David Wiesner (born February 5, 1956) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

illustrator and writer of

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

, known best for

picture books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

including some that tell stories without words. As an illustrator he has won three

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

s recognizing the year's "most distinguished American picture book for children" and he was one of five finalists in 2008 for the biennial, international

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

, the highest recognition available for creators of children's books.

Life

Wiesner was born and raised in

Bridgewater Township, New Jersey Bridgewater Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The township is both a regional commercial hub for Central Jersey, Central New Jersey (home to Bridgewater Comm ...

, and attended

Bridgewater-Raritan High School Bridgewater-Raritan High School (commonly abbreviated as BRHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school. It is the lone secondary school of the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District serving students in ninth through twelfth grad ...

. He graduated from

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in illustration.Article for the Horn Book
David Wiesner. Accessed September 4, 2019. "A guy walked into my tenth-grade art class at Bridgewater-Raritan high school New Jersey, and changed my life. Sounds like the setup for a classic punch line, but this was no joke. The guy had graduated from my school two years earlier and was now a student at some place called the Rhode Island School of Design. He said it was an art school." Wiesner currently resides outside of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

with his family.

Career

Wiesner's first book was ''Honest Andrew'', a

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

with text by

Gloria Skurzynski Gloria Joan Skurzynski (born July 6, 1930) is an American writer of books for young people, including both fiction and non-fiction. Early life and education Gloria Joan Flister Skurzynski was born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania in 1930 to Aylmer Kear ...

, published by

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City an ...

in 1980. That year he also illustrated a novel by Avi, ''Man From the Sky'' (Knopf, 1980). After illustrating a dozen or more books with other writers, he and his wife Kim Kahng co-wrote ''Loathsome Dragon'', a picture book with his illustrations that G.P. Putnam's published in 1987. Since then Wiesner has created many picture books solo—as writer and illustrator, or stories without words. ''

Free Fall In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on i ...

'' (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1988) was a Caldecott Honor Book, a runner-up for the annual

, conferred by the

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 ...

on the illustrator of the year's best-illustrated picture book. ''Free Fall'' was the first example of the predominant style of his solo books, which tell a fantastical, often dream-like story without words, only illustrations. Subsequently he won three Caldecott Medals for solo picture books—''

Tuesday Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. According to international standard ISO 8601, Monday is the first day of the week; thus, Tuesday is the second day of the week. According to some commonly used calendars, however, ...

'' (1991), ''

The Three Pigs ''The Three Pigs'' is a children's picture book that was written and illustrated by David Wiesner. Published in 2001 by Houghton Mifflin/Clarion, the book is based on the traditional tale of the ''Three Little Pigs'', though in this story they s ...

'' (2001), and ''

Flotsam In maritime law, flotsam'','' jetsam'','' lagan'','' and derelict are specific kinds of shipwreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage. A shipwreck is defined as the rema ...

'' (2006)—and he was one of the runners-up for ''

Sector 7 Sector Seven, Sector 7, or variations thereon may refer to: * Sector 7 (book), ''Sector 7'' (book), a wordless picture book created and illustrated by David Wiesner * Sector 7 (film), ''Sector 7'' (film), a 2011 South Korean 3D science fiction acti ...

'' (1999) and ''Mr. Wuffles!'' (2013). (

Marcia Brown Marcia Joan Brown (July 13, 1918 – April 28, 2015) was an American writer and illustrator of more than 30 children's books. She has won three annual Caldecott Medals from the American Library Association, and three Caldecott Medal honors as an ...

is the only other person to win three Caldecotts, from 1955 to 1983.) In January 2017, Wiesner had a retrospective art exhibition entitled ''David Wiesner & the Art of Wordless Storytelling'' at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. In the exhibition Wiesner showed his work highlights throughout the years of his career. The exhibition ended May 14, 2017 at SBMA and continued rotating through museums to current day.

Works

As writer and illustrator

*1987 ''Loathsome Dragon'', retold by Wiesner and Kim Kahng *1988 ''Free Fall'' *1990 ''Hurricane'' *1991 ''

'' *1992 ''June 29, 1999'' *1999 ''

'' *2001 ''

'' *2006 ''

'' *2010 ''Art & Max'' *2013 ''Mr. Wuffles!'' *2017 ''Fish Girl'' *2018 ''I Got It!'' *2020 ''Robobaby''

As illustrator

*1980 ''Honest Andrew'' by

*1980 ''Man from the Sky'' by Avi *1981 ''Ugly Princess'' by Nancy Luenn *1981 ''One Bad Thing about Birthdays'' by David R. Collins *1981 ''Boy who Spoke Chimp'' by

Jane Yolen Jane Hyatt Yolen (born February 11, 1939) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 350 books, of which the best known is '' The Devil's Arithmetic'', a Holocaust novella. H ...

*1982 ''Owly'' by Mike Thaler *1982 ''Neptune Rising: Songs and Tales of the Undersea Folk'' by Jane Yolen *1983 ''Miranty and the Alchemist'' by

Vera Chapman Vera Chapman (8 May 1898 – 14 May 1996), also known as Vera Ivy May Fogerty, and within the Tolkien Society as Belladonna Took, was a British author and founder of the Tolkien Society in the United Kingdom, and also wrote a number of pseudo-h ...

*1984 ''Dark Green Tunnel'' by Allan W. Eckert *1985 ''Wand: the Return to Mesmeria'' by Allan W. Eckert *1985 ''E.T., the Storybook of the Green Planet'' by

William Kotzwinkle William Kotzwinkle (born November 22, 1943) is an American novelist, children's writer, and screenwriter. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. He has won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for ''Doctor Rat'' in 1977, and has also wo ...

; based on the film story by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

and

Melissa Mathison Melissa Marie Mathison (June 3, 1950 – November 4, 2015) was an American film and television screenwriter and an activist for the Tibetan independence movement. She was best known for writing the screenplays for the films ''The Black Stallion'' ...

*1986 ''Kite Flier'' by Dennis Haseley *1988 ''Firebrat'' by

Nancy Willard Nancy Willard (June 26, 1936 – February 19, 2017) was an American people, American writer: novelist, poet, author and occasional illustrator of children's books. She won the 1982 Newbery Medal for ''A Visit to William Blake's Inn''. Biography Wi ...

*1989 ''The Rainbow People'' by

Laurence Yep Laurence Michael Yep (; born June 14, 1948) is an American writer. He is known for his children's books, having won the Newbery Medal, Newbery Honor twice for his ''Golden Mountain'' series. In 2005, he received the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder ...

*1989 ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' by

Marianna Mayer Marianna Mayer (born in New York City on November 8, 1945) is a well-known children’s book writer and artist from Roxbury, Connecticut. Her early education was in the field of the visual arts. After one year of college, she became a student p ...

*1991 ''Tongues of Jade'' by Laurence Yep *1994 ''Night of the Gargoyles'' by Eve Bunting

Other

*1989 Cover for ''The Glass Salamander'' by

Ann Downer Ann Downer (1960–2015) was an American writer, principally of fantasy novels for children and young adults, as well as short fiction and poetry. Biography Ann Downer was born in Arlington, Virginia in 1960 and grew up in Manila and Bangko ...

*1997 Story and Design for CD-ROM adventure game '' The Day the World Broke''

References

External links

*
David Wiesner
at

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Authorities —with 30 catalog records {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiesner, David American children's writers American children's book illustrators Bridgewater-Raritan High School alumni Caldecott Medal winners 1956 births Living people People from Bridgewater Township, New Jersey