Ed Young (illustrator)
| Ed Young | |
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Young at the Mazza Museum 2013 conference
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| Born | Ed (Tse-chun) Young November 28, 1931 Tianjin, China |
| Occupation | Illustrator, writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1962–present |
| Genre | Children's picture books |
| Notable awards |
Caldecott Medal 1990 |
Ed Young (born November 28, 1931), né Ed (Tse-chun) Young, is a Chinese-born American illustrator and writer of children's picture books. He won one Caldecott Medal for the year's best American picture book and for his lifetime contribution as a children's illustrator he was twice the U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Ed Young was born on November 28, 1931 in Tianjin, China. When he was three years old, he and his family moved to Shanghai. His mother would ring a bell at mealtimes, and he would slide down the banister with his brothers and sisters. "I have never lost the child in me. My father would spin endless tales of his own to entertain our imaginations on summer nights lying on the flat roof of our house. I have never forgotten the images I saw in my mind." From an early age, Ed loved to create stories and draw pictures and thought he could "disappear" into his own world, brought to life through his illustrations.
In 1951, Young came to the U.S. to study architecture. Instead, he grew more interested in art, and soon switched his major. Young's first job was with a New York advertising agency where he spent his lunch breaks sketching animals at Central Park Zoo. During that time, he received a letter from his father which said, "A successful life and a happy life is one measured by how much you have accomplished for others and not one measured by how much you have done for yourself." According to Young, "I understood then that to realize my potential as an artist was subservient to my worth as a human being. To be truly successful, I needed to find a place where my work would also inspire others to fuller and happier lives. I wished to share with everyone my father's words about success – work can, in fact, be the rooftop from which we launch ourselves to higher places." In search of something more expansive, expressive, and timeless, Young discovered all this, and more, in children's books.
Young's first book, The Mean Mouse and Other Mean Stories, was published by Harper & Row in 1962. He expected it to be his first and last book, but it won an American Institute of Graphic Arts award and launched a career that has resulted in over eighty books for children. Most of his books are visual masterpieces using colors and images to convey hidden symbolism. His meticulously rendered works have utilized pencil, pastel, cut paper, collage, ink, photographs, and found materials.
"A Chinese painting is often accompanied by words. They are complementary. There are things that words do that pictures never can, and likewise, there are images that words can never describe. I feel the story has to be an exciting and moving experience for a child. Before I am involved with a project, I must be moved, and, as I grow, I try to create something exciting. It is my purpose to stimulate growth in the reader as an active participant. To get the story across for me, mostly it's the feeling. I think that if the book evokes a reaction of some sort, either positive or negative, I think it would have done what it is supposed to do."
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