A Tribute to Barbara Cooney
One of the best and most well known children's writer and illustrator is Barbara Cooney. I know her works are among my favorite, especially "Miss Rumphius". Regretfully Barbara died at the end of March. Her work will be surely missed. I felt I should dedicate this column to her and her great contributions to children's literature.
Barbara's papers are at the de Grummdond Collection
She is most well known for winning the Caldecott Medal for illustration for her book "The Ox Cart Man" Her other famous work is "Miss Rumphius"
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Newsletter
Spring 1998. Page 4.
Written by Carol Hurst. Edited by Rebecca Otis.
This issue is sponsored by Teaching K-8 Magazine. Subscribe now for only $14.97
Featured Author: Barbara Cooney
One of the most familiar names in children's literature is Barbara Cooney. Illustrator and author supreme, she has won two Caldecott Awards (Chanticleer & the Fox and Ox-Cart Man ) and numerous other prizes for her work and for good reason. She has created some of the most beautiful and important books in the field. She now wears a new title, that of philanthropist, for she recently gave $550,000 to the Damariscotta, Maine Public Library. The tiny town, 50 miles north of Portland, had a library in need of repair and enlargement and Barbara Cooney's gift will make that happen.
Barbara Cooney now makes her home in Damariscotta although she was born in an entirely different setting: Room 1127 of the Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn, New York. Her artistic endeavors as a child were encouraged by her mother, who was an artist herself. Barbara graduated from Smith College and then briefly attended art school in New York. Just one year after graduation, she had her first commission, the illustrations for Ake and His World by Bertil Malmberg and she was off. Since then Barbara Cooney has illustrated over 100 books. After receiving her second Caldecott, she began to write them as well and it's become hard to decide which she does better. She says that a picture book is like a string of beads with the illustrations being the jewels but the text is the string that holds them all together.
She married a doctor, Charles Porter, and the couple lived in Massachusetts where they raised four children. She has said that three of the books, Hattie and the Wild Waves, Miss Rumphius, and
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