Most kids love to draw, and some, like artist Oliver Jeffers, never stop. The 41-year-old Irishman, whose cartoonish illustrations and spindly handwriting have filled more than 15 children’s picture books in a 20-year career, knew he wanted to draw professionally from age 13. Today, working in a wide range of media—painting, photography, bookmaking, sculpture, performance and illustration—Jeffers thematically dwells on the “two great unknowns” of our world, outer space and the depths of the ocean. In so doing, he’s sold more than 10 million copies. “I’ve never really specified any of my books are for children as I feel it relegates non-children from reading them,” he says...
