David Macaulay celebrates his birthday on December 2nd. He was born in Lancashire, England and moved to Bloomfield, New Jersey at the age of eleven. He turned to drawing while adjusting to a fast-paced American lifestyle. He remembers always being fascinated with "how things work." He was inspired to pursue a bachelor's degree in architecture from Rhode Island School of Design and spent a fifth year in the European Honors Program studying in Rome, Herculaneum, and Pompeii.

He worked as an interior designer, a junior high teacher, and a professor at RISD before writing and illustrating his first book, Cathedral, published in1973. Following with City, Pyramid, Castle, and Mill, his books have sold more than two million copies in the U.S. alone and have been translated into a dozen languages. His fascinating Black and White received a Caldecott Medal in 1991. One of his most elaborate show and tells, How Things Work was revised in 1998 and continues to be a favorite of both adults and children.

Macaulay lives and draws in Rhode Island.

—Karen Ritz