Elisha Cooper is an American writer and children's book author. Cooper went to Foote School and

Hopkins School Hopkins School is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational, day school for grades 7–12 located in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1660, Edward Hopkins, seven-time governor of the Connecticut Colony, bequeathed a portion of his estate to fou ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. After graduating from

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

, he worked for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' as a messenger. In 2016 he was a

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 ...

Fellow, a residency program for illustrators. Cooper is the author of the memoirs ''Falling: A Daughter, a Father, and a Journey Back'', ''ridiculous/hilarious/terrible/cool: A Year in an American High School'', and ''Crawling: A Father's First Year'', and several sketchbooks. Children's books include ''8: An Animal Alphabet, Train,'' ''Farm'', ''Homer'', ''Beaver Is Lost'', ''Ice Cream'', ''Ballpark'', ''Building'', ''Dance!'', ''Magic Thinks Big'', ''A Good Night Walk'', and ''Beach''. ''Dance!'' was a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' Ten Best Illustrated winner in 2001. ''Beach'' was a

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators (SoI) is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. Since absorbing the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (M ...

Gold Medal best illustrated book of the year in 2006. A ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' said of ''Magic Thinks Big'', "Elisha Cooper's watercolors, like his sentences, are simple and quiet and essentially perfect." His book '' Big Cat, Little Cat'' was a

Caldecott Honor 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 ...

book in 2018. ''River'' won th
Robin Smith Picture Book Prize
in 2020. He currently lives in

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 ...

with his wife and two daughters.

Bibliography

Books

Non-fiction *''A Year in New York'', 1995 *''Off the Road: An American Sketchbook'', 1996 *''A Day At Yale'', 1998 *''California: A Sketchbook'', 2000 *''Crawling: A Father's First Year'', 2006 *''ridiculous/hilarious/terrible/cool: A Year in an American High School'', 2008 *''Falling: A Daughter, a Father, and a Journey Back'', 2016 Picture Books *''Country Fair'', 1997; 1998

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 a ...

Commendation *''Ballpark''. 1998 *''Building'', 1999 *''Henry: A Dog's Life'', 1999 *''Dance!'', 2001 - New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, 2001 *''Ice Cream'', 2002 *''Magic Thinks Big'', 2004 *''A Good Night Walk'', 2005 *''Bear Dreams''. 2006 *''Beach'', 2006 *''Beaver Is Lost'', 2010 *''Farm'', 2010 *''Homer'', 2012 *''Train'', 2013 *''8: An Animal Alphabet'', 2015; 2016 Mathical Book Prize *'' Big Cat, Little Cat'', 2017; 2018

, 2018

Commendation *
River
', 2019 *''Yes & No'', 2021

References

External links

Official Website
at elishacooper.com
Elisha Cooper at Scholastic Books

Elisha Cooper at AuthorTracker

Elisha Cooper biography on Answers.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Elisha 1971 births Living people American children's writers American writers of young adult literature American memoirists American non-fiction writers Writers who illustrated their own writing Caldecott Honor winners