Background
Ted Dewan was born in 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Ted studied engineering at Rhode Island's Brown University.
Ted Dewan was born in 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Ted studied engineering at Rhode Island's Brown University. He also studied art with author and illustrator David Macaulay.
After teaching physics at Milton Academy in Boston, Dewan decided to make a career change. He began illustrating books for children, starting with several volumes by science writer Steve Parker. Inside the Whale showcases Dewan's pen-and-ink and watercolor drawings in a book that examines the morphology of the world's largest mammals. Similar in format, Inside Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures investigates the processes used by scientists to recreate detailed models of dinosaurs.
With the success of his illustrations for Parker, Dewan moved on to create his own stories for children. Published in 1996, Top Secret: Don't Breathe a Word reveals, in a comic-book format, the complex technology and heroic bravery responsible for the legend of the tooth fairy. In it, the "new kid," one of seven turtle-like creatures, describes the dangerous mission with which his crew has been charged. Their goal: undetected tooth extraction from beneath the pillow of a sleeping girl and replacement of said tooth with a shiny coin.
Despite its Disney-popularized story line, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Dewan's next endeavor, is no less original. True, it is based on a ballad by eighteenthcentury German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, it is doubtful, however, that Goethe could have imagined a robot cast in the title role. In a workshop that School Librarian contributor Anne Rowe described as "a cross between a metal workshop and Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory," Dewan's modern-day "sorcerer" puts together gears, wires, bulbs, transistors, and other mechanical things to create new inventions. Because his workshop is becoming too cluttered with bits of leftover stuff, he wires together a savvy robot apprentice to clean up after him. The first robot, who quickly becomes addicted to technology himself in the form of television, accumulates enough stuff to build a successor to perform all the hard work; the new robot does the same. So it goes, until the robots revolt against the sorcerer, forcing the inventor to flip the "off" switch on the entire mechanical crew - all except his original apprentice. Incorporating his interest in electronic music, Dewan created a tape of musical accompaniment to compliment this visual story. The music, arranged by Dewan, is by Paul-Abraham Dukas and Camille Saint-Saens, with the exception of Dewan's original composition, "The March of the Robots." Ted resides in England.
Ted married Helen Cooper, an author and illustrator. They had a daughter Pandora.