Jon Agee (born 1960) is a children's book writer and illustrator whose work centers around
wordplay. Since 1981, he has published more than 31 books.[1]
Jon Agee's art style is known for its "trademark blocky ink-and-watercolor illustrations," according to The New York Times.[3]
In the 1990s, he wrote two musicals for children for the Tada! theater company,[4] one of which was titled "B.O.T.C.H", short for Bureau of Turmoil, Chaos and Headaches, a fictional New York City agency in charge of disrupting city functioning.[5]
Jon Agee has published several books of
palindromes and
word play such as
anagrams and
oxymorons.[4] He became interested in them after his friend started writing them. "I liked the way absurdity and logic were intertwined," Agee said.[4] In its review of Agee's book of 60 illustrated oxymorons called "Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp?"[7]The New York Times wrote that "it would be a near miss, if not a minor catastrophe, not to take the calculated risk of treating the whole family to this instant classic."[7]
At the first annual
Symmys palindrome awards, he won in the short palindrome category for "An igloo costs a lot, Ed! Amen. One made to last! So cool, Gina!".[10] He also won in 2021.[4]
Personal life
Agee lives in San Francisco with his wife, Audrey.[2] He enjoys
crossword puzzles. In 2003, New York Times puzzle editor
Will Shortz wrote that Agee had thanked him for including his name in a Friday crossword and joked that "he would not be satisfied until his name appeared in a Monday puzzle, the easiest of the week, where every answer is supposed to be familiar to most solvers. Only then would he know that he had truly arrived."[11]