Anita (Kempler) Lobel (1934–) Biography

Surname is pronounced "Lo-bel"; born 1934, in Cracow, Poland; immigrated to United States, 1952; naturalized citizen, 1956; Education: Pratt Institute, B.F.A., 1955; attended Brooklyn Museum Art School, 1975–76.

Addresses

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Greenwillow Books, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

Career

Freelance textile designer, 1957–64; writer and illustrator of children's books, 1964–.

Honors Awards

Best Illustrated Book selection, New York Times Book Review, 1965, for Sven's Bridge, 1981, for Market Street, and 2000, for One Lighthouse, One Moon; Spring Book Festival Award (picture book), 1972, for Little John; Children's Book Showcase Award, 1974, for A Birthday for the Princess, and 1977, for Peter Penny's Dance; Outstanding Book selection, New York Times, 1976, for Peter Penny's Dance, 1977, for How the Rooster Saved the Day, and 1981, for On Market Street; Boston Globe/Horn Book Award (illustration), 1981, for On Market Street, and 1984, for The Rose in My Garden; Caldecott Honor Book Award, and American Book Award finalist, both 1982, both for On Market Street; finalist, National Book Award, Judy Lopez Memorial Medal for Children's Literature, Orbis Pictus Award, Golden Kite Award, Sydney Taylor Award Honor Book, Booklist editor's choice, River Bank Review Children's Books of Distinction finalist, American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults citation, and Gradiva Award for Best Memoir, all for No Pretty Pictures.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Sven's Bridge, Harper (New York, NY), 1965, reprinted, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1992.

The Troll Music, Harper (New York, NY), 1966.

Potatoes, Potatoes, Harper (New York, NY), 1967, reprinted, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 2004.

The Seamstress of Salzburg, Harper (New York, NY), 1970.

Under a Mushroom, Harper (New York, NY), 1970.

A Birthday for the Princess, Harper (New York, NY), 1973.

(Reteller) King Rooster, Queen Hen, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1975.

(Reteller) The Pancake, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1978.

(Adapter) The Straw Maid, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1983.

Alison's Zinnia, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1990.

The Dwarf Giant, Holiday (New York, NY), 1991.

Pierrot's ABC Garden, Golden Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Away from Home, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1994.

No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War (memoir), Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1998.

One Lighthouse, One Moon, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 2000.

Animal Antics: A to Z, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 2005.

ILLUSTRATOR

Paul Kapp, Cock-a-Doodle Doo! Cock-a-Doodle Doo!, Harper (New York, NY), 1966.

Meindert de Jong, Puppy Summer, Harper (New York, NY), 1966.

The Wishing Penny and Other Stories, (anthology), Parents Magazine Press 1967.

F. N. Monjo, Indian Summer, Harper (New York, NY), 1968.

Alice Dalgliesh, The Little Wooden Farmer, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1968.

Benjamin Elkin, The Wisest Man in the World, Parents Magazine Press (New York, NY), 1968.

Barbara Borack, Someone Small, Harper (New York, NY), 1969.

Doris Orgel, The Uproar, McGraw (New York, NY), 1970.

Mirra Ginsburg, editor, Three Rolls and One Doughnut: Fables from Russia, Dial (New York, NY), 1970.

Benjamin Elkin, How the Tsar Drinks Tea, Parents Magazine Press (New York, NY), 1971.

Theodore Storm, Little John, retold by Doris Orgel, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1972.

John Langstaff, editor, Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?, Doubleday, 1972.

Cynthia Jameson, One for the Price of Two, Parents Magazine Press (New York, NY), 1972.

Elizabeth Shub, adapter, Clever Kate, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1973.

Carolyn Meyer, Christmas Crafts: Things to Make the Days before Christmas, Harper (New York, NY), 1974.

Janet Quin-Harkin, Peter Penny's Dance, Dial (New York, NY), 1976.

Arnold Lobel, How the Rooster Saved the Day, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1977.

Arnold Lobel, A Treeful of Pigs, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1979.

Penelope Lively, Fanny's Sister, Dutton (New York, NY), 1980.

Arnold Lobel, On Market Street, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1981.

Jane Hart, compiler, Singing Bee! A Collection of Favorite Children's Songs, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1982, published as Sing a Song of Sixpence! The Best Song Book Ever, Gollancz, 1983.

Clement Clarke Moore, The Night before Christmas, Knopf (New York, NY), 1984.

Arnold Lobel, The Rose in My Garden, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1984.

