Kevin Henkes Biography

He's also the author of a number of other picture books, including the Caldecott-winning Kitten's First Full Moon. He also writes young adult and middle school novels. Kevin Henkes was born in 1960 in Racine, Wisconsin, and spent most of his youth at the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, the city's art museum. These travels, as well as reading his favorite novels, inspired Henkes tremendously. “I never dreamed that one day I would be one myself,” he says of his childhood fascination with books and the authors and illustrators who created them. Barbara Bader's American Picturebooks from Noah's Ark to The Beast Within was introduced to him by a public library during his final year of high school. Henkes says he felt inspired and empowered after reading it since it was the first serious book on picture books written for adults he had ever read. Henkes started college at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, mostly because of the Cooperative Children's Book Center in the School of Education (CCBC). Henkes learned about the history and future of children's literature at the CCBC. Henkes left for New York in July of his freshman year, armed with a ranked list of his favorite publishers. Greenwillow Books, which was founded by Susan Hirschman at the time, was his first destination. With the birth of some young mice in A Weekend with Wendell in 1986, Henkes' picture book profile became a little larger. Thirteen books involving these mouse characters would follow, including the 1994 Caldecott Honor Book Owen, but Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse is the most well-known of them all. Henkes offered the world of children's literature a memorable new addition to its roster of treasured characters with the publishing of that book in 1996; Lilly reappeared 10 years later in Lilly's Big Day. Another star was created with the debut of Lilly: Henkes was firmly established as an exceptional and distinctive contribution to the canon of children's literature. The Caldecott Medal was awarded to Kevin Henkes' picture book Kitten's First Full Moon in 2005. Penny and Her Marble, Henkes' 35th picture book, was just released. Henkes has also written twelve books, including Words of Stone, which is particularly significant to him since it was the first book he wrote that elicited letters from older children and adults. Olive's Ocean received a Newbery Honor in 2004, and The Year of Billy Miller, his most recent work for young readers, will be released in September 2013. In 2007, the Association of Library Service to Children, a branch of the American Library Association, chose Henkes to deliver the renowned May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture, recognizing his significant contribution to the field. This award recognizes "a person who has made substantial contributions to the area of children's literature." The Regina Medal was presented to Henkes by the Catholic Library Association in 2013, in recognition of his ongoing exceptional contribution to children's literature.

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