Irwin Shapiro (1911–1981) was an American writer and translator of over 40 books, mostly for children and about

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana music, a genre or style of American music * Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...

Biography

Irwin Shapiro was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania. Little is known of his background or upbringing. His family probably came from what is now

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, since his first published books in the late 1930s are translations from Hungarian. Shapiro studied at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

in New York City, where he is known to have taken at least one class under Thomas Hart Benton with fellow student

Esther Shemitz Esther Shemitz (June 25, 1900August 16, 1986), also known as "Esther Chambers" and "Mrs. Whittaker Chambers," was a pacifist American painter and illustrator who, as wife of ex-Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers, provided testimony that "helped substan ...

(who later married

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer and intelligence agent. After early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), he defected from the Soviet u ...

). During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, he held odd jobs. Shapiro married Edna Richter. She worked in the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA), in which she was also "an active member of the American Federation of Government Employees Union." According to Shapiro's son, husband and wife were "both deep in the

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

." Edna Richter was Moscow correspondent for the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

'' newspaper. With events like the trials of the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

and the Hitler-Stalin Pact, "my parents saw the truth, thanks to

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

." (Shapiro's brother-in-law, Irving Richter, worked with the

United Auto Workers The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and sou ...

(UAW) and lived much of his life in Detroit. He appeared before the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

(HUAC) in 1956, at which time Edna Richter's name and work at the WPA was mentioned.) Shapiro and his wife moved to Florida, where he died in 1981.

Works

After an initial foray into writing radical literature that encompassed his last year as a communist, Shapiro turned to children's books, which he published for the vast majority of his career (1938–1979). He published many titles for

Golden Books *Western Publishing (1907−2001) — , magazines, and {{C, Children's book publishers, children's books publisher, formerly based in Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is ...

. Among them is ''The Gremlins of Liet. Oggins'', which author Andrew Meier suspects was really a coded message about the imprisonment of American spy Isaiah Oggins in the

GULAG The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

under Stalin." He also adapted a number of works of classic literature into comic book form (illustrated by artists) for

Pendulum Press Pendulum Press was a publishing company based in West Haven, Connecticut, that operated from 1970 to 1994, producing the bulk of their material in the 1970s. The company is most well known for their comic book adaptations of literary classics. The ...

in 1973–1974. The Library of Congress holds 44 titles in his name.

Plays

* ''90 Percent of the People'' (1938, unpublished) (archived at

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

)

Translations

*
Prelude to Love
' by Jolán Földes, translated from Hungarian by Alexander G. Kenedi and Irwin Shapiro (1938) *
Egyptian Interlude
' by Jolán Földes, translated from Hungarian by Irwin Shapiro (1939)

Books

*
How Old Stormalong Captured Mocha Dick
' with pictures by

Donald McKay Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Nova Scotian-born American designer and shipbuilder, builder of sailing ships, famed for his record-setting extreme clippers. Early life McKay was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne ...

(1942) *
Steamboat Bill and the Captain's Top Hat
' with pictures by Donald Mckay (1943) *
Gremlins of Lieut. Oggins
' with illustrations by Donald McKay (1943) *
Yankee thunder: The Legendary Life of Davy Crockett
' with pictures by

James Daugherty James Henry Daugherty (June 1, 1889 – February 21, 1974) was an American modernism, American modernist painter, muralist, children's book author and illustrator. Life Daugherty was born in Asheville, North Carolina. He later lived in Indiana, ...

(1944) *
Casey Jones and Locomotive No. 638
' with pictures by Donald McKay (1944) *
John Henry and the Double Jointed Steam-Drill
' with drawings by James Daugherty (1945) * '' Joe Magarac and His USA Citizen Papers'' with pictures by James Daugherty (1948)
LOC entry
*
J. Fred Muggs
' (1955) *
Walt Disney's Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race
' (1955) *
Walt Disney's Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier
' (1955) *
Daniel Boone
' (1956) *
Presidents of the United States
' illustrated by Mel Crawford and Edwin Schmidt (1956) *
Cleo. Photos. by Durward B. Graybill
' (1957) *
Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights: The Most Famous Stories from the Great Classic A Thousand and One Nights
' (1957)* *
Golden book of America: Stories from Our Country's Past
' adapted for young readers by Irwin Shapiro from the pages of American Heritage, with a foreword by

Bruce Catton Charles Bruce Catton (October 9, 1899 – August 28, 1978) was an American historian and journalist, known best for his books concerning the American Civil War. Known as a narrative historian, Catton specialized in popular history, featuring in ...

(1957) *
Lassie Finds a Way: A New Story of the Famous Dog
' (1957) *
Circus Boy
' with pictures by Joan Walsh Anglund (1957) *
Tall Tales of America
' illustrated by

Al Schmidt Albert Schmidt (born ) is an American politician and election official who is the current Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, serving since 2023. He was a Philadelphia City Commissioner from 2012 to 2022. A member of the Republican P ...

