Lois Lenski
| Lois Lenski | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
October 14, 1893 Springfield, Ohio, USA |
| Died | September 11, 1974 (aged 80) Tarpon Springs, Florida |
| Occupation | Writer, illustrator |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Ohio State University, Art Students League of New York, Westminster School of Art |
| Period | 1920–1974 |
| Genre | Children's novels, picture books |
| Notable awards |
Newbery Medal 1946 Strawberry Girl |
Lois Lenski (October 14, 1893 – September 11, 1974) was a Newbery Medal-winning author and illustrator of picture books and children's literature. Beginning with the release in 1927 of her first books, Skipping Village and Jack Horner's Pie: A Book of Nursery Rhymes, Lenski published 98 books, including several posthumous works. Her writings comprise children's picture books and illustrated chapter books, songbooks, poetry, short stories, an autobiography, Journey into Childhood (1972), and a number of essays about books and children's literature. Her best-known bodies of work include the "Mr. Small" series of picture books (1934–62); her "Historical" series of novels, including the Newbery Honor-winning Phebe Fairchild: Her Book (1936) and Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison (1941); and her "Regional" series, including Newbery Medal-winning Strawberry Girl (1945) and Children's Book Award-winning Judy's Journey (1947).
In addition to illustrating her own books, Lenski also provided illustrations for texts by other authors, including the first edition of The Little Engine that Could, by Watty Piper (1930), and the first four volumes of Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy series (1940-1943).
In 1967 Lenski established the Lois Lenski Covey Foundation, which provides grants for book purchases to libraries and organizations serving children who are socially and economically at risk.
Lois Lenski was born in Springfield, Ohio on October 14, 1893. She was the fourth of five children born to Richard C. H. Lenski, a Prussian-born Lutheran clergyman and theologian, and Marietta Young Lenski, a Franklin County, Ohio native, who was a schoolteacher before her marriage. When Lois was six, her family moved to the small town of Anna, Ohio, west of Springfield, where Richard Lenski was called to be a pastor. She was encouraged to pursue her talent for art by adults in her life including teachers, a visiting artist who, she later recalled, advised her father to buy her a high-quality set of paints because she had talent, and her father, who did so. But she also remembered that no one encouraged her to "be original" or draw what she saw around her during her childhood, describing her work until the age of fifteen as copying from other pictures.
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