Harriet Ziefert, A New Coat for Anna, Knopf (New York, NY), 1986.

B. P. Nichol, Once: A Lullaby, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1986.

Steven Kroll, Looking for Daniela: A Romantic Adventure, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1988.

Charlotte S. Huck, reteller, Princess Furball, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1989.

Charlotte Zolotow, This Quiet Lady, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1992.

Ethel L. Heins, reteller, The Cat and the Cook and Other Fables of Krylov, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1995.

Charlotte S. Huck, reteller Toads and Diamonds, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1995.

Charlotte Pomerantz Mangaboom, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1997.

Carl Sandburg, Not Everyday an Aurora Borealis for Your Birthday: A Love Poem, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

Miela Ford, My Day in the Garden, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 1999.

Charlotte S. Huck, reteller, The Black Bull of Norroway: A Scottish Tale, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 2001.

Julia Cunningham, The Stable Rat and Other Christmas Poems, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 2001.

Adèle Geras, My Grandmother's Stories: A Collection of Jewish Folk Tales, Knopf (New York, NY), 2003.

Rebecca Piatt Davidson, All the World's a Stage, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 2003.

Kevin Henkes, So Happy!, Greenwillow (New York, NY), 2005.

Lobel's art and papers are included in the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota.

Adaptations

The Little Wooden Farmer was adapted as a filmstrip with cassette by Threshold Filmstrips, 1974; Peter Penny's Dance was adapted as a filmstrip with cassette by Weston Woods, 1978; A New Coat for Anna was adapted as a filmstrip with cassette by Random House, 1987; A Treeful of Pigs and On Market Street have been adapted as filmstrips with audiocassettes by Random House; King Rooster, Queen Hen and The Rose in My Garden have been adapted as audiocassettes by Random House; On Market Street has been adapted as a videocassette by Random House.

Sidelights

Celebrated as both a talented artist and the creator of charming texts, Anita Lobel is the author and illustrator of picture books, fantasies, retellings, and concept books that have as their hallmarks a theatrical approach and a keen sense of design. She has also provided the pictures for more than twenty-five texts by writers such as Meindert de Jong, Doris Orgel, Clement Clarke Moore, Penelope Lively, John Langstaff, and Charlotte Zolotow. Several of Lobel's works, both as author/illustrator and illustrator, are considered tour de forces. As an artist, she is well known for creating evocative, detailed paintings in line-and-wash or watercolor and gouache that reflect her signature style of richly patterned landscapes, opulent costumes and tapestries, and colorful flowers. As a writer, Lobel characteristically uses the traditions of the folk and fairy tale, such as "once-upon-a-time" settings and happy endings, to structure her stories, which are usually filled with humor; however, she underscores several of her works with serious themes, such as the nature of war and the results of parental neglect. As a creator of concept books, Lobel is credited for her originality and inventiveness, especially in her contributions to the alphabet book genre.

Four of Lobel's works were created with her late husband, writer Arnold Lobel; their third collaboration, On Market Street, received several prizes, including the Boston Globe/Horn Book award for illustration and designation as a Caldecott Medal honor book. Writing of Anita Lobel's career in Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, Jacqueline L. Gmuca concluded, "Lobel ably illustrates the meaning of a statement she made to Publishers Weekly in 1971: 'It's nice to tell a tale that is pleasant for a child to read, be diverting, and at the same time have some kind of substance to it.' Her books are clearly informed by the pleasant, substantial spirit of which she speaks."

Born in Cracow, Poland, Lobel, she explained in Books Are by People that she "was born into a relatively comfortable merchant family. [German Nazi leader Adolph] Hitler put a stop to those comforts. My parents separated for practical reasons, believing we would all have better chances for survival, which proved to be true. My brother and I were left in the care of a Polish woman with whom we stayed and drifted around Poland for the next four and one half years."

"I had a wonderful nanny and when … I was five years old … the nanny took me and my younger brother into the Polish countryside—which was primitive, nasty, raw, and Catholic. That was on one side and the Nazis on the other. Aside from the fact that there was an outside force that hated us and chased us, I always felt my brother and I were protected by this person who chose to protect us. I loved her and she loved us, and I think that this was very important. I really feel Nanny's affection colors my work, because I don't feel I have to portray the awful bleakness of the time."

