Meet the author

Max Lang.

Illustrator · United States · b. 1982

Illustrator of the much-loved Grumpy Monkey series and an award-winning animation director, whose warm, comic animal characters make emotional literacy feel effortless for the very young.

Max Lang is a German-American illustrator and animation director, best known to picture-book readers as the illustrator of the hugely popular Grumpy Monkey series, written by his wife Suzanne Lang. His expressive, comic animal cast, led by Jim the chimpanzee, turns everyday childhood moods into something genuinely funny and quietly reassuring, and the books have become a go-to introduction to emotional literacy for the very young. Away from picture books, Lang is an acclaimed animation director who has co-directed screen adaptations of Julia Donaldson stories including The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Zog, work that has brought him Oscar nominations, a BAFTA and Emmys. His illustration carries that same warmth, timing and character.