uu27itu: happy birthday quotes for grandma

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Brown's well-known character Arthur Read, an aardvark, was "born one night when Brown was telling a bedtime story to his son". Since then, Brown's stories about Arthur have developed over the years into the first Arthur book, Arthur's Nose, which was published in 1976. After his first book, Brown continued to write and illustrate more than thirty other children's books about Arthur and his younger sister Dora Winifred Read. Many of the characters from his books were inspired by people in Brown's life growing up, such as Grandma Thora. Brown looks at his past experiences and to his three children for inspiration. He also gets suggestions from the students at the schools he visits. Brown's Arthur books turned out to be very popular among young audiences and sold five million copies over the years between 1976 and 1995. However, with the debut of the animated "Arthur" TV series in 1996, another 45 million books were sold from 1996 to 2001. Finally in 2001, the "Arthur" TV show was rewarded with the prestigious Peabody Award.

While growing up in Erie, Pennsylvania with his three sisters, Brown's grandmother Thora told them many stories. This inspired Brown to write stories of his own in the later years of his life. It was Grandma Thora who also fueled Brown's penchant for drawing which was discovered at the age of six. Eventually, his high school art teacher, Nancy Bryan introduced him to watercolors, which he now uses for the majority of his illustrations. Brown was inspired by other artists like Marc Chagall. Maurice Sendak, the author of the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" also influenced Brown in deciding on a career choice.