As the “go-to guy” for whimsical animal illustrations for many years, Ward Schumaker had amassed a vast trove of his signature zoological portraits. In 1991, he approached Chronicle Books with the idea for All My Best Friends Are Animals. In this unique address book, you filed contacts under the animal they most closely resembled instead of alphabetically. The book, followed by several subsequent variations, went on to become bestsellers. Several years later, The Bark magazine selected the dog drawings from among that collection, illustrating a series of sketchbooks they published. Ward estimates that between the two series, these drawings financed his son Matthew’s education. What kind of dog does Matthew have? “Oh, he’s really a cat person.”