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Timothy Christian Merritt is a writer and illustrator living in Dallas, Texas.
Timothy attended Southern Methodist University from 1984-1988, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
His illustrations are hand-drawn and incorporate a variety of media. He is interested in color and how color affects one's emotions and state of mind.
Literary influences include Shel Silverstein, Lewis Carroll and the writing, music and style of the Beatles. Timothy's writing is one that invokes mental images with words, particularly weird words.
Hyer Elementary School is his favorite school he has attended - a school that was just the right size, with rose bushes planted along the perimeter fence, a slice of pizza in the cafeteria cost $1.75 and a cozy library where he learned to read and was introduced to books.
His favorite children's books include: The Giving Tree, Where the Wild Things Are, May I Bring a Friend, Babushka and the Three Kings, and Hailstones and Halibut Bones.
Reviewed by Juan Lynch for Readers' Favorite
Smarty Pants and Big Britches: The Numbers 0-10, written and illustrated by Timothy Christian Merritt, is an interesting and educational children’s book. Contrary to what the title suggests, the numbers are introduced counting down from 10. Each number has two pages dedicated to it. The first page is of the number centered in a colored rectangle. The second page has a drawing and a poem below it. Both the drawing and the poem are themed around the relevant number. For example, after the page with the drawing of the number 10, the next page features a lion sporting a crown while standing in front of a birthday cake with birthday candles in the shape of the number 10. Naturally, the poem is about the lion’s birthday.
Being in my late twenties, I am not the target audience for Smarty Pants and Big Britches. I nevertheless appreciated Timothy Christian Merritt’s simple but thought-provoking poems, particularly those that personified the numbers. For example, we learn that “the number 3 loves to read.” I believe this is a great way to motivate children to use their imaginations as they will be inspired to personalize the numbers themselves. It is also commendable that the choice of words is bound to expand most children’s vocabulary. Merritt’s illustrations look like something a young child would draw and color. This works to the book's advantage because children are encouraged to write and illustrate a book about numbers themselves.
