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More About Adam Rex (He/Him)
Languages: English
Adam Rex is the author and illustrator of more than forty books for kids.
These include New York Times bestselling picture books like Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and School’s First Day of School, (with illustrator Christian Robinson). His work has been adapted for film and television.
He’s won some awards, including the Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature and the National Cartoonists Society Book Illustration Award. His debut novel was shortlisted for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.
He used to make art for games like Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. Sometimes he still does.
He lives in Tucson, Arizona, with his dog, son, and wife.
You can find Adam online at:
Adam’s strengths include…
Bringing out the humor in a manuscript and its illustrations
Morals that don't feel moralizing
Line edits
Unconventional approaches to conventional topics
Managing visually complex compositions and value schemes
Writing and illustrating for clarity and focus.
What Adam is looking for…
Adam is looking for an author and/or illustrator mentee who is serious about kids' books as a lifelong pursuit, and is ready for some honest (albeit thoughtful (hopefully?)) criticism.
He is probably best known for humor but he thinks all humor is poetry, and is really just looking for a mentee who wants to approach both poetry and prose with a poet's concern for language and surprise and metaphor and emotion and rhythm and flow.
He doesn't want to make your art like his art, and welcomes all styles—as long as "But that's my style" is not your catch-all excuse not to try something new.
He hopes to connect with someone who wants to revise multiple manuscripts.
He wants to caution you that he's had an agent for 23 years so that he doesn’t have to learn much about the business side of things, so he might not be real helpful there.
A Note from Adam:
“There's an old truism or something that says in the arts it's ideal to be good at what you do, reliably on-time, and a pleasure to work with; but you can get away with being two out of three. I get away with being two out of three. If you can manage the same, we'll probably get along fine.”
Adam’s Picture Books:
Please note that this is only a selection of Adam’s books. To see his full body of work, visit his website.
On Account of the Gum, written and illustrated by Adam Rex
The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors, by Drew Daywalt and Adam Rex
The 13th Day of Christmas, written and illustrated by Adam Rex
Nothing Rhymes with Orange, written and illustrated by Adam Rex
Echo, written and illustrated by Adam Rex
Oh No, the Aunts Are Here, written by Adam Rex, illustrated by Lian Cho
Gladys the Magic Chicken, written by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Adam Rex
Pluto Gets the Call, written by Adam Rex, illustrated by Laurie Keller
Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, written and illustrated by Adam Rex
Next President, written by Kate Messner, illustrated by Adam Rex
School’s First Day of School, written by Adam Rex, illustrated by Christian Robinson
XO, OX: A Love Story, written by Adam Rex, illustrated by Scott Campbell
If Adam created a Visual Wish List, it would be made up of…
Nothing! Adam wants you to show him something that only you could make, not a portfolio or manuscript that reminds him of other picture books on the market.
Adam is a good fit for:
Humor (with or without heart)
Experimental text and illustration
Prose
Rhyming poetry
Illustrators who work in most mediums
Digital illustrations in Photoshop and Procreate
Adam is not a good fit for:
Addressing your medium-based questions about watercolor or gouache
Nonfiction that doesn't have a narrative through line
Telling you much about the business side of publishing in 2025
Who can apply to Adam?
Unagented or Agented Text-Only Authors, Illustrators, or Author-Illustrators.