot Dog
  • 2001 The Art Contest
  • 2002 Humble Pie
  • 2003 Swing Around the Sun
  • 2003 Hey, Pancakes!
  • 2005 Timothy Cox Will Not Change His Socks
  • 2006 The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School
  • 2008 My Friend, the Starfinder
  • 2008 I Know an Old Teacher
  • 2009 How the Nobble Was Finally Found
  • 2009 I Did It Anyway
  • 2011 Mudkin
  • 2012 Laugh-Out-Loud Baby
  • 2013 ''The Frazzle Family Finds a Way''