Anita Lobel

Anita Lobel
Born	Anita Kempler (1934-06-02)June 2, 1934 Krakow, Poland
Occupation	Illustrator
Nationality	American
Education	Pratt Institute
Genre	Children's picture books
Notable works	Alison's Zinnia On Market Street No Pretty Pictures (memoir) A New Coat for Anna
Spouse	Arnold Lobel
Children	Adrianne Lobel, Adam Lobel
Website
anita-lobel.com

Anita Lobel (née Kempler; born June 2, 1934) is a Polish-American illustrator of children's books, including A New Coat for Anna, This Quiet Lady, Alison's Zinnia, and On Market Street, which won a Caldecott Honor for illustrations. One Lighthouse, One Moon, one of three books she created about her cat, Nini, is a New York Times Best Illustrated Book. Her childhood memoir, No Pretty Pictures, was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Biography

She was born in Krakow, Poland, to a merchant family. When she was five years old, World War II began and she, her brother and their nanny, whom they called Niania, were forced into hiding for the next four and a half years, first in the countryside, then in a ghetto, and finally in a convent, where the Nazis caught them. She and her brother were then sent to a concentration camp in Germany. They were rescued in 1945 by the Swedish Red Cross and reunited with their parents in 1947. Though she could read and write, Lobel didn't begin school until age 13. In 1952, her family moved from Sweden to New York City where she graduated from high school and earned a B.F.A. in fine arts from Pratt Institute. While taking part in a school play at Pratt, she met her future husband, Arnold Lobel, who was the play's director.

After graduation, she worked for several years as a textile designer until Susan Hirschman asked her to make a book. Published in 1965, Sven's Bridge was the first book she wrote and illustrated. The illustrations include examples of Swedish folk designs from the author's childhood. Her third book, Potatoes, Potatoes, is based partly on her childhood in Poland, and her fourth book, The Troll Music, "was mainly inspired by the bottom parts of medieval tapestries with all the vegetation and little animals running around."

For many years, she worked with her husband, writer-illustrator Arnold Lobel. They had two children – daughter Adrianne, who was married to actor Mark Linn-Baker, and son Adam – and three grandchildren. Their first and second collaborations were How the Rooster Saved the Day and A Treeful of Pigs. She received a Caldecott Honor in 1982 for another, On Market Street.

After her husband's death in 1987, she went onto to write and illustrate Alison's Zinnia's and the book Away from Home, a companion piece focusing on boys rather than girls. In 1998, she produced No Pretty Pictures, which is a memoir of her childhood. The story begins in 1939, when she was five years old, and continues through 1947, when she and her brother were reunited with their parents. After that, she illustrated a counting book, One Lighthouse, One Moon. Throughout this time, she has illustrated works of other authors, including Charlotte S. Huck and Kevin Henkes.

Awards

She has received three Best Illustrated Book selections from The New York Times Book Review, in 1965 for Sven's Bridge, in 1981 for On Market Street, and in 2000 for One Lighthouse, One Moon. How the Rooster Saved the Day is a New York Times Outstanding Book selection for 1977. She received two Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for illustration, first for On Market Street, and later in 1984 for The Rose in My Garden. On Market Street was also a finalist for the Caldecott Medal and American Book Award. No Pretty Pictures has also won many awards, including a National Book Award, a Judy Lopez Memorial Medal for Children's Literature, an Orbis Pictus Award, a Golden Kite Award, a Sydney Taylor Award Honor Book, a Booklist editor's choice, a River Bank Review Children's Books of Distinction finalist, an American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults citation, and a Gradiva Award for Best Memoir.

