Drew Daywalt (born January 5, 1970), is an American author and
filmmaker. He is best known for writing the best-selling children's
picture book The Day the Crayons Quit, and its sequel The Day the
Crayons Came Home, both illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. Daywalt is also
known for writing scripts for American television and Hollywood studio
films, and for creating a number of short horror films for release on
the internet.Drew Daywalt was born in Hudson, Ohio on January 5, 1970,
the youngest of six children, to Charlene (née Bable) and Charles
Daywalt. “I grew up in a house in Hudson, Ohio, that was notoriously
haunted. It looked like ‘The Munsters.’†The house had a storied
reputation in the local area, having supposedly been a stagecoach
stop, a brothel, and a respite on the Underground Railroad at various
times.Daywalt’s older brothers, however unintentionally, fostered
his interest in scary stories. He relates, “My older brothers would
always let me stay up way too late on Friday nights, drink Mountain
Dew, watch horror movies. I was always getting into their comic
books… Heavy Metal and Creepy and Tales from the Crypt. Also, at the
time â€" this is going back to the mid 70s, almost into the early 80s
â€" they were reading Tolkien and lot of that, so I had that as one
side of my experiences. Growing up in a haunted house, watching horror
movies with my older brothers and getting into their stash of horror
magazines and comic books.†During the same period, Daywalt's mother,
Charlene, would often come home from work and read to him from the
works of well-known children's authors, like Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl and
Maurice Sendak. “I was constantly being inundated by other
worlds…,†said Daywalt. “A lot of what I do, whether it’s
either horror or children’s lit, comes from that period in my
life.â€
filmmaker. He is best known for writing the best-selling children's
picture book The Day the Crayons Quit, and its sequel The Day the
Crayons Came Home, both illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. Daywalt is also
known for writing scripts for American television and Hollywood studio
films, and for creating a number of short horror films for release on
the internet.Drew Daywalt was born in Hudson, Ohio on January 5, 1970,
the youngest of six children, to Charlene (née Bable) and Charles
Daywalt. “I grew up in a house in Hudson, Ohio, that was notoriously
haunted. It looked like ‘The Munsters.’†The house had a storied
reputation in the local area, having supposedly been a stagecoach
stop, a brothel, and a respite on the Underground Railroad at various
times.Daywalt’s older brothers, however unintentionally, fostered
his interest in scary stories. He relates, “My older brothers would
always let me stay up way too late on Friday nights, drink Mountain
Dew, watch horror movies. I was always getting into their comic
books… Heavy Metal and Creepy and Tales from the Crypt. Also, at the
time â€" this is going back to the mid 70s, almost into the early 80s
â€" they were reading Tolkien and lot of that, so I had that as one
side of my experiences. Growing up in a haunted house, watching horror
movies with my older brothers and getting into their stash of horror
magazines and comic books.†During the same period, Daywalt's mother,
Charlene, would often come home from work and read to him from the
works of well-known children's authors, like Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl and
Maurice Sendak. “I was constantly being inundated by other
worlds…,†said Daywalt. “A lot of what I do, whether it’s
either horror or children’s lit, comes from that period in my
life.â€
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