From the Birthday Book

Try our Authors and Illustrators area for information about CLN members. There's an alphabetical list as well.

Our alphabetically-arranged Birthday Bios page features authors and illustrators, current and past, with short biographies.

We thank our author and illustrator biography researchers, volunteers who write these informative articles about authors and illustrators, past and present: Lois Thompson Bartholomew, Terri DeGezelle, Juli Friedberg, Heidi Grosch, Sydney Lange, Steve Mudd, Vicki Palmquist, Leslie Greaves Radloff, Karen Ritz, Mary Rude, Julie G. Schuster, Christina Semsch, Martha Valainis

Born on March 16th, William Mayne is one of England's most well-known authors. Born in Yorkshire, the son of a doctor, he spent his childhood at the choir school of Canterbury Cathedral. He left school at fourteen, knowing he wanted to be a writer, and worked for a short time at the British Broadcasting Corporation before writing full-time.

Many of his early books were written in the "boy's school" genre; A Swarm in May being the most notable example. Made into a movie in 1983, the story is that of a young chorister who must sing at the ceremony honoring a legendary choirboy who could control bees with his voice.

Mayne is noted for his fantasy and science fiction novels, particularly Earthfasts and the two books that followed. William Mayne was awarded the Carnegie Medal for A Grass Rope in 1957. His most recent novel, Animal Garden, was published in 2003.

—Steve Mudd

Albert Sidney (Sid) Fleischman, born March 16th, was born in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up in San Diego, CA. As a youth, he wanted to be a magician. After high school, he performed in vaudeville shows across the country, and had a book of original magic tricks published when he was 17. After graduating from college he worked briefly as a newspaper reporter in San Diego, then turned to writing full-time.

His first children's book was written for his own children, to show them what their father did for a living. He writes books for adults and children, as well as screenplays. He has said, "Nothing surprises me more than to discover myself a writer. I wanted to become a magician." He infuses his writing with a sense of magic, using wild language, unusual names, exaggeration, and a sense of humor.

He has won numerous awards for his adult and children's books, including the 1987 Newbery Award for The Whipping Boy. Among his other books are Mr. Mysterious & Company (1962), McBroom Tells the Truth (1966), Humbug Mountain (1978), and Jim Ugly (1992). Recent titles are Escape! the Story of the Great Houdini, The White Elephant, and The Trouble Begins at 8: a Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West.

—Steve Mudd

Barbara Cohen was born on March 15, 1932. She grew up in New Jersey, where her mother ran a small hotel. Ms. Cohen attended Barnard College, and earned her MA from Rutgers University in 1957. While she raised her three daughters, she taught high school English, published a column, "Books and Things," in New Jersey newspapers, and was active in civic and Jewish activities in her region.

She received the 1981 Sydney Taylor Body of Work Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries. She won two National Jewish Book Awards in 1983, for King of the Seventh Grade and Yussel's Prayer, which was also an IBBY Children's Choice Book.

She passed away at the age of 60 in 1992.

—Vicki Palmquist

Born in Ireland on March 15, 1921, Maureen Daly's family soon moved to Wisconsin because it reminded her father of the Emerald Isle. She married William P. McGivern, a mystery writer, in 1946, and the two of them traveled the world until he died of cancer in 1982. They had two children.

Ms. Daly is the author of Seventeenth Summer, a book about teenage love which has stayed in print since 1942 and won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1946. This is the book which is often said to have started young adult literature as we know it. The book was submitted to Dodd, Mead for its first intercollegiate literary fellowship—it won first prize.

She is quoted as saying that while many girls remember their first kiss, she remembers her first librarian.

Reading and writing were essential parts of Ms. Daly's life. Her most recent young adult novel, Acts of Love, was published in 1986.

A long-time resident of Palm Desert, California, Ms. Daly died in 2007.

