Uri Shulevitz

Uri Shulevitz (; February 27, 1935 – February 15, 2025) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He won the 1969 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing '' The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship'', an Eastern European fairy tale retold by Arthur Ransome in 1916.

Life and career

Uri Shulevitz was born in Warsaw, Poland, on February 27, 1935. During the bombing of Warsaw in 1939, a bomb fell into a stairwell of his apartment building when he was at home. The family fled from Warsaw, first to Bialystok, later to Turkestan, experiences that Shulevitz would later capture in his 2020 memoir ''Chance: Escape from the Holocaust,'' which the ''Wall Street Journal'' then listed among the twenty best children's books of the past twenty years. Eventually they settled in Paris by 1947, then moved again to Israel in 1949. During the Sinai War in 1956, Shulevitz joined the Israeli Army. Later, he joined the Ein Gedi kibbutz.

Shulevitz moved to New York City in 1959, studying painting at Brooklyn Museum Art School and working as an illustrator for a Hebrew children's book publisher. In 1962, an editor at Harper & Row saw his freelance portfolio and suggested he write children's books. He created his first picture book, ''The Moon in My Room'', in 1963. He authored over three dozen books; the last, ''The Sky Was My Blanket'', about his uncle, who fought alongside the Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War and the French Resistance during World War II, will be published in August 2025.

Shulevitz lived in New York City with his wife, Paula Brown. He died from complications of influenza and pneumonia at a Manhattan hospital on February 15, 2025, at the age of 89.

Works

*''The Moon in My Room'' (1963)
*''The Mystery of the Woods'' (1964) (written by Mary Stolz)
*''A Rose, a Bridge, and a Wild Black Horse'' (1964) (written by Charlotte Zolotow)
*''The Second Witch'' (1965) (written by Jack Sendak)
*''The Twelve Dancing Princesses'' (1966) (Brothers Grimm tale adapted by Elizabeth Shub)
*''The Carpet of Solomon'' (1966) (written by Sulamith Ish-Kishor)
*''The Month Brothers'' (1967) (written by Dorothy Nathan)
*''Runaway Jonah, and other tales'' (1967) (written by Jan Wahl)
*''One Monday Morning'' (1967)
*''The Silkspinners'' (1967) (written by Jean Russell Larson)
*''My Kind of Verse'' (1968) (edited by John Smith)
*'' The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship'' (1969) (written by Arthur Ransome)
*''Rain Rain Rivers'' (1969)
*''The Wonderful Kite'' (1970) (written by Jan Wahl)
*''Oh What a Noise!'' (1971) (written by William Brighty Rands)
*''Soldier and Tsar in the Forest'' (1972) (written by A N Afanasʹev)
*''The Magician'' (1973) (adapted from the Yiddish of Isaac Leib Peretz)
*'' The Fools of Chelm and Their History'' (1973) (written by Isaac Bashevis Singer)
*''Dawn'' (1974)
*''The Touchstone'' (1976) (written by Robert Louis Stevenson)
*''The Treasure'' (1978)
*''Hanukah Money'' (1978) (written by Sholem Aleichem)
*''The Lost Kingdom of Karnica'' (1979) (written by Richard Kennedy)
*''The Golem'' (1982) (written by Isaac Bashevis Singer)
*''Writing With Pictures'' (1985)
*''The Strange and Exciting Adventures of Jeremiah Hush'' (1986)
*''Toddlecreek Post Office'' (1990)
*''The Diamond Tree'' (1991) (written by Howard Schwartz and Barbara Rush)
*''The Secret Room'' (1993)
*''The Golden Goose'' (1995) (adapted from the Brothers Grimm)
*''Hosni the Dreamer'' (1997) (written by Ehud Ben-ʻEzer)
*''Snow'' (1998)
*''What Is a Wise Bird Like You Doing in a Silly Tale Like This'' (2000)
*''Daughters of Fire'' (2001) (written by Fran Manushkin)
*''The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela'' (2005)
*''SoSleepyStory'' (2006)
*'' How I Learned Geography'' (2008)
*''When I Wore My Sailor Suit'' (2009)
*''Dusk'' (2013)
*''Troto and the Trucks'' (2015)
*''Chance'' (2020)
*''The Sky Was My Blanket'' (2025)

Awards

*1969: Caldecott Medal, ''The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship''
*1980: Caldecott Honor, ''The Treasure''
*1999: Charlotte Zolotow Award, ''Snow''
*1999: Golden Kite Award, Picture Book Illustration, ''Snow''
*1999: Caldecott Honor, ''Snow''
*2005: National Jewish Book Award in the Illustrated Children's Book category for ''The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela''
*2009: Caldecott Honor, ''How I Learned Geography''

References

External links

*

Uri Shulevitz profile
at publisher Macmillan US
*

publishersweekly.com obituary
*
*

Interview with Uri Shulevitz regarding ''Chance: Escape from the Holocaust''
','' American Writers Museum in partnership with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center (October 13, 2020).

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shulevitz, Uri
1935 births
2025 deaths
American children's writers
Caldecott Medal winners
American children's book illustrators
Israeli soldiers
Jewish American artists
Polish emigrants to the United States
Polish emigrants to Israel
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews
Writers from Warsaw
Caldecott Honor winners
Writers who illustrated their own writing
Deaths from influenza in the United States
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers