Scott Cook has been a Steiff enthusiast since he was a young boy growing up in Jackson, Mississippi. He still has among his collection his first little Steiff elephant, monkey and hand puppets. His home is now in Tenants Harbor where he continues to create his art, gardens and explores the natural beauty of this coastal area of Maine.

His work has been published by Random House, Alfred A. Knopf, Simon and Schuster, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He is the recipient of the 1990 Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators in New York and was selected by the United States Board of Books for Young Readers as one of 18 American children’s book illustrators to represent the USA at the Bratislava Bienniale in Czechoslovakia.

His books have received many awards, recognitions and starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus and Booklist who called his first book, The Gingerbread Boy, “as fresh and warm as newly baked bread.”

His work was chosen for the full color cover of the Wilson Library Bulletin in October 1989; for the cover art for the Alfred A. Knopf Spring 1989 Catalog for children’s books; and his work was featured in the windows of Tiffany & Co., in New York during April of 1995.

Eudora Welty, a friend and fellow native Mississippian referred to his illustrations for the book With a Whoop and a Holler as “delightful, full of energy, wit and life. I love the sense of commotion in the illustrations, and the music of the language, and I imagine it will be enjoyed by adults every bit as much as children.”

When not at his easel, he enjoys teaching others. By introducing new students to the world of art, Scott hopes he can pass on the appreciation and sense of wonder that has become the foundation for his creative life.