William Sherman Pène du Bois[a] (May 9, 1916 – February 5, 1993) was an American writer and illustrator of books for young readers.
[3][4] His mother was Florence Sherman Pène du Bois[5] who worked as a children's fashion designer until "Billy" was about seven years old.
In 1960 he developed an interest in vintage cars, going to great pains and expense to refurbish a 1931 Brewster Croydon Coupe Rolls-Royce P11.
He was one of the founding editors of The Paris Review along with Thomas Guinzburg, Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, George Plimpton, and John P. C. Train, and designed the publication's logo.
[8] He was the illustrator for Claire Huchet Bishop's Twenty and Ten, which won the Child Study Association of America's Children's Book Award (now Josette Frank) in 1952.
The Twenty-One Balloons, however – and others including The Three Policemen, The Great Geppy, Squirrel Hotel, Peter Graves and The Giant – appeal to all ages.
[11] Children's book illustrator Margot Tomes was a cousin, as was theatrical costume and set designer Raoul Pene Du Bois.
To investigate the crime, Geppy poses as a variety of circus entertainers, including a freak, a tightrope walker, and a lion tamer.
In the end he discovers that there has not been any theft; rather, the culprit has been breaking into the company safe to contribute money to the financially struggling circus.
For his success, Geppy is honored as a hero and is even appointed the circus's newest star: he gives an extraordinary performance when shot from a cannon.
Furlong is the inventor of an antigravity material named Furloy, and a Furloy-based invention called "the ball that bounces higher than the height from which you drop it."
The man disappears and the narrator tries to find him by tracing his purchases (48 miniature four-poster beds; 1 gross flashlight bulbs; 2 electric motors, Meccano; 6 American flags; etc.).
A boy lives in an electric house that automatically tips him out of bed into the bath, dresses him and feeds him breakfast every morning without requiring him to move a muscle.
Shivering and struggling to get out of the tub, he lands upside-down in his clothes, is showered with a seven-day backup of breakfast food, and ends up sitting in a big mess on the floor.