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Caldecott Medal winner Allen Say was born on August 28, 1937, in Yokohama, Japan. After the war, his parents divorced and Allen was sent to live with his maternal grandmother in Tokyo so he could attend school there. Allen and his grandmother didn't get along, so she set him up in his own apartment closer to the school. He was twelve years old! Happier, Allen sought out his favorite cartoonist, Noro Shinpei, and asked Noro to mentor Allen's interest in art. He was given a classical instruction and, to this day, considers Noro to be his spiritual father. When Allen's father moved to California, he invited his son to go with him. Through a series of unhappy school adventures, Say finally enrolled at what is now Cal Arts, taking further education in art. After being drafted into the military in 1962 and serving for two years in Germany, he returned to America to pursue commercial photography. The art directors he met were appreciative of his ability to sketch out ideas, eventually introducing him to children's book editors. His first book, Dr. Smith's Safari, was published in 1972. Although he worked as a photographer and illustrator for many years, in 1988 Say wrote and illustrated The Boy of the Three-Year Nap (which won a Caldecott Honor and Boston Globe-Horn Book Award) and decided to work in the children's book field full-time. His book Grandfather's Journey won the Caldecott Medal in 1994. In 2000, the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles held the first exhibit of Say's work in children's literature. Fifty-five of his original drawings and paintings were featured along with original sketchbooks and autobiographical artifacts.
—Karen Ritz |
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