Bonnie Christensen (January 23, 1951 – January 12, 2015), an American author and illustrator, is best known for writing biographies and other illustrated non-fiction books for children and young adults. She was also an accomplished

wood engraver Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and pr ...

and fine artist whose works were shown internationally in both solo and group exhibitions. She taught fine arts at

Saint Michael's College Saint Michael's College (St. Mikes or Saint Michael's) is a private Roman Catholic college in Colchester, Vermont. Saint Michael's was founded in 1904 by the Society of Saint Edmund. It grants Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees ...

in Colchester, Vermont from 1996 - 2008 and writing at

Vermont College of Fine Arts Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is a private graduate-level art school in Montpelier, Vermont. It offers Master's degrees in low-residency and residential programs. Its faculty includes Pulitzer Prize finalists, National Book Award winners, ...

in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program from 2011 - 2015.

Bibliography

As author

* ''Sunshine, Moonshine'', by Bonnie Christensen and Emily Herder. ''Onion River Press'', March 2024.

As author and illustrator

*''Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King'', Henry Holt, 2015 *''I, Galileo'',

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

, NY, 2012 *''Plant a Little Seed'',

Roaring Brook Press A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of big cat ...

, NY, 2012 *''Fabulous, A Portrait of Andy Warhol'', Henry Holt, 2011 *''Django, World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist'', Roaring Brook Press, NY, 2009 *''The Daring Nellie Bly'', Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 2003 *''In My Grandmother's House'',

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

, NY, 2003 *''Woody Guthrie, Poet of the People'', Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 2001 *''Rebus Riot!'', Dial/

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

, NY, 1997 *''An Edible Alphabet'', Dial/Penguin, NY, 1994

As illustrator

*''The Princess of Borscht'' by Leda Schubert. Roaring Brook Press, NY, 2011 *''

Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells (full name: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett) (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for ...

'' by

Walter Dean Myers Walter Dean Myers (born Walter Milton Myers; August 12, 1937 – July 1, 2014) was an American writer of children's books best known for young adult literature. He was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but was raised in Harlem. A tough childho ...

. HarperCollins, NY, 2008 *''Magic in the Margins'' by W. Nikola-Lisa.

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, 2007 *''Pompeii, Lost and Found'' by

Mary Pope Osborne Mary Pope Osborne (born May 20, 1949) is an American author of children's books. She is best known as the author of the ''Magic Tree House'' series, which sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, ...

. Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 2006 *''I, Dred Scott'' by Sheila P. Moses.

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, NY, 2005 *''Moon Over Tennessee'' by Craig Crist Evan. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1999 *''

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize ...

'' by

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

Folio Society The Folio Society is a London-based publisher, founded by Charles Ede in 1947 and incorporated in 1971. Formerly privately owned, it operates as an employee ownership trust since 2021. It produces illustrated hardback editions of classic fict ...

, London, England, England, 1998 *''Breaking into Print'' by Stephen Krensky. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1996 *''Putting the World to Sleep'' by Shelley Moore Thomas. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1995 *''Green Mountain Ghosts, Ghouls, and Unsolved Mysteries'' by Joe Citro. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1994

Awards

Christensen received a number of book awards including an

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

Schneider Family Book Award The Schneider Family Book Award is an award given by the American Library Association (ALA) recognizing authors and illustrators for the excellence of portrayal of the disability experience in literature for youth. There is a category for children ...

(for ''Django, World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist'' in 2010), a

Kirkus ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

"Best Children's Book of 2006" designation (for her illustrations in ''Pompeii, Lost and Found'' in 2006), an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award (for ''The Daring Nellie Bly'' in 2004), and a Horn Book-Boston Globe Honor Award, a Parent's Choice Gold Award, a designation of "Best Book Of the Year" by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'', a "Notable Books" designation by the ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', and a New York Book Show Award (for ''Woody Guthrie, Poet of the People'' in 2001).

Death

Christensen died of ovarian cancer on January 12, 2015, aged 63.

External links

* Official website for Bonnie Christensen, updated November 2023: https://www.bonniechristensen.net/ *

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen, Bonnie 1951 births 2015 deaths American women writers American children's book illustrators Deaths from ovarian cancer Place of birth missing Place of death missing 21st-century American women