Published books

As writer only

• No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War (Greenwillow Books, 1998; ISBN 0688159354) – "The author, known as an illustrator of children's books, describes her experiences as a Polish Jew during World War II and for years in Sweden afterwards.", OCLC 38061586

As illustrator

• Sven's Bridge, 1965.
• Cock-a-Doodle Doo! Cock-a-Doodle Dandy!: A New Songbook for the Newest Singers (1966), Paul Kapp – "for piano, with words and added chord symbols", OCLC 1409658
• The Troll Music, 1966.
• Puppy Summer (1966), Meindert DeJong
• The Wishing Penny and Other Stories, 1967. (illustrator)
• Potatoes, Potatoes, 1967.
• The Wisest Man in the World: A Legend of Ancient Israel (1968), Benjamin Elkin
• The Little Wooden Farmer (1968), Alice Dalgliesh
• Indian Summer (1968), F. N. Monjo
• Someone Small (1969), Barbara Borack
• Under a Mushroom, 1970.
• Three Rolls and One Doughnut: Fables from Russia (1970), retold by Mirra Ginsburg
• The Uproar (1970), Doris Orgel
• The Seamstress of Salzburg, 1970.
• How the Tsar Drinks Tea (1971), Benjamin Elkin
• One for the Price of Two (1972), Cynthia Jameson
• Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me? (1972), compiled by John Langstaff
• Little John (1972), Theodor Storm, retold by Doris Orgel
• A Birthday for the Princess, 1973.
• Clever Kate (1973), Brothers Grimm, adapted by Elizabeth Shub
• Christmas Crafts: Things to Make the Days before Christmas, 1974. (illustrator)
• King Rooster, Queen Hen, 1975. (reteller and illustrator)
• Peter Penny's Dance (1976), Janet Quin-Harkin
• Fanny's Sister (1980), Penelope Lively
• How the Rooster Saved the Day (1977), Arnold Lobel
• The Pancake (1978), retold
• The Dwarf Giant, 1991.
• A Treeful of Pigs (1979), Arnold Lobel
• On Market Street (1981), Arnold Lobel – "A child buys presents from A to Z in the shops along Market Street."; Caldecott Honor Book, OCLC 6666069
• Singing Bee!: A Collection of Favorite Children's Songs, 1982, later published as Sing a Song of Sixpence! The Best Song Book Ever. (illustrator)
• The Straw Maid, 1983. (adapter and illustrator)
• Once: A Lullaby (1986), B. P. Nichol
• The Rose in My Garden (1984), Arnold Lobel
• The Night Before Christmas (1984), Clement Clarke Moore
• A New Coat for Anna (1986), Harriet Ziefert
• Princess Furball (1989), retold by Charlotte Huck
• Looking for Daniela: A Romantic Adventure (1988), Steven Kroll
• Alison's Zinnia, 1990.
• Sulla strada del mercato (Milan: Emme, 1990), Nico Orengo – verse adaptation of On Market Street, LCCN 91-179602
• This Quiet Lady (1992), Charlotte Zolotow
• Pierrot's ABC Garden, 1992.
• Away from Home', 1994.
• The Cat and the Cook and Other Fables of Krylov (1995), retold by Ethel L. Heins
• Toads and Diamonds (1995), retold by Charlotte Huck
• Not Everyday an Aurora Borealis for Your Birthday: A Love Poem (1998), Carl Sandburg
• Mangaboom (1997) Charlotte Pomerantz
• My Day in the Garden (1999), Miela Ford
• One Lighthouse, One Moon, 2000.
• The Stable Rat and Other Christmas Poems (2001), Julia Cunningham
• The Black Bull of Norroway: A Scottish Tale (2001), retold by Charlotte Huck
• All the World's a Stage (2003), Rebecca Piatt Davidson
• My Grandmother's Stories: A Collection of Jewish Folk Tales (2003), Adèle Geras
• So Happy! (2005), Kevin Henkes
• Animal Antics: A to Z, 2005.
• Nini Here and There, 2007
• Hello, Day!, 2008
• Nini Lost and Found, 2010
• 10 Hungry Rabbits: Counting and Coloring Concepts, 2012
• Lena's Sleep Sheep: A Going-to-Bed Book, 2013
• Taking Care of Mama Rabbit, 2014
• Playful Pigs from A to Z (forthcoming 2015), LCCN 2014-33874

External links

• Official website with Book List
• Anita Lobel at Answers.com
• Birthday Bios (June 3) at Children's Literature Network
• Anita Lobel at Library of Congress, with 71 library catalog records