It didn't take long before he was hired as a resident cartoonist. William stayed with The New Yorker for most of his career. Many of his cartoons were considered too dark to be published in the paper, so he began exploring other publishing options. He wrote a few adult books exploring unhealthy relationships and social outsiders, but eventually found his second calling in children's books. William wrote about animals because he could make animals do wacky things. He also loved employing big words because, he said, children loved the sounds of big words even if they couldn't understand them. William also invented the very popular trend of insulting greeting cards. Basically, the entire humor category of the Hallmark store was jumpstarted by William.
William Steig
the author and illustrator
THE BOOK
here once was a little boy named William Steig. William's Mom and Dad wanted him to grow up to be an artist. Fortunately, William wanted that too. William sold his first cartoon to The New Yorker in 1930 for a whopping $40.
the book
Shrek!
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disgusting: a groundbreaking quality in a children's book. Shrek! took a traditional villain and turned him into the protagonist. William didn't portray Shrek as a "good guy" either. Instead, he shows Shrek in all of his villainous glory, letting the reader see the world from Shrek's cynical perspective. Read the original story for yourself below!
ne day William Steig wrote a book. He called that book Shrek! Shrek! was not William's most popular book, that title belongs to Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, but Shrek! was impressively