(1958) *
The Story of Flight: From the Ancient Winged Gods to the Age of Space
' by John Lewellen and Irwin Shapiro, illustrated with old prints, photos, and original paintings and drawings by Harry McNaught (1959) *
Aviation, des origines aux vols interplanétaires
' (1959) (translation) *
The Story of Yankee Whaling
' by the editors of American heritage with narrative by Irwin Shapiro in consultation with

Edouard A. Stackpole Edouard A. Stackpole (December 7, 1903 – September 2, 1993) was an American journalist, museum curator, whaling historian and writer. Works * 1931 Smuggler's Luck * 1932 You Fight for Treasure! * 1935 Madagascar Jack * 1937 Privateer Ahoy ...

(1960) *
The Golden Book of California: From the Days of the Spanish Explorers to the Present
' (1961) *
The Golden book of Aviation
' (1961) (second printing) *
Heroes in American Folklore
' illustrated by James Daugherty and Donald McKay (1962) *
Jonathan and the Dragon
' illustrated by Tom Vroman (1962) *
The Golden Book of the Renaissance
' adapted for young readers by Irwin Shapiro from the''Horizon Book of the Renaissance'' (1962) *
The Universal History of the World
' edited by Irwin Shapiro (1966) *
Gretchen and the White Steed
' with drawings by Herman Vestal (1972) *
Sam Patch, Champion Jumper
' illustrated by

Ted Schroeder Frederick Rudolph "Ted" Schroeder (July 20, 1921 – May 26, 2006) was an American tennis player who won the two most prestigious amateur tennis titles, Wimbledon and the U.S. National. He was the No. 1-ranked American amateur player in 1942 ...

(1972) *
Willie's Whizmobile
' with drawings by

Paul Frame Paul E. Frame (born April 16, 1957) is an American chiropractor and retired ballet dancer. Frame danced as a member of the corps de ballet at New York City Ballet for ten years before retiring from the stage. He is currently the resident chiropra ...

(1973) *
Twice upon a Time
' illustrated by Adrienne Adams (1973) * ''

Tom Sawyer Thomas "Tom" Sawyer () is the title character of the Mark Twain novel '' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawy ...

'' (adaptation), illustrated by E. R. Cruz (

, 1973). Reprinted in '' Marvel Classics Comics'' #7 (1976) * ''

Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 Epic (genre), epic novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is centered on the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler ...

'' (adaptation), illustrated by

Alex Niño Alex Niño (born May 1, 1940) is a Filipinos, Filipino comics artist best known for his work for the American publishers DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Warren Publishing, and in ''Heavy Metal (magazine), Heavy Metal'' magazine. Biography Early l ...

Dan Adkins Danny L. AdkinsDanny L. Adkins
at the Social Security Death Index via FamilySearch.org. Retrieved December ...

(Pendulum Press, 1973). Reprinted in ''Marvel Classics Comics'' #8 (1976) * ''

The Red Badge of Courage ''The Red Badge of Courage'' is an 1895 war novel by American author Stephen Crane. The novel was published on 3 October 1895. Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming ...

'' (adaptation), illustrated by E .R. Cruz (Pendulum Press, 1974). Reprinted in ''Marvel Classics Comics'' #10 (1976) *
Uncle Sam's 200th Birthday Parade
' illustrated by Frank Brugos (1974) *
Paul Bunyan Tricks a Dragon
' illustrated by Raymond Burns (1975) *
Dan McCann and His Fast Sooner Hound
' illustrated by Mimi Korach (1975) *
Smokey Bear's Camping Book
' illustrated by Mel Crawford (1976) *
Darwin and the Enchanted Isles
' illustrated by Christopher Spollen (1977) *
The Hungry Ghost Mystery
' illustrated by William M. Hutchinson (1978) * '' Joe Magarac and His USA Citizen Papers'' (1979)
second printing
*
The Gift of Magic Sleep: Early Experiments in Anesthesia
' illustrated by Pat Rotondo (1979) *
Tenggren's Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights
' illustrated by

Gustaf Tenggren Gustaf Adolf Tenggren (November 3, 1896 – April 9, 1970) was a Swedes, Swedish illustrator and animator. He is known for his Arthur Rackham-influenced fairy-tale style and use of silhouetted figures with caricatured faces. Tenggren was a chief i ...

, retold by Margaret Soifer and Irwin Shapiro, introduction by

Mary Pope Osborne Mary Pope Osborne (born May 20, 1949) is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. She is best known as the author of the ''Magic Tree House'' series, which sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Os ...

(2003)

Biography

Works

Plays

Translations

Books

Footnotes

Further reading