Chris Van Allsburg

Chris Van Allsburg is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He has won two Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, for Jumanji (1981) and The Polar Express (1985), both of which he also wrote, and were later adapted as successful motion pictures. He was also a Caldecott runner-up in 1980 for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. For his contribution as a children's illustrator, he was a 1986 U.S. nominee for the biennial International Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition for creators of children's books. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Michigan in April 2012.

18 June 1949

Born on the same birth date (18 June 1949): Jarosław Kaczyński • Lech Kaczyński

Born on the same birth day (18 June): Angela Johnson (writer) • Bartolomeo Ammannati • Brooks Firestone • Carl Radle • Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran • Edgars Eriņš • Glenn Morris • Julie Depardieu • Katie Derham • Maxim Kovtun • Nathan Cavaleri • Paul Eddington • Ray McKinley • Stephen Hopper • Takeoff (rapper)

Born in the same month (June 1949): Alan Osmond • Andy Scott (guitarist) • Dan Dierdorf • Derek Emslie, Lord Kingarth • Dusty Baker • Frank Beard (musician) • Frank Rich • Fredric Brandt • Gordon Bray • Harry Turtledove • Holly Near • Jarosław Kaczyński • Joan Clos • Mark B. Cohen • Meryl Streep • Red Symons • Richard Clarke (bishop) • Snakefinger • Yoon Joo-sang