Charlotte Zolotow (born Charlotte Gertrude Shapiro; June 26, 1915 – November 19, 2013) was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher of many books for children. She wrote about 70 picture book texts. The writers she edited include

Paul Fleischman Paul Fleischman (born 1952) is an American writer of children's books. He and his father Sid Fleischman have both won the Newbery Medal from the American Library Association recognizing the year's "most distinguished contribution to American lit ...

, Paul Zindel,

Mary Rodgers Mary Rodgers (January 11, 1931 – June 26, 2014) was an American composer, screenwriter, and author who wrote the novel '' Freaky Friday'', which served as the basis of a 1976 film starring Jodie Foster, for which she wrote the screenplay, as ...

, Robert Lipsyte, and

Francesca Lia Block Francesca Lia Block (born December 3, 1962) is an American writer of adult and young-adult literature. She is known for the '' Weetzie Bat'' series, which she began while a student at UC Berkeley. Early life Block was born in Los Angeles to a ...

Life

Charlotte Shapiro was born in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...

. She studied writing with Helen C. White at the

University of Wisconsin Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

from 1933 to 1936 and then moved to New York City, where she started at

Harper & Bros Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper (publisher), James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, sta ...

as secretary to the children's books editor Ursula Nordstrom. She was married to

Maurice Zolotow Maurice Zolotow (November 23, 1913 - March 14, 1991) was an American show business biographer. He wrote books and magazine articles. His articles appeared in publications including '' Life'', ''Collier's Weekly'', '' Reader's Digest'', ''Look'', ' ...

from 1938 until their divorce in 1969. Their daughter Ellen is writer Crescent Dragonwagon and son Steven is poker tournament champion

Steve Zolotow Steve Zolotow (born March 30, 1945) is an American businessman and professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada. He has won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker. He was one of the regulars at the famed Mayfair Club while he lived in ...

. She lived in

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Man ...

, where she died, aged 98.

Work

Zolotow's work was published by more than 20 different houses. She was an editor, and later publisher, at

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, which was called

Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

when she began to work there, and is now known as

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 C ...

. The poem "Missing You" from '' River Winding'' appears in ''Best Friends'', a collection of poems, and "People" from '' All That Sunlight'' appears in the collection '' More Surprises'' (both of these anthologies bear the emblem, " A Charlotte Zolotow Book"). She contributed a story (called ''Enemies'', illustrated by Ben Shecter) to '' The Big Book for Peace'' where she appears alongside other well-known authors and illustrators including

Lloyd Alexander Lloyd Chudley Alexander (January 30, 1924 – May 17, 2007) was an American author of more than 40 books, primarily fantasy novels for children and young adults. Over his seven-decade career, Alexander wrote 48 books, and his work has been tran ...

Steven Kellogg Steven Castle Kellogg (born October 26, 1941 in Norwalk, Connecticut) is an American author and illustrator who has created more than 90 children's books. On November 12, 2011, Kellogg was given an honorary ''Doctor of Humane Letters'' from the ...

and Trina Schart Hyman. One of Zolotow's titles most widely held in

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

libraries is '' When the Wind Stops'', a picture book edited by Ursula Nordstrom and published in 1962 with illustrations by Joe Lasker, in 1975 illustrated by Howard Knotts, and in 1995 illustrated by Stefano Vitale (a revised edition). In June 2014, the

Children's Literature Association The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman- ...

named the latter a runner-up for next year's

Phoenix Picture Book Award The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the ...

, which annually recognizes a picture book with lasting value that did not win a major award 20 years earlier. "Books are considered not only for the quality of their illustrations, but for the way pictures and text work together.""Phoenix Picture Book Award"
. Children's Literature Association. Retrieved 2014-07-20. In 1998 the Cooperative Children's Book Center at UW Madison School of Education (CCBC) inaugurated the

Charlotte Zolotow Award The Charlotte Zolotow Award is an American literary award presented annually for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States during the preceding year. By contrast, the Caldecott Medal is for outstanding illustration in ...

, "given annually to the author of the best picture book text published in the United States in the preceding year."CCBC
Charlotte Zolotow Award
. (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 ...

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 ...

is given to the illustrator of an American children's picture book.)

