Alan Snow

Alan Snow (* 1959 in Kent , England ) is an English children's author and illustrator. He is best known for his 2005 novel Here Be Monsters! , which was also successfully filmed in 2014 under the title Die Boxtrolls .

Snow studied fashion design and illustration at Salisbury College of Art in Wiltshire . After college, he worked in a number of different professions, eventually mainly illustrating books, and working on the design and illustration of computer games and animated films. Since then he has illustrated over 160 children's books and has helped design a science museum for children in Japan.

Snow published the novel Here Be Monsters! , which he illustrated himself with over 500 drawings. The novel has 544 pages and was later published in three volumes, of which only the first two volumes appeared in Germany. The Die Monster von Rattingen (English Ratbridge Chronicles ), all of which take place in the fictional Victorian town of Rattingen (English Ratbridge), in whose underground the box trolls live. The novel became a bestseller and was filmed in 2014 by the Laika animation studio .

Works (selection)

• Machines, cars, boats, and airplanes (1989)

  Eva Bobzin (translator): Cars, tractors, trucks and machines (1990)

• My First Encyclopedia

  Eva Hämmerle (translator): My first encyclopedia (1991)

• My First Atlas (1991)

  Eva Hämmerle (translator): My first atlas (1992)

• Big Book of Knowledge (1992)
• The Monster Book of ABC Sounds (1994)
• The Truth about Cats (1995)
• What Color Is It? What Shape Is It? (1995)
• Here be monsters! (2005), Part 1 of the Ratbridge Chronicles

  as single volumes:

  • Pants Ahoy!

    Ann Lecker-Chewiwi (translator): The monsters of Rattingen: Arthur and the cheese thieves (2009)

  • The Man in the Iron Socks

    Ann Lecker-Chewiwi (translator): The monsters of Rattingen - The man with the iron socks (2009)

  • Cheese Galore!

• Wacky Guide to Paper Fun (2007)
• How Dogs Really Work (2009)
• How Cats Really Work (2009)
• Worse Things Happen At Sea (2010), Part 2 of the Ratbridge Chronicles
• How Dinosaurs Really Work (2012)

  Ulli and Herbert Günther (translator): How dinosaurs really worked (2013)

• How Pirates Really Work (2013)

Web links

• Literature by and about Alan Snow in the catalog of the German National Library
• The Boxtrolls on Focus Features, includes a short biography of Alan Snow
• Boxtrolls author Alan Snow interview: seeing the world of the boxtrolls made solid by other artists is more than odd on theguardian.com
• Interview with Alan Snow, the author behind this autumn's biggest family film The BoxtrollsInterview with Alan Snow, the author behind this autumn's biggest family film The Boxtrolls on cineworld.co.uk
• http://here-be-monsters.com - Website for the Ratbridge Chronicles