—Vicki Palmquist

What would childhood be without the playful Dennis the Menace? He has become part of the American cartoon legacy and for that we can thank creator Hank Ketcham, who was born on March 14, 1920. A skillful draftsman from childhood, Ketcham dropped out of college in 1938 to work for animator Walter Lantz, creator of the Woody Woodpecker cartoons. Later he went to work for Disney (on Pinocchio and Fantasia) before joining the navy during WWII. His son Dennis was born in 1947 and by the age of four he was "too young for school, too big for his playpen, too small to hit, not old enough for jail." Raising him became overwhelming for Ketcham who instead turned to his own version of what a boy should be, Dennis the Menace. By the end of 1951 his strip was in over 100 papers and ranked with Beetle Bailey and Peanuts as one of the top comics of its time. As popularity grew, Ketcham let others do the work, only overseeing the final product. He turned to art, painting the subjects that were his passions; jazz and heroic athletes. His autobiography The Merchant of Dennis (1992) is an interesting reflection on his career. Mr. Ketcham died on June 1, 2001.

—Heidi Grosch

Thomas Rockwell celebrates his birthday on March 13th. Rockwell moved from New York to rural Vermont when he was five years old. His father (Norman!) was an artist, his mother an unpublished writer, his older brother became an artist, and his younger brother, a sculptor. Thomas majored in literature at Bard College and worked for a gardening magazine in New York before moving to Poughkeepsie, NY to help his father write his autobiography.

Thomas published his first children's book in 1969, Rackety-Bang and Other Verses. It received such crushing reviews that his publisher declined his next book of verse. Rockwell switched to novels and How To Eat Fried Worms, published in 1973, won ten awards.

Over the years, Rockwell has taught, sold second-hand books, worked for War on Poverty, and tried sporadically and half-heartedly to write for television and advertising to support his passion.

—Karen Ritz

Johann David Wyss, born on March 13, 1743, was a chaplain in the Swiss army and served in Italy. He is credited with writing Swiss Family Robinson but the story of family involvement only begins there.

Johann David Wyss had four sons who loved to hear stories based on Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. The Swiss Family Robinson differed from Robinson Crusoe in that a whole family was shipwrecked. From this, a father could use the opportunity to teach his children values of life and civilization.

The family discussed these stories and then took turns making up their own tales of adventure. Each boy took turns telling their tale and their father would write the stories down. One of the sons, Johann Emmanuel Wyss illustrated the adventures with drawings and watercolors. Years later, another son, Johann Rudolph Wyss edited his father's work and submitted it for publication.

The first English translation appeared in 1814 and since then the immensely popular book has appeared in over two hundred editions in English.

Incidentally, Johann Rudolph Wyss went on to write the Swiss national anthem.

—Terri DeGezelle

Ellen Raskin, who was born on March 13, 1928, began her career as an illustrator and designer, freelancing for the Saturday Evening Post and pharmaceutical journals. During her early career she created over 1,000 book jackets, including the Newbery winner A Wrinkle In Time (1963) by Madeline L'Engle.

But writing was always in her blood and after 15 years as an illustrator she published her own book Nothing Ever Happens on My Block (1966). "As far back as I can remember," she wrote, " I invented characters. My sister and I would spend weeks at a time acting out the lives of at least 10 character each." Her delightful word play won her a Newbery all her own with The Westing Game (1979).

"I try to say one thing with my work: A book is a wonderful place to be. A book is a package, a gift package, a surprise package—and within the wrappings is a whole new world and beyond."

—Heidi Grosch

We wish Diane (Sorber) Dillon a happy birthday on March 13th. She grew up on the West Coast and attended Parsons School of Design in New York, which is where she met Leo Dillon. They were married one year after they graduated and have since melded their separate careers into one career, which they refer to as the "third artist," in order to avoid professional jealousy.

Their first illustrated children's book was The Ring and the Prairie, which was published in 1970.They are the only artists to win the Caldecott medal two years in a row: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears in 1976 and Ashanti to Zulu in 1977.

They are also recipients of four Boston Globe/Horn Book Awards, two Coretta Scott King Awards, the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, and the Hugo Award in 1971 for science fiction book illustration.

The couple have one son and they live in New York City.

—Martha Valainis

Dorothy Keely Aldis was born in Chicago on March 13, 1896. Her father was a newspaper editor and the young Dorothy lived around books and the written word her entire life. She wrote books and poetry for adults and children, but her children's work is still remembered today. Her poems may be found in books such as All the Year Around (1938), The Boy Who Cared (1956), and Hiding (1920), were extremely popular. She had four children and lived in Lake Forest, Illinois, until she died at age 70.

