Puffin Modern Classics Books

Elizabeth Janet Gray (1902-1999) was born and grew up in Philadelphia. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College, and in the years that followed, under the names Elizabeth Janet Gray and Elizabeth Gray Vining, she wrote many books for adults and children, including the Newbery Award winner Adam of the Road. During and immediately after World War II, Elizabeth worked for the American Friends Service Committee. In 1946 she was appointed tutor to Crown Prince Akihito of Japan and later wrote the widely read Windows for the Crown Prince. She is the author of several novels and biographies and two autobiographical works.

Walt Morey was an award-winning author of numerous works of children’s fiction set in the U.S. Pacific Northwestand Alaska, the places where Morey lived for all of his life. His book Gentle Ben was the basis for the 1967 movie Gentle Giant and the 1967-1969 television show Gentle Ben.

Ellen Raskin was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up during the Great Depression. She was the author of several novels, including the Newbery Medal-winning The Westing Game, the Newbery Honor-winning Figgs & Phantoms, The Tattooed Potato and other clues, and The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel). She also wrote and illustrated many picture books and was an accomplished graphic artist. She designed dust jackets for dozens of books, including the first edition of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic A Wrinkle in Time. Ms. Raskin died at the age of fifty-six on August 8, 1984, in New York City.

Jean Fritz, the Newbery Honor-winning author of Homesick, is best known for her engaging and enlightening nonfiction for young readers, including What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?, And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?, and Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution. She was honored with the Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature by the New York State Library Association, and won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her career contribution to American children’s literature.

Robert Lawson (1892-1957) received his art training at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. His favorite medium, pen and ink, is used expressively and with detail in his black and white illustrations in The Story of Ferdinand (by Munro Leaf). In addition to illustrating many children’s books, including Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Robert Lawson also wrote and illustrated a number of his own books for children. In 1940, he was awarded the Caldecott Medal for his picture book illustrations in They Were Strong and Good and in 1944, he was awarded the Newbery Medal for his middle grade novel Rabbit Hill.