Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes
Henkes at the Mazza Museum, 2011
Born	(1960-11-27) November 27, 1960 (age 56) Racine, Wisconsin, USA
Occupation	Illustrator, writer
Nationality	American
Period	1981–present
Genre	Children's picture books
Notable works	Kitten's First Full Moon
Notable awards	Caldecott Medal 2005

Kevin Henkes (born November 27, 1960) is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. As an illustrator he won the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon (2004). Two of his books were Newbery Medal Honor Books, Olive's Ocean in 2004 and The Year of Billy Miller in 2014. His picture book Waiting was named both a 2016 Caldecott Honor Book and a Geisel Honor Book. It was only the second time any author has won that combination of awards.

Kevin Henkes (pronounced HANK-us) thought he would be an artist until his junior year of high school, when one of his teachers encouraged him in his writing efforts. He discovered that children's books combined both his literary and artistic interests.

Henkes writes and illustrates children's picture books, many of which feature mice as their main characters. He also writes young adult fiction. Henkes wrote his first book during his freshman year in college. The book's theme deals with how a child describes the pleasures of occasional solitude. This theme is common in many of Henkes' later books. Henkes, one of five children, says that many of his storylines are inspired by his family and the neighborhood where he grew up in Racine, Wisconsin.

Henkes' first book, All Alone, was published in 1981 by Greenwillow Books. More than 30 books followed, including Chrysanthemum and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. In 1994 Henkes was a runner-up for one of the premier American Library Association children's book awards, the Caldecott Medal for Owen, one of his mouse books. In 2004, he was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal for Olive's Ocean. The next year he won the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon, recognizing that as the year's best children's picture book published in the U.S. All of his books to date have been published by Greenwillow Books.