—Vicki Palmquist

Born in Saint Louis, Missouri on March 12th, Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet, an essayist, a songwriter, and the author of many wonderful books for children.

Her first poem was published when she was seven years old!

She has a Palestinian-American background and she was fortunate to grow up in Saint Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas. She draws on her rich experiences traveling the world to create books that promote international good will. Her poetry is rich and beloved by many.

She has won the Guggenheim Fellowship, two Jane Addams' Children's Book Awards and the Lavan Award from the American Academy of Poets.

Her books include the autobiographical YA novel, Habibi, as well as 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, This Same Sky, and Hugging the Jukebox.

—Vicki Palmquist

Virginia Hamilton was born on March 12th, 1936, on a farm in Yellow Springs, Ohio. As a writer, she achieved critical success from the start with the publication of her first book, Zeely. Her great storytelling voice did not die with her in January of 2002, and I thought it best you hear from her ...

"I see my books and the language I use in them as empowering me to give utterance to the dreams, the wishes, of African Americans. I see the imaginative use of language and ideas as a way to illuminate the human condition. All of my work, as a novelist, a biographer, creator and compiler of stories, has been to portray the essence of a people who are a parallel-culture society in America. I've attempted to mark the history and traditions of African Americans, a parallel culture people, through my writing, while bringing readers strong stories and memorable characters living nearly the best they know how. I want readers, both adults and children, to care about who the characters are. I want readers to feel, to understand, and to empathize. I want the books to make a world in which the characters are real."

—Karen Ritz

Ezra Jack Keats was born on March 11, 1916, in Brooklyn, NY. He began drawing at the age of five and recalls covering his mother's enamel-topped kitchen table with drawings and doodles. Instead of being angry, his mother protected it with a tablecloth and unveiled it for guests. Keats taught himself to paint and was awarded three scholarships to art schools upon graduating from high school. He served in the Air Force during WW2, and worked as an illustrator, his first assignment for Collier Magazine.

With his strong graphics and vibrant colors, Keats was quickly drawn to children's books. He illustrated nearly a dozen before writing his first, The Snowy Day, which was awarded the 1963 Caldecott Medal. The book was significant because it was one of the first picture books in which a minority child is seen as Everychild. This child, Peter, was inspired by Life magazine pictures that Keats had held onto for forty years.

Keats died in 1983, but his philosophy remains poignant today, "If we all could see each other exactly as the other is, this would be a different world. But first I think we have to begin to see each other."

—Karen Ritz

John Wellington (Jack) Kent, was born on March 10, 1920 in Burlington, Iowa. He dropped out of high school to start working as a freelance commercial artist. At age 15, he sold some of his work to Collier's agency. He served in World War II, and then returned to the States to work in a printing plant. In 1950, his first syndicated comic strip appeared: "King Aroo," and it was distributed internationally for the next 15 years. He and his wife, newspaper report June Kilstofte, lived in San Antonio, Texas. In 1968 he began writing and illustrating children's books. He died of leukemia in 1985. His work can be viewed at the Kerlan Collection at the Children's Literature Research Collection at the University of Minnesota.

—Vicki Palmquist

Born and raised near Baldwin, Wisconsin, Alexandria LaFaye celebrates her birthday on March 9th. Currently an assistant professor Hollins and Hamline Universities, Alexandria has written eight middle-grade novels, three of them featuring Nissa Bergen. Strength of Saints, her third book about Nissa, is her most recent volume in that series. Her book, Edith Shay, is about a young woman from rural Wisconsin who seeks adventure in the world and finds it. Worth, which looks at the orphan train era from the point of view of a farm boy whose family adopts an orphan, won the 2005 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Her most recent novel is Stella Stands Alone.

In her teaching, Alexandria holds classes in children's literature and creative writing, two topics she knows firsthand. She is an associate professor at both Hollins University and Hamline University in the master of fine arts in writing for children and young adults.

She lives in Arkansas, where she enjoys gardening and playing board games.

—Vicki Palmquist