Charlotte Zolotow

Charlotte Zolotow (born Charlotte Gertrude Shapiro; June 26, 1915 – November 19, 2013) was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher of many books for children. She wrote about 70 picture book texts.[lower-alpha 1]

Charlotte Zolotow
BornCharlotte Gertrude Shapiro
(1915-06-26)June 26, 1915
Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
DiedNovember 19, 2013(2013-11-19) (aged 98)
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.
OccupationEditor, writer
GenreChildren's picture books, poetry
SpouseMaurice Zolotow (divorced 1969)
ChildrenCrescent Dragonwagon
Steve Zolotow
Website
charlottezolotow.com

The writers she edited include Paul Fleischman, Paul Zindel, Mary Rodgers, Robert Lipsyte, and Francesca Lia Block.

Life

Charlotte Shapiro was born in Norfolk, Virginia. She studied writing with Helen C. White at the University of Wisconsin Madison from 1933 to 1936 and then moved to New York City, where she started at Harper & Bros as secretary to the children's books editor Ursula Nordstrom.[1] She was married to Maurice Zolotow from 1938 until their divorce in 1969. Their daughter Ellen is writer Crescent Dragonwagon and their son is poker tournament champion Steve Zolotow. She lived in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where she died, aged 98.[2]

Work

Zolotow's work was published by more than 20 different houses. She was an editor, and later publisher, at Harper & Row (which was called Harper & Brothers when she began to work there, and is now known as HarperCollins). The poem "Missing You" from River Winding appears in Best Friends, a collection of poems,[3] and "People" from All That Sunlight appears in the collection More Surprises[4] (both of these anthologies bear the emblem, "A Charlotte Zolotow Book"). She contributed a story called Enemies, illustrated by Ben Shecter, to The Big Book for Peace where she appears alongside other well-known authors and illustrators including Lloyd Alexander, Steven Kellogg and Trina Schart Hyman.[5]

One of Zolotow's titles most widely held in WorldCat libraries is When the Wind Stops, a picture book edited by Ursula Nordstrom and published in 1962 with illustrations by Joe Lasker. Subsequent editions were illustrated by Howard Knotts (1975) and Stefano Vitale (1995, a revised edition).[6][7] In June 2014, the Children's Literature Association named the latter a runner-up for the Phoenix Picture Book Award, which annually recognizes a picture book with lasting value that did not win a major award 20 years earlier. "Books are considered not only for the quality of their illustrations, but for the way pictures and text work together."[8]

Zolotow's 1972 book William's Doll (illustrated by William Pène du Bois), about gender stereotypes, was adapted by composer Mary Rodgers and lyricist Sheldon Harnick for