Trophy Picture Books Books

Russell Hoban was the author of A Bargain for Frances, A Baby Sister for Frances, Best Friends for Frances, A Birthday for Frances, and Bread and Jam for Frances, all illustrated by Lillian Hoban. He also wrote Bedtime for Frances, illustrated by Garth Williams.

Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski have collaborated on several books together. Mr. Egielski lives in Milford, New Jersey.

Shirley Climo’s love of folklore began in her childhood and has provided the background for many of her children’s books, such as The Korean Cinderella, Magic & Mischief: Tales from Cornwall, A Treasury of Princesses: Princess Tales from Around the World, A Treasury of Mermaids: Mermaid Tales from Around the World, and Someone Saw a Spider: Spider Facts and Folktales, an NCTE Teacher’s Choice and Library of Congress Best Children’s Book that was originally inspired by her research for Cobweb Christmas. Mrs. Climo and her husband live in Los Altos, California.

Patricia MacLachlan is a versatile and prolific author whose titles range from picture books to novels, including the Newbery Medal–winning Sarah, Plain and Tall. Barkus was inspired by the imagined adventures of her neighbor’s dog. She lives in Massachusetts

CHARLOTTE ZOLOTOW wrote more than seventy books, many of which are picture book classics. She is survived by her truly extraordinary legacy

Lillian Hoban was the author and illustrator of many favorite I Can Read books, including Joe and Betsy the Dinosaur, Silly Tilly’s Thanksgiving, and a series about Arthur the Chimpanzee. She also illustrated many picture books, including the classic stories about Frances.

After receiving a fine arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley and completing two years of graduate work in design at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, Ruth Heller (1923-2004) began her career designing wrapping paper, cocktail napkins, greeting cards, and coloring books. After five years of rejection and one complete revision, Heller’s first book, Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones, about egg-laying animals, was published in 1981. It was so successful that the sequel, and second book to be published, Animals Born Alive And Well (1982), about mammals, quickly followed. In 1983 and 1984, her third and fourth titles, The Reason For A Flower (about plants that have seeds and flowers) and Plants That Never Ever Bloom (about plants that do not) were published.

Loretta Krupinski has illustrated several children’s books, including Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here by Jean Craighead George, The Irish Cinderlad by Shirley Climo, and her own Into the Woods: A Woodland Scrapbook. She has also illustrated one other book in the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro. She successfully grew all the bean plants pictured in this book. She lives on the coast of Maine.

Wendell Minor has illustrated dozens of picture books, and his work has won countless awards and is in permanent collections of such institutions as the Museum of American Illustration and the Library of Congress. His cover illustrations have graced some of the most significant novels of our time by authors such as Toni Morrison, David McCullough, and James Michener. He lives in Washington, Connecticut. Visit him online at MinorArt.com.