Although teh Lobel children remained free for a time, Lobel explained that, "Toward the end of the war, my brother and I were captured and sent to a concentration camp in Germany." In 1945 the children were rescued by the Swedish Red Cross and, after two years, were reunited with their parents through the efforts of a relief organization based in Stockholm. Lobel continues, "I did not go to school until I was thirteen, but was taught how to read and write. I came from Sweden to New York against my will because my parents wanted to reclaim some long-lost relatives they had in this country." Lobel and her family moved to New York in 1952; after graduating from high school, she entered Pratt Institute to study for her B.F A. in fine arts. Although she had received encouragement to become an artist, Lobel was also interested in the theater, and took part in school plays at Pratt. She met her future husband, Arnold, when she was cast in a play he was directing; the couple were married in 1955.

"For several years after graduation," Lobel related in Junior Library Guild, "I worked as a textile designer. Then Susan Hirschman, who had 'discovered' Arnold, asked me to do a book. I thought I couldn't, but Susan and Arnold encouraged me and I came through with Sven's Bridge." Published in 1965, Lobel's first book as an author/illustrator grew from an idea that came to her about a goodhearted man; the story also includes examples of Swedish folk designs that the illustrator remembered from her childhood. Sven's Bridge, Lobel stated in the Third Book of Junior Authors, "started with pictures and the words followed." In contrast, the illustrations follow the text in her fourth book, The Seamstress of Salzburg. "At first, I thought only of illustrating stories by other authors but found, with a little effort, I, too, could supply a story to go with the pictures," she told Books Are by People, adding: "When I begin a book, I have a specific style in mind, for instance a historical period." Lobel also incorporates a love of embroidery and tapestry and drawing flowers and large figures into her work. The Troll Music, she says, "was mainly inspired by the bottom parts of medieval tapestries with all the vegetation and little animals running around."

Lobel's third book, Potatoes, Potatoes, has been considered one of her most affecting works. The story, which was inspired, Lobel has said, "partly from childhood memories in Poland," describes how two brothers who become enemies in war are brought together by their mother, who refuses to give the boys something to eat until they and their comrades stop fighting. As Gmuca described her in Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, the mother "not only serves to protect her sons from joining in the fighting for a number of years but also functions as a peacemaker when she reminds them, and the opposing armies they lead, of their former lives of contentment." A reviewer in the Times Literary Supplement called the book "beautifully executed," while New York Times Book Review critic Barbara Wersba remarked, "Lobel's illustrations … [are] excellent picture-book fare, finely drawn and colored." Lobel noted in Books Are by People, "I like Potatoes, Potatoes because of its theme. But I do not take it as seriously as some of the reviewers have."

For many years, Lobel and her husband worked from nine in the morning until late afternoon and then, after spending time with their two children, returned to their work until 2:00 a.m. Unlike many husband-and-wife teams, the Lobels did not initially collaborate on their books. As Anita told an interviewer for Publishers Weekly, "I think maybe we take ideas from each other, but it is not a conscious thing. Whenever germs of ideas start with each of us, they are entirely different…. I must have been influenced by old fairy tales, tales that have a logical beginning, a middle, and then retribution in the end for someone and happiness for someone else."

The Lobels first combined their talents on How the Rooster Saved the Day, a book written by Arnold. Their second collaboration, A Treeful of Pigs, was, Anita explained in Junior Library Guild, "written specifically for me to illustrate, the way an author might write a star part for an actress. There were a few noises of objection coming in my direction during the execution of the pictures. The nice thing about having the illustrator and the author together in the same studio is that we can decide to change or rethink little details while the work is in progress. For many years we tried to keep our work separate but, when we discovered this extra bonus, we nodded and bowed graciously to each other and giggled with a sense of a new discovery. That discovery, I felt, is especially a gift to me." Before Arnold's death in 1987, the Lobels collaborated on a total of four books.

Lobel's first book as an author and illustrator following the death of her husband was Alison's Zinnias, which Caroline Ward of School Library Journal described as a "luscious-looking alphabet book." The text links a girl's name with a verb and a flower, all starting with a letter of the alphabet, before coming back to the beginning; each page features a painting and a line of type, below which is a large letter and a smaller storyboard that shows the flower chosen by each child. Zena Sutherland of Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books called Alison's Zinnias "an unusual alphabet book" and a "dazzling display of floral painting"; Horn Book reviewer Mary M. Burns called it "a book to brighten the dreariest of days…. What could have been just another clever idea becomes … a tour de force."

