People like Melinda Long

David Shannon (born October 5, 1959) is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Shannon grew up in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design and now lives in Los Angeles. In 1998 he won the Caldecott Honor for his No, David!. He has also written A Bad Case of Stripes, How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball, and The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza. Shannon illustrated Audrey Wood's The Bunyans, Rafe Martin's The Rough Face Girl, various books by Jane Yolen, including The Ballad of the Pirate Queens and Encounter, as well as Melinda Long's How I Became a Pirate and Pirates Don't Change Diapers.

David Shannon was born in Washington, D.C., but he also spent his childhood in Spokane, Washington. In an interview with Sonia Bolle in the Children's Literature Review (CLR), he said, "I loved Oliver Twist, but I liked the Artful Dodger more than Oliver. And I always thought the villains in Disney Movies were really cool." Shannon said that this fondness for villains made him realize as a child that "you need both sides for a good story."