Jan Wahl was born in Columbus, Ohio on April 1, 1931. He received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1953 and a master's degree from the University of Michigan in 1958. He worked with director Carl T. Dreyer on the film Ordet. He was also the secretary for author Isak Dinesen but was fired for misspelling two words.
His first children's book, Pleasant Fieldmouse, was published in 1964. He went on to write more than 100 books for children including Humphrey's Bear, Furious Flycycle, How the Children Stopped the Wars, I Met a Dinosaur, The Fieldmouse and the Dinosaur Named Sue, The Art Collector, and Hedy and Her Amazing Invention. He received numerous awards including the Bologna (Italy) Book Fair Young Critic's Prize in 1969, the Ohioana Book Award in 1970, the Parents Choice Award in 1987, the Redbook Award in 1987, the Christopher Medal in 1987, and the Coretta Scott King recognition in 1992. He died of prostate cancer on January 29, 2019 at the age of 87.
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