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. She wrote the novel ''Freaky Friday'', which served as the basis of a Freaky Friday (1976 film), 1976 film starring Jodie Foster, for which sh ...

, Robert Lipsyte, and Francesca Lia Block.

Life

Charlotte Shapiro was born in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

. She studied writing with Helen C. White at the University of Wisconsin Madison from 1933 to 1936 and then moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where she started at Harper & Bros as secretary to the children's books editor

Ursula Nordstrom Ursula Nordstrom (February 2, 1910 – October 11, 1988) was publisher and editor-in-chief of juvenile books at Harper & Row from 1940 to 1973. She is credited with presiding over a transformation in children's literature in which morality tales ...

. She was married to Maurice Zolotow from 1938 until their divorce in 1969. Their daughter Ellen is writer Crescent Dragonwagon and their son 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 administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Greenburgh, New York, Greenburgh in the state of New Yo ...

, 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. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper and his brother John, the company operated as J. & J. Harper until 1833, when ...

(which was called

Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship Imprint (trade name), imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper (publisher), James Harper and his brother John, the compan ...

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

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

). 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's literature, children and young adults. Over his seven-decade career, Alexander wrote 48 books, and ...

, Steven Kellogg 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

and published in 1962 with illustrations by Joe Lasker. Subsequent editions were illustrated by Howard Knotts (1975) and Stefano Vitale (1995, 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 the Phoenix Picture Book Award, 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. Zolotow's 1972 book '' William's Doll'' (illustrated by

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 ...

), about gender stereotypes, was adapted by composer

and lyricist

Sheldon Harnick Sheldon Mayer Harnick (April 30, 1924 – June 23, 2023) was an American lyricist and songwriter best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on musicals such as '' Fiorello!'', '' She Loves Me'', and ''Fiddler on the Roof''. Ear ...

for the children's album '' Free to Be ... You and Me'', and then for the subsequent television special. In 1998, the Cooperative Children's Book Center at UW Madison School of Education (CCBC) inaugurated the Charlotte Zolotow Award, "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. History 19th century ...

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 Service ...

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 Post-war, postwar era as an illustrator of children's books. Many of the books he illustrated have become classics of Americ ...

( Harper, 1958); illus. Javaka Steptoe (

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

( Harper, 1957 and 1985) * ''The Bunny Who Found Easter'', 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 Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

: Parnassus Press, 1959); illus. Helen Craig (

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "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 vocalize it as ...

, 1998) – with publisher description * ''When the Wind Stops'', illus. Joe Lasker ( Abelard-Schuman, 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. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Send ...

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

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

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 (Abelard-Schuman, 1970); illus. Kazue Mizumura (Crowell, 1978) * ''Where I Begin'', written as Sarah Abbott, illus. Rocco Negri ( Coward-McCann, 1970) * ''The Beautiful Christmas Tree'', illus. Ruth Robbins (

Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; , ''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 scenic views of the c ...

, 1972); illus. Yan Nascimbene (

, 1999) * ''The Old Dog'', written as Sarah Abbott, illus. George Mocniak ( Coward-McCann, 1972); revised edition, newly illus. James Ransome (

, 1995) – with publisher description * '' William's Doll'', illus.

(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 (

, 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