Chris Soentpiet

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Chris Soentpiet (also known as Chris K. Soentpiet) is a Korean American children's book illustrator and author. He was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1970. At age 8, he moved to Hawaii to live with his adoptive family. A year later, the Soentpiets relocated to Portland, Oregon. Soentpiet currently lives and works in New York City.

Around Town, a picture book written and illustrated by Soentpiet, marked the artist's debut in 1994. Today, Soentpiet is recognized as an award-winning illustrator in the children's book industry. His books have received numerous honors, including, but not limited to, the International Reading Association Teachers' Choice Award, NAACP Image Award, Parents' Choice Gold Award, Parents Magazine Best Children's Book of the Year, North Carolina Children's Book Award, Georgia Children's Picture Book Award, International Reading Association Notable Children's Book for a Global Society, and American Library Association Notable Book.

Soentpiet's research for the picture chapter book Peacebound Trains (author: Haemi Balgassi) took him back to his country of birth, South Korea, for the first time since his adoption in 1978. In 1996, Soentpiet won the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal for his paintings in Peacebound Trains. The United States Department of Defense published an online edition of the book and featured it, complete with a Teacher Activity Guide, on the United States of America Korean War Commemoration site. Peacebound Trains is the only book to receive this honor.

On his official website and a number of interviews, the artist credits Ted Lewin and Betsy Lewin for encouraging him to pursue a career as a children's book illustrator.

[edit] Books

  • Around Town
  • A Sign (author: George Ella Lyon)
  • Brothers (author: Yin)
  • Coolies (author: Yin)
  • Dear Santa, Please Come to the 19th Floor (author: Yin)
  • Jin Woo (author: Eve Bunting)
  • The Last Dragon (author: Susan Miho Nunes)
  • Momma, Where Are You From? (author: Marie Bradby)
  • Molly Bannaky (author: Alice McGill)
  • More Than Anything Else (author: Marie Bradby)
  • My Brother Martin (author: Christine King Farris)
  • Peacebound Trains (author: Haemi Balgassi)
  • Saturdays and Teacakes (author: Lester L. Laminack)
  • The Silence in the Mountains (author: Liz Rosenberg)
  • Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story (author: Cynthia Rylant)
  • So Far from the Sea (author: Eve Bunting)
  • Something Beautiful (author: Sharon Dennis Wyeth)
  • Where Is Grandpa? (author: T. A. Barron)

[edit] External links

[edit] Media