The Dwarf Giant is a story set in ancient Japan in which an evil dwarf, intending to take over a peaceful kingdom, is defeated by the resourcefulness of the country's princess after her husband is bewitched; although the dwarf is stopped, the story ends in a minor key with other visitors waiting outside the palace. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called The Dwarf Giant "a deeply felt variant on a classic theme that more often ends in tragedy," and added that Lobel's illustrations, graceful paintings that reflect Japanese art and architecture, reveal a new direction "for this fine illustrator, their allusive power reinforcing the Faustian subtext."

With The Quiet Lady Lobel provided the illustrations for a tender picture book by Charlotte Zolotow in which a little girl looks at photographs of her mother in the various stages of her life; the book ends with the birth and baby picture of the young narrator. Each of Lobel's double-page spreads includes a small, darkly hued painting of the little girl and richly colored paintings of her mother. A Publishers Weekly critic called The Quiet Lady an "excellent choice for quiet mother-child sharing [that is] sure to invite genealogy lessons filled with fond memories," while Booklist reviewer Carolyn Phelan noted, "The exceptional talents of Zolotow and Lobel combine in this celebration of life," and Lobel's "sense of design and her signature use of costume and flowers find apt expression in this series of portraits."

Lobel's next book as an author/illustrator was Pierrot's ABC Garden, an alphabet book in which Pierrot the clown packs a huge basket with alphabetically gathered produce—both familiar and exotic—and musical instruments for a picnic with his friend Pierrette. Described by a Kirkus Reviews critic as "another enchanting alphabet from the illustrator," Pierrot's ABC Garden—a new edition of a Little Golden Book—is "simple and pleasing" according to Carolyn Phelan in Booklist, who concluded that preschoolers will love it, "whether or not they care about the ABCs or vegetables."

Away from Home is also an alphabet book; a companion piece to Alison's Zinnias, the volume focuses on little boys rather than little girls and, in the words of a Publishers Weekly reviewer, "takes the reader on a globe-trotting adventure as Lobel sets the stage—literally—to introduce letters and various world cities as well." On each page, a small boy stands under the spotlight before a child audience, who responds to alliterative sentences like "Adam arrived in Amsterdam" and "Henry hoped in Hollywood." A Publishers Weekly contributor commended the accuracy, romanticism, and informativeness of the illustrations while Booklist reviewer Hazel Rochman noted that "an all-male cast pulls you into imagining each character's story and making the journey to each exciting place."

With The Cat and the Cook and Other Fables of Krylov, Lobel illustrates twelve Russian fables retold by Ethel L. Heins, several of which are prose versions of poems by popular fabulist Ivan Andreevich Krylov. The artist paints vigorous folk-art paintings that are noted both for their theatrical quality and evocation of the works of Marc Chagall. In her Booklist review, Julie Corsaro claimed that Lobel "outdoes herself" with "paintings that are brilliantly colored and wonderfully composed." School Library Journal reviewer Cheri Estes added, "the artist adeptly captures the essence of each tale" in "paintings [that] will entice youngsters to read this collection independently."

Toads and Diamonds is a retelling of a classic French folktale by Charlotte S. Huck, whose popular Princess Furball was also illustrated by Lobel. In Toads and Dia-Drawing from her own memories of growing up as a European Jew during the Holocaust, Anita Lobel presents a dramatic statement on the meaningless of war and the power of human will as a means of survival.monds, lovely Renee lives with her nasty stepmother and stepsisters, who treat her as a lowly servant. When Renee goes to the well, she brings water to an old woman, who rewards her with flowers and jewels every time she speaks; she wins the heart of a handsome prince, who appreciates her for herself and not for her jewels. "Full of life, color, and grace, Lobel's paintings create a sense of magic within everyday reality," wrote Carolyn Phelan in Booklist, while Maria B. Salvadore concluded in Horn Book that, "This is some of Anita Lobel's best work, each picture in close harmony with the text to move quickly to a satisfying conclusion."