Selected books

Some of Zolotow's picture book writings were revised and several were illustrated more than once. At least two titles (both listed here) were published in three editions with three illustrators. * '' The Park Book'', illustrated by H. A. Rey (1944) * '' The Storm Book'', illus. Margaret Bloy Graham (1952) * '' The City Boy and the Country Horse'', written as Charlotte Bookman, illus. William Moyers ( Treasure Books, 1952) * '' Do You Know What I'll Do?'', illus.

Garth Williams Garth Montgomery Williams (April 16, 1912 – May 8, 1996) was an American artist who came to prominence in the American postwar era as an illustrator of children's books. Many of the books he illustrated have become classics of American childr ...

(

Harper Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name Places ;in Canada *Harper Islands, Nunavut *Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County * Harper, Illi ...

, 1958); illus. Javaka Steptoe (

, 2000) * ''Over and Over'', illus.

(

, 1957 and 1985) * ''

The Bunny Who Found Easter ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'', illus. Betty Peterson (

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

Parnassus Press Mount Parnassus (; el, Παρνασσός, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is and historically has been especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers ...

, 1959); illus.

Helen Craig Helen Craig (born 30 August 1934) is an English children's book illustrator and writer. She is best known for creating the Angelina Ballerina series of children's books with writer Katharine Holabird. Craig was born in London, evacuated duri ...

(

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 ...

, 1998) – with publisher description * '' When the Wind Stops'', illus. Joe Lasker (

Abelard-Schuman Thomas Y. Crowell Co. was a publishing company founded by Thomas Y. Crowell. The company began as a bookbindery founded by Benjamin Bradley in 1834. Crowell operated the business after Bradley's death in 1862 and eventually purchased the compan ...

, 1962); illus. Howard Knotts (

, 1975); revised edition, newly illustrated by Stephan Vitale (

, 1995)"Formats and editions of When the wind stops"
WorldCat. Retrieved 2014-07-20. * '' Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present'', illus.

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book '' Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 20 ...

(1963) * '' If It Weren't for You'', illus. Ben Shecter (1966) * '' Some Things Go Together'',

couplets A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

by Zolotow, illus. Sylvie Selig ( Abelard-Shuman, 1969); illus. Karen Gundersheimer ( Crowell, 1983), illus. Ashley Wolff (

, 1999) * '' River Winding'', poems by Zolotow, illus. Regina Sherkerjian (

, 1970); illus. Kazue Mizumura ( Crowell, 1978) * '' Where I Begin'', written as Sarah Abbott, illus. Rocco Negri (

Coward-McCann G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and J ...

, 1970) * '' The Beautiful Christmas Tree'', illus.

Ruth Robbins Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

(

Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; el, Παρνασσός, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is and historically has been especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers ...

, 1972); illus. Yan Nascimbene (

, 1999) * '' The Old Dog'', written as Sarah Abbott, illus. George Mocniak (

, 1972); revised edition, newly illus. James Ransome (

, 1995) – with publisher description * ''

William's Doll ''William's Doll'' is a 1972 picture book by Charlotte Zolotow, one of the first children's texts to address nontraditional gender stereotypes. The story follows William, a young boy who wishes for a doll to care for. His father is unhappy with t ...

'', illus.

William Pène du Bois William Sherman Pène du Bois (May 9, 1916 – February 5, 1993) was an American writer and illustrator of books for young readers. He is best known for ''The Twenty-One Balloons'', published in April 1947 by Viking Press, for which he won the 194 ...

(1972) * '' My Grandson Lew'', illus.

(1974) * '' I Know a Lady'', illus. James Stevenson (1984) * '' The Big Book for Peace'', illus. Ben Shecter ( Dutton, 1990) * '' Snippets: A Gathering of Poems, Pictures, and Possibilities'', illus.

Melissa Sweet Melissa Sweet is an Australian journalist and nonfiction writer. Formerly employed by '' The Sydney Morning Herald'', ''The Bulletin'' magazine, and Australian Associated Press, she specializes in writing about human health and medicine. Earl ...

(

, 1993) * '' Who is Ben?'', illus. Kathryn Jacobi (

, 1997)

Notes

References

;Citations * CCBC
"Charlotte Zolotow"
(top page). ''Wisconsin hildren'sBook Creators''. UW Madison School of Education. Retrieved 2014-07-20.

External links