Chuck Jones was born in Washington, but grew up and lived in California. He was one of four children who grew up in a house full of thousands of books, Mark Twain being his favorite author. Twain played such an important role in Jones life that he even inspired Jones creation of Wile E. Coyote. Jones memoir, Chuck Amuck, he states that he drew upon Twain’s description of the coyote in his novel Roughing It, “The coyote is long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton, with a gray wolf-skin stretched over it… The coyote is a living, breathing allegory of want. He is always hungry. He is always poor, out of luck and friendless.”. Jones developed his drawing skills on both pencils and paper from his father failed business. He was encouraged