A different kind of engineer

Matthew Reinhart

Matthew Christian Reinhart (born September 21, 1971) is an American writer and illustrator of children's pop-up books and picture books. His most recent books, including Star Wars: The Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy, Encyclopedia Mythologica: Fairies and Other Magical Creatures (with Robert Sabuda), and Brava, Strega Nona! (with Tomie DePaola and Robert Sabuda) have received much popular and critical acclaim.

Matthew Christian Reinhart was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Gary and Judith Reinhart. After Gary joined the U.S. Navy, Matthew and his younger sister, Erin, moved around the United States with their family, living in Florida, Texas, Illinois, California, Virginia and South Carolina. Art was an important part of Reinhart's life since childhood. He drew constantly, as drawing and making crafts were his favorite activities. After high school, however, Reinhart felt a career in art was unlikely, and biology at Clemson University in South Carolina in preparation for medical school. However, this did not satisfy him, and he took various art courses in addition to his required science courses in order to build up a portfolio. After graduation, he moved to New York City for a year before starting medical school. In New York, he met children’s book author Robert Sabuda, with whom Reinhart did volunteer work for a local community center. After Sabuda's book, Christmas Alphabet, was released to positive reviews, he convinced Reinhart to follow his true calling. The following year, Reinhart attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn as an industrial design major, concentrating in toy design, though his interests eventually evolved to paper engineering.

After working with Sabuda on books such as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, A B C Disney and Movable Mother Goose, Reinhart made his first entry into the pop-up book field with The Pop Up Book Of Phobias.
Reinhart has created many award-winning pop-up books, including Cinderella, Star Wars: The Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy and Mommy? (by Maurice Sendak and Arthur Yorinks). He is the co-creator with Robert Sabuda of the New York Times best-selling three-volume pop-up series Encyclopedia Prehistorica. The team’s latest pop-up series is Encyclopedia Mythologica which leads off with Fairies and Magical Creatures (Candlewick, 2008


And his website: www.matthewreinhart.com

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