Derek at the top of the Eiffel Tower, Paris.
(Can you tell Derek doesn't like heights?)

Author/Illustrator Derek Anderson drew the very first picture he can ever remember drawing when he was in kindergarten. It was a picture of the Easter Bunny. And when he finished it, he gave it to the principal of his school who hung it on the wall of his office for the rest of the school year. Derek's fate was sealed. From then on, he knew he was going to be an artist.

When he reached second grade, Derek wrote his very first story and he's never stopped writing or drawing since.

Derek illustrated Ready?Set.Raymond! by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and Little Quack by Lauren Thompson, for which he received recognition as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start. Little Quack quickly became a New York Times bestseller and has gone on to great acclaim, winning such awards as the ALA/CBC Children's Choice Award and the National Parenting Publication Gold Award. Derek also illustrated Little Quack's Hide and Seek, Little Quack's Bedtime, Little Quack's New Friend, Over the River: A Turkey's Tale, The Potty Train and Ballyhoo Bay. Derek has authored a number of books as well including Gladys Goes Out to Lunch, Blue Burt and Wiggles, How the Easter Bunny Saved Christmas and Romeo and Lou Blast Off, which was named one of the best books of 2007 by Parent & Child Magazine.

Derek's newest book, Hot Rod Hamster, written by author Cynthia Lord, is published by Scholastic Press and is in stores now. You can find a book trailer on Derek's Doodles & Splatters page along with information about all of Derek's books.

Much more of Derek's art can be seen in the Cyber Cheese and Gallery pages of this site.