Simms Taback (February 13, 1932 – December 25, 2011) was an American writer, graphic artist, and illustrator of more than 35 books. He won the 2000

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 Servic ...

for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing ''

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat ''Joseph Had a Little Overcoat'' is a 1999 children’s picture book by Simms Taback that won the 2000 Caldecott Medal. The book is a re-illustrated version of a book of the same name by Taback that was published in 1977. The protagonist is Jose ...

'', and was a runner-up in 1998 for ''

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" (alternatively "There Was an Old Lady", "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly", "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly" and "I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly") is a children's rhyme and no ...

''.

Biography

He was born to a working family of a housepainter and a seamstress, socialists and labor organizers. His first name is after Harry Simms, Jewish labor leader. Taback graduated from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and served in the United States Army during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He was a designer for

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

and

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

. He was the founder and president of the Illustrators Guild (later the New York Graphic Artists Guild) and taught art at

the School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

and Syracuse University. Taback designed the first

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

Happy Meal A Happy Meal is a kids' meal usually sold at the American fast food restaurant chain McDonald's since June 1979. A small toy or book is included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a red cardboard box with a yellow smiley fac ...

box in 1977. He died in 2011 of pancreatic cancer.

Selected works

* ''Jabberwocky and other nonsense'' (

Harlin Quist Harlin Quist (died May 13, 2000, age 69) born Harlin Bloomquist was a publisher noted for innovative children's books. Early years Harlin was born and raised in Virginia, Minnesota, attended Carnegie Tech and began his career in 1958 as an off-Br ...

, 1964), three poems by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

, 1871 to 1889 * ''Too Much Noise'' (1967), by

Ann McGovern Ann McGovern Scheiner (née Weinberger; May 25, 1930 – August 8, 2015) was an American writer of more than 55 children's books, selling over 30 million copies. She may be best known for her adaptation of ''Stone Soup'', as well as ''Too Much N ...

* ''Joseph Had a Little Overcoat'' (Random House, 1977),

movable book The term pop-up book is often applied to any book with three-dimensional pages, although it is properly the umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each ...

based on a Yiddish folk song * ''Jason's Bus Ride'' (1987), by Harriet Ziefert * ''Road Builders'' (1994), by B. G. Hennessy * ''Sam's Wild West Show'' (1995), by Nancy Antle * ''Two Little Witches: a Halloween counting story'' (1996), by Harriet Ziefert * ''There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly'' (1997), illustrating the American folk poem * ''Joseph Had a Little Overcoat'' (Viking, 1999) —the Caldecott Medal-winning edition for U.S. picture book illustration * ''This is the House that Jack Built'' (2002), based on the nursery rhyme * ''Kibitzers and Fools: tales my zayda (grandfather) told me'' (2005), traditional Jewish tales * ''I Miss You Every Day'' (2007)

Original works

*''Animal Parade'' **''City Animals'' **''Dinosaurs'' **''Farm Animals'' **''Safari Animals'' *''Quack Like A Duck!'' *''Who Am I?'' *''Who Said Moo?'' *''Where Is My Baby?'' *''Where Is My Friend?''

Awards

Winner

* 1999:

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.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 Servic ...

for U.S. picture book illustration for ''Joseph Had a Little Overcoat''

Finalist

* 1998:

for U.S. picture book illustration for ''There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.''

References

External links

Official Simms Taback WebsiteOfficial Caldecott WebsiteThe Horn Book interview with Simms Taback
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taback, Simms Caldecott Medal winners American children's book illustrators Jewish American artists Jewish American writers 1932 births 2011 deaths Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from pancreatic cancer 21st-century American Jews