American author, naturalist, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) is best known for his book Walden and his essay Civil Disobedience. His lasting contributions to American literature focus on natural history, self-sufficient living, and individuality. John Porcellino has been writing, drawing, and publishing minicomics, comics, and graphic novels for the last twenty-five years. His celebrated series King-Cat Comics, begun in 1989, has inspired a generation of cartoonists. Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man, a collection of King-Cat stories about Porcellino's experiences as a pest control worker, won an Ignatz Award in 2005. Perfect Example, first published in 2000, chronicles his struggles with depression as a teenager. According to cartoonist Chris Ware, "John Porcellino's comics distill, in just a few lines and words, the feeling of simply being alive." Porcellino currently lives in Denver with his wife, Misun, and a small black cat named Maisie Kukoc.