Mike Thaler

Michael Charles Thaler (October 8, 1936 – March 23, 2024) was an American author and illustrator of children's books.

[3] In November 1960, Thaler wrote and illustrated a Christmas themed cartoon which he submitted to Harper's Bazaar called The Fallen Star.

[4] That same month, he was asked to submit a manuscript for a children's book to Ursula Nordstrom, an editor at Harper and Brothers, after she read The Fallen Star.

[5] Nordstrom selected three of Thaler's manuscripts to publish in 1962 and 1963: The Clown's Smile, Penny Pencil and Moon Boy.

He visited elementary schools[24] throughout the country as one of the authors for the Jello Reading Rocket program for one year.

The four fractured fairy tales, Hanzel and Pretzel, The Princess and Pea-ano, Schmoe White and the Seven Dorfs and Cinderella Bigfoot,[29] illustrated by Jared Lee, won the 1998 International Reading Association (IRA) Children's Choice award,[30] and #1 pick by USA Today.

Cincinnati Enquirer commentator, Sara Pearce, dubbed Thaler and Jared Lee "The court jesters of children's literature".