Ed Emberley was born on October 19th in Malden, Massachusetts and raised in Cambridge. He received a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting and illustration from the Massachusetts School of Art. Emberley served in the Army for two years and then completed his formal art training at the Rhode Island School of Design. He spent two years working as a paste-up artist and cartoonist for a Boston direct mail firm and started working as a freelance illustrator in 1960. His first book, The Wing on a Flea (1961), was an ALA Notable and made the New York Times list of best illustrated books for that year. Drummer Hoff won the 1968 Caldecott Medal. In addition to illustrating science and story books, Emberley has written and illustrated several popular drawing books for children. Ed and Barbara Emberley live in Ipswich, Massachusetts, where they also enjoy printing limited editions of children's books with their private hand press, Bird in the Bush.
