magazine’s editorial voice for 24 years. The theme of the feature was to take what seemed to be an ordinary scene from life and introduce an unexpected element. The first drawing in the series appeared in the February 1982 issue and the final in the series appeared in the February 2006 issue. The artist considers this series to be his most significant works. Thanks in part to this regular exposure, he was soon one of the most sought-after illustrators in North America. In 2008, Billout would be brought back to do another series for The Atlantic, which ran under the title Gallery and would run until 2012. Billout's client list includes The Atlantic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Oprah, Travel & Leisure, Business Week, Fortune, Time, and many others. Books In 1973, Billout's first children's book, Number 24 was reviewed by New York Times Book Review author Selma G. Lanes, who called it "a surreal work, as mysterious as a roomful of René Magritte paintings." His first book contained no text.The New York Times would list it as one of the top ten illustrated children's books of the year. Published under the imprint of Harlin Quist, three editions of the book were issued in the same year it was printed. In 2010 a digitized version for DVD would be released with a musical score, produced by Label Frères and Patrick Couratin, titled Bus 24. Billout added words to his second book released six years later in 1979, By Camel or by Car: A Look at Transportation. According to Connie Tyrrell in School Library Journal this book featured works "simple nearly to the point of austere yet meticulous in detail, with a bold use of color". Billout would follow up the following year with his third book, Stone and Steel: A Look at Engineering. Paul Goldberger, writing in The New York Times Book Review, lamented that Billout's failure to incorporate much factual information in his brief text in Stone and Steel would frustrate young readers. Regardless, Billout's Stone and Steel would be listed as one of the top ten pictures books of the year by The New York Times. Thunderbolt and Rainbow: A Look at Greek Mythology, Billout's fourth book released in 1981 depicts a modern-day Manhattan inhabited by the gods of the ancient Greeks. "The writing is swift and unfailingly interesting,"