Patrick McDonnell
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
Patrick McDonnell is one of roughly one hundred authors whose work was selected by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list — 120 books chosen across four reading stages, from first lap-reads to first chapter books. The selected book was chosen for how precisely it meets children at a real developmental moment. This recognition cannot be bought: no author or publisher paid to appear on our lists, and we take no commission on any book sale.
About Patrick McDonnell
Patrick McDonnell draws the beloved comic strip MUTTS, syndicated worldwide since 1994; his picture books carry the strip's Zen brushwork and animal tenderness, and Me... Jane earned a Caldecott Honor.
A lifelong Jane Goodall admirer, McDonnell ended Me... Jane not with a drawing but with a photograph of the real Jane stepping into Gombe — a page turn he has called the best edit of his career.
Also by this author: The Gift of Nothing · A Perfectly Messed-Up Story
Official website: www.mutts.com
Selected for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list
Part of The Best Children’s Books by Age, chosen by the teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX.