Raised on children's picture books in Temple, Texas, Ard Hoyt remembers the
power of his favorite childhood book, The Story of Ferdinand, to take his
imagination into a new world. “Although I wasn't allowed to cross the street as
a young boy,” he says, “I traveled to that bull fight in Spain and could imagine
the aroma of those flowers right alongside the great bull Ferdinand.” A
persistent belief in the ability of such books to unlock a child's imagination
brought Hoyt from a job at the Phoenix Zoo to a career as the illustrator of ten
successful and award-winning children's books.
Hoyt graduated from the Art College Center of Design in Pasadena, California,
with a major in illustration. His collaboration with John Lithgow, the
children's book I'm a Manatee, hit the New York Times bestseller
list, and Say Goodbye to Lulu, which he illustrated for author Corrine
Demas, won the ASPCA's Henry Bergh Children's Book Award. As a father of four,
Hoyt is excited about his work with Dr. Steven L. Layne. Love the Baby,
he believes, holds an important message for new big brothers and sisters
everywhere.
Hoyt lives in Bentonville, Arkansas, with his wife who edits his work and his
daughters who inspire it. He spends his free time with a dog named Lickerish and
a small herd of Texas Longhorn cattle.
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