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BIOGRAPHY
John Steven Gurney 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. By the time he studied illustration at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY his idols were N.C. Wyeth and Norman Rockwell. He lived in New York City until 1997, when he moved to Brattleboro, Vermont where he currently lives with his wife, his two children.
Dinosaur Train was inspired by his son Jesse, who as a toddler, was completely fixated on trains and dinosaurs (Jesse is now a teenager, and has moved on to other fixations).
John likes to use his friends and family to pose for as the characters in his books. So far more than forty adults and children from Brattleboro have appeared in The A to Z Mysteries and The Bailey School Kids.
When he's not chained to his desk he enjoys running. He ran the NYC marathon in 2008, but since then he sticks to half-marathons and under. In the winter he likes to play racquetball, cross country ski and occasionally goes snowboarding (nothing fancy, just tries to get down the hill in one piece). Every June he dusts off his saxophone and marches in Brattleboro's Strolling of the Heifers parade. Recently he has discovered ceramics, and enjoys making octopi, baseball pitchers, and dinosaurs out of clay. John also works as a caricature artist throughout New York City and New England.
LEARN MORE ABOUT JOHN STEVEN GURNEY