It was a surprise to many of Lobel's fans when, in 1998, she released a memoir of her childhood. No Pretty Pictures was far longer than any of her previous picture-book sized projects. Starting with memories from when she was five years old in 1939, Lobel continues the narrative through her and her brother's liberation from the concentration camp and their reunion with their parents in Sweden. Though many accounts of the Holocaust have been published, critics considered Lobel's a standout because it is told from Lobel's view as a child, without the hindsight that many memoirs include. Critics hailed the memoir, which won several awards and was a finalist for others. "This piercing and graceful account is rewarding for readers of all ages," praised a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Hazel Rochman, writing for Booklist, noted, "The truth of the child's viewpoint is the strength of this Holocaust survivor story." Mary M. Burns, in her Horn Book review, considered the book "notable both as an account of survival and as a revelation of a remarkable human being." Lobel expressed her difficulty in writing the memoir to Rochman in a Booklist interview: "Sometimes I move myself to tears … and then I think, oh please, for heaven's sake, you're an artist and you're a writer, don't cry over your own experiences." Lobel continued by comparing the process to being in a stage play: "You're supposed to be in this incredible drama in some incredible crisis, but you still have to remember your lines. So if you're writing about it, the memory is there and the picture of the memory is there and then the picture has to be shaped to make a story."

After No Pretty Pictures, Lobel wrote and illustrated One Lighthouse, One Moon, a children's counting book that includes days of the week and months of the year. A young girl selects different colored shoes for each day of the week, while her cat Nini becomes the focus of the section on months of the year, Nini's activities adapting to the changes in the passing months as all await the birth of her kittens in December. Noting the three different themes, a Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that "Lobel segues seamlessly from one theme to the next." Jonas JoAnn commented in School Library Journal that "the book combines text and illustration quite successfully and really works," while a Horn Book reviewer found that One Lighthouse, One Moon, "will reward reading and rereading, again and again."

Lobel also continued to illustrate the picture book of other writers, including Charlotte S. Huck's folktale
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The Black Bull of Norroway; Rebecca Piatt Davidson's Shakespeare introduction, All the World's a Stage; and Kevin Henkes's So Happy! The Black Bull of Norroway is a "Beauty and the Beast"-style story in which a young woman marries a hideous Black Bull only to discover that the creature is in fact a cursed prince. Marie Orlando commented in School Library Journal that Lobel's watercolor-and-black-pen illustrations "provide a dynamic visual presentation."

All the World's a Stage provides young readers with snippets from several of Shakespeare's plays, written in rhyme. A Kirkus Reviews contributor commented on Lobel's "marvelously integrated spreads," which create a tableaux of Shakespearean characters. A Publishers Weekly critic praised Lobel's artwork for the volume, noting that it "ranks among her best. Here she gleefully follows her own theater muse, staging dramatic montages of the famous plays." Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan also praised the work in School Library Journal, writing that "these stunning illustrations are the highlight of the book."

For So Happy!, a story about "a seed, a rabbit, and a boy," according to a School Library Journal reviewer, Lobel had the pleasure of surprising author Kevin Henkes by setting the story in the American Southwest and introducing the boy's father, unmentioned in the text, into the story. Lobel answered some questions about her style in an interview with Henkes posted on her Web site. Asked how different it is to self-illustrate from illustrating books for another author, she responded, "My own texts usually grow out of pictures that I want to paint. The scope and shape of a book is always exacting, but attempting to interpret and enrich the text of another writer—especially a fine, established writer—is more daunting. I find great pleasure in making visible the unexpected layers of content in a story. I want to get it right, and I hope I have the fun of surprising the author as well."

Lobel wrote in Illustrators of Children's Books: 1957–1966, "I feel very strongly that an artist working in the field of children's book illustration should by no means compromise on the graphic design quality of his work. Our senses are bombarded by so much ugliness from our earliest days that it is to be hoped that picture books do open a child's eyes and start at least a germ for a future aesthetic sense. I have always loved to draw flowers and I love needlework and tapestries as well as embroidery. During my years as an art student, I spent most of my time drawing and painting monumental figures. When I had to make a living, I became a textile designer. Picture books have opened to me an opportunity to bring back some of my old fat friends and put them in landscapes filled with floral design! I usually plan a book as a play. The pictures become 'scenes' with 'principals' and 'chorus' grouped and regrouped according to what is then happening in the story."

The theme perhaps most prevalent in Lobel's character as an artist and creator of children's books is her great
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affection for the theater. Commenting in Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, she explained, "Writing and illustrating books for children is a form of drama for me. I approach the construction of a picture book as if it were a theatre piece to be performed, assigning dialogue, dressing the characters, and putting them into an appropriate setting. Some books take the form of zany farces (King Rooster, Queen Hen, and The Pancake). Others, like Peter Penny's Dance, are a bit like Around the World in Eighty Days, a sort of movie or musical. The Seamstress of Salzburg and A Birthday for the Princess are more like operettas. On Market Street was constructed like a series of solos in a ballet, held together by a prologue and epilogue, with an implied divertimento for the score."