John Steven Gurney has illustrated over 120 books for children He is the illustrator of some of America's most popular chapter books series. Among these are Random House's The A to Z Mysteries and Scholastic's The Bailey School Kids, and Big Apple Barn. His latest series is The Calendar Mysteries, an offshoot of The A to Z Mysteries, featuring the younger siblings of Josh and Ruth Rose. John is also is the author and illustrator of Dinosaur Train, published by Harper Collins in 2002. Dinosaur Train was inspired by his young son Jesse's obsession with both trains and dinosaurs. It depicts a child's fanciful journey on an oversized train operated by colorful dinos. John grew up in Bucks County Pennsylvania. His first and greatest inspirations were Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak. As he approached fifth grade his influences switched to Bugs Bunny cartoons and Mad Magazine. He studied art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and spent his summers drawing caricatures on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ. He lived in NYC until 1997, when he moved to Brattleboro, Vermont where he currently lives with his wife, his two children, and his husky. When he is not writing and illustrating he travels around the country sharing his creative process with school children.