Birches

Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26th 1874 in San Francisco, California and died on January 29th, 1963 in Boston, Massachusetts. He won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and was bestowed a Congressional Gold Medal, “in recognition of his poetry, which enriched the culture of the United States and the philosophy of the world.” On July 22, 1961 he was named Poet laureate of Vermont. His popularity is unmatched in the annals of American poetry; by the end of his life he had achieved the iconic status of “living legend.”

Caldecott medalist Ed Young was born in Tientsin, China, and brought up in Shanghai. He cites the philosophy of Chinese painting as an inspiration for much of his work. “A Chinese painting is often accompanied by words,” he explains; “they are complementary. There are things that words do that pictures never can, and likewise, there are images that words can never describe.”Mr. Young has been illustrating children’s books for more than twenty years and has won many awards. He received the 1990 Caldecott Medal for his book Lon Po Po, and his much-lauded collaboration with anthologist Nancy Larrick, Cats Are Cats, was named one of the Ten Best Illustrated Books of 1988 by The New York Times.Mr. Young studied at the University of Illinois, the Art Center of Los Angeles, and Pratt Institute in New York City. He and his family live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.copyright 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.