Hans Wilhelm (born September 21, 1945) is a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

writer,

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

author and illustrator, and artist. Hans Wilhelm has written and/or illustrated over 200 books – mostly for children. They have been translated in more than thirty languages and have won numerous international awards and prizes. Many of them have been made into animated television series. Presently there are over forty two million books by Hans Wilhelm in print. Some of his best-known books include "I'll Always Love You", "Bunny Trouble" series, "Tyrone The Horrible" series, "Waldo" series, and the "Noodles" books. Wilhelm was born in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, (Germany) where he grew up. Following his studies of art and business, he moved for 12 years to South Africa where he worked, painted, and was an acting member of a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

theater group. His writing career began when he embarked on a two-year trip around the world where he lived in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, Spain, England and many other places. He's also host to the "Life Explained" video series, which aims to visually explain a number of spiritual phenomena from his personal point of view.

Books by Wilhelm (selected)

*''I'll Always Love You'' *''The Trapp Family Book (also TV series)'' *'' Bunny Trouble (series)'' *'' Tyrone the Horrible (series)'' *''Waldo (book and TV series)'' *''Wake Up, Sun (written by David L. Harrison)'' *''What Does God Do?'' *''The Bremen Town Musicians'' *''Dinofour (series) written by Steve Metzger'' *''Holiday Cats (series, written by Jean Marzollo)'' *''Noodles book series'' *''The Book of Courage'' :and 200 more.

Art

Wilhelm's art is in permanent collections of the Mazza Museum, the Dodd Center of

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

, the Kerlan Collection at

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, and the De Grummond Children's Literature Collection of

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

Awards

''The Trapp Family Book'' was named Best Book of the Year by Eltern magazine, Germany. '' Tales From the Land Under My Table'' was selected by

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

as one of the best Best Children's Book of the Year. ''Blackberry Ink'' (written by

Eve Merriam Eve Merriam (July 19, 1916 – April 11, 1992) was an American poet and writer. Writing career Merriam's first book was the 1946 ''Family Circle'', which won the Yale Younger Poets Prize. Her book, ''The Inner City Mother Goose'', was described ...

) received the Parent's Choice Award. ''A New Home – A New Friend'' received the Children's book Award from the

International Reading Association The International Literacy Association (ILA), formerly the International Reading Association (IRA), is an international global advocacy and member professional organization that was created in 1956 to improve reading instruction, facilitate dialo ...

. ''Blackberry Ink'' (written by Eve Merriam), ''The Funniest Knock-Knock Book Ever'', and ''Let's Be Friends Again'' were chosen as one of Child Study Association of America's Children's Book of the Year. ''What Does God Do?'' was awarded the

Gold Medallion Book Award The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade association whose member companies are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to ...

by the

Evangelical Christian Publishers Association The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade association whose member companies are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to ...

References

*Biographies published in: *Something About The Author, Volume 135, Publishers: The Gale Group, Detroit, MI, copyright 2003 *Something About The Author, Autobiography Series, Volume 21, Publishers: Gale Research, Detroit, MI, copyright 1996 *Contemporary Authors, Volume 48, Publishers: Gale Research, Detroit, MI, copyright 1995 *The Address Book of Children's Authors and Illustrators, By Howard Bount, Jr. Publishers: T.S. Denison & Company Inc. Minneapolis MS, copyright 1994 *Meet the Authors and Illustrators, Volume 2, By Deborah Kovacs and James Preller, Publishers: Scholastic Inc., New York, copyright 1993 *Something About the Author, Volume 58, Publishers: Gale Research, Detroit, MI, copyright 1990

External links

Scholastic.comHans Wilhelm's Official siteLife Explained
series {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelm, Hans 1945 births Living people German emigrants to the United States Writers from Bremen (city) People from Fairfield County, Connecticut American children's writers American illustrators American male writers