Theodore Peter Lewin (May 6, 1935 – July 28, 2021) simply known as Ted Lewin, was an American illustrator and writer of

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

s. Lewin and his wife

Betsy Lewin Betsy Reilly Lewin (born May 12, 1937) is an American illustrator from Clearfield, Pennsylvania. She studied illustration at Pratt Institute. After graduation, she began designing greeting cards. She began writing and illustrating stories for c ...

drew on their travels to exotic places such as the Amazon River,

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, Lapland, the

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

, and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

when collaborating on their many books. Lewin illustrated over 100 books for children and young adults over the course of 20 years.

Early life

Ted Lewin was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

on May 6, 1935. He has a sister and two brothers,

Donn In Irish mythology, Donn ("the dark one", from ) is an ancestor of the Gaels and is believed to have been a god of the dead. Donn is said to dwell in Tech Duinn (the "house of Donn" or "house of the dark one"), where the souls of the dead gathe ...

and

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

, both of them

professional wrestlers Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

. The Lewin household had a number of exotic pets, such as an

iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, J.N. Laurenti in ...

, a

rhesus monkey The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally brown or g ...

, a

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

, and a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

. Lewin grew up with the hobby of sketching his family pets. He also copied works of many illustrators and painters that interested him. While attending Lafayette High School (LHS), Lewin refined his talent for art. He graduated from LHS in 1952, and in 1956 earned a BFA degree from Pratt Institute of Art in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, where he met his wife, Betsy Reilly. He and his wife resided in Brooklyn, New York. In order to finance his education at Pratt, Lewin took on a part-time career as a teenage professional

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

alongside his brothers. His wrestling career lasted for 26 years, and it inspired him to record his experience by writing ''I Was a Teenaged Professional Wrestler''. He wrestled mainly in the

World Wide Wrestling Federation Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was an American sports promotion company. Run by Vincent J. McMahon from the 1950s until the 1980s, the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing promotion and later became the holding company ...

from 1963 to 1968. In 1994, Lewin's book ''Peppe the Lamplighter'' received 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 ...

. In 2006, ''One Green Apple'', illustrated by Lewin and written by

Eve Bunting Eve Bjørgum Bunting (née Bolton, December 19, 1928 – October 1, 2023), better known as Eve Bunting, was a Northern Irish-born American writer of more than 250 books. Her work covered a broad array of subjects and included fiction and non-fic ...

, won the inaugural

Arab American Book Award The Arab American Book Award, established in 2006, is an annual literary award to celebrate and support the research of, and the written work of, Arab Americans and their culture. The Arab American Book Award encourages the publication and excelle ...

for books written for Children/Young Adults.2007 Arab American book Award Winners, http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/2007-Arab-American-Book-Award-Winners.id.261.htm ''One Green Apple'' tells the story of a young girl who has just immigrated to America from an Arab country and her discovery that her differences are what makes her special.

Exhibits

Some exhibits featuring Ted's work: *"Ted and Betsy Lewin's World of Picture Books",

Brooklyn Public Library The Brooklyn Public Library is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two Brooklyn Publ ...

, New York, March 4–30, 2004 *"Adventures With Ted and Betsy", Society of Illustrators main floor gallery, June 1 through June 11, 2005 *"Travels with Ted and Betsy Lewin",

Children's Museum of Manhattan The Children’s Museum of Manhattan is located on West 83rd street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded by Bette Korman, under the name GAME (Growth Through Art and Museum Experience), in 1973. The museum adopted ...

, New York *"Around the World with Ted and Betsy Lewin", Pratt Institute Libraries, October 30 - December 2, 2008

Awards

* 1994:

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

in the Children's Picture Book category for illustrating ''The Always Prayer Shawl''

Championships and accomplishments

Cauliflower Alley Club The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Ab ...

** Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement Award (2001)

References

External links