Simms Taback (February 13, 1932 – December 25, 2011) was an American writer,

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published me ...

, and illustrator of more than 35 books. He won the 2000

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 Servic ...

for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing '' Joseph Had a Little Overcoat'', and was a runner-up in 1998 for '' There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly''.

Biography

He was born to a working family of a housepainter and a seamstress, socialists and labor organizers. His first name is after Harry Simms, Jewish labor leader. Taback graduated from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and served in the United States Army during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

. He was a designer for CBS Records and

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

. He was the founder and president of the Illustrators Guild (later the New York Graphic Artists Guild) and taught art at the School of Visual Arts and

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

. Taback designed the first

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

Happy Meal box in 1977. He died in 2011 of pancreatic cancer.

Selected works

* ''Jabberwocky and other nonsense'' ( Harlin Quist, 1964), three poems by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

, 1871 to 1889 * ''Too Much Noise'' (1967), by Ann McGovern * ''Joseph Had a Little Overcoat'' (Random House, 1977), movable book based on a Yiddish folk song * ''Jason's Bus Ride'' (1987), by

Harriet Ziefert Harriet Ziefert (born July 7, 1941) is an American children's author. Ziefert was born in North Bergen, New Jersey. She has written several hundred children's books, including the Little Hippo series. Notable illustrators of her books include Emi ...

* ''Road Builders'' (1994), by B. G. Hennessy * ''Sam's Wild West Show'' (1995), by Nancy Antle * ''Two Little Witches: a Halloween counting story'' (1996), by Harriet Ziefert * ''There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly'' (1997), illustrating the American folk poem * ''Joseph Had a Little Overcoat'' (Viking, 1999) —the Caldecott Medal-winning edition for U.S. picture book illustration * ''This is the House that Jack Built'' (2002), based on the nursery rhyme * ''Kibitzers and Fools: tales my zayda (grandfather) told me'' (2005), traditional Jewish tales * ''I Miss You Every Day'' (2007)

Original works

*''Animal Parade'' **''City Animals'' **''Dinosaurs'' **''Farm Animals'' **''Safari Animals'' *''Quack Like A Duck!'' *''Who Am I?'' *''Who Said Moo?'' *''Where Is My Baby?'' *''Where Is My Friend?''

Awards

Winner

* 1999:

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.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 Servic ...

for U.S. picture book illustration for ''Joseph Had a Little Overcoat''

Finalist

* 1998:

for U.S. picture book illustration for ''There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.''

References

External links

Official Simms Taback WebsiteOfficial Caldecott WebsiteThe Horn Book interview with Simms Taback
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taback, Simms Caldecott Medal winners American children's book illustrators Jewish American artists Jewish American writers 1932 births 2011 deaths Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from pancreatic cancer 21st-century American Jews