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After working for various architecture firms in Portland, Oregon, Daniel traveled far to the east-all the way to Tokyo, Japan where he now works as an English teacher and an children's book illustrator. He fancies himself an “imaginary architect” and designs fantastic cities and buildings for animals to live and work and play in, just like the character in his latest book, Come Back Soon, Mr. Elephant does.

And just like Mr. Elephant, Daniel sometimes feels a bit clumsy and big and forgetful...Fortunately, he always feels at home with his wife and two young children.

Recent review of my book Come Back Soon:

Civil penguins and elusive Nobbles
Boston Globe Book Reviews By Peter Neumeyer
Entire fictional universes, made to scale and complete in every detail, have been created by daring writers such as Jonathan Swift (“Gulliver’s Travels’’) and Jean de Brunhoff (“The Story of Babar’’). Daniel Schallau’s Icetown in “Come Back Soon’’ warrants inclusion in any listing of great literary landscapes.

Icetown, inhabited solely by penguins, is an architectural fantasy, splendid with a new ice hotel, designed by Elephant, who gets invited back to celebrate his creation.

Amid the festivities, the giant snowball Elephant is riding goes haywire and smashes into the hotel. With the help of all the penguins, matters are soon set aright. Readers will be left with a deep affection for the penguins, who treat each other with unfailing courtesy and rationality, offering us a model for behavior that encourages both civility and thriving commerce. The entire tale intriguingly takes place on two levels: the detailed primary illustrations, which then are platonically repeated in a shadow play against the icy landscape and the wintry sky.