About the Author

Charley Harper was an American illustrator who worked from his studio in the woods near Cincinnati, Ohio, until his death in 2007, at the age of eighty-four. He is beloved for his delightful, graphic, and often humorous illustrations of nature, animals, insects, and people alike. Charley liked to say that when he paints a bird, he doesn't count all the feathers in the wings--he just counts the wings. Minimal realism, he called it, and his unique and precise style continues to resonate with and inspire his admirers both young and old.