The famous nineteenth-century British illustrator who today is credited with inventing contemporary picture books always drew, even on scraps of paper at his first job as a bank clerk. His talent soon got him jobs illustrating for magazines and adult books, and his work caught the eye of engraver Edmund Evans, who hired Caldecott to illustrate a series of children's picture books. Caldecott's picture book illustrations introduced innovations that are now considered conventional, such as adding bits to the story that were not in the narrative. But what he was most known for was his pictures that seemed to jump right off the page. Leonard Marcus's lively and well-documented biography of Caldecott gives readers a clear sense of who Caldecott was and why his work was important in its time, and continues to influence illustrators today. Copiously illustrated with Caldecott's own artwork, the book itself is a work of art befitting its subject. (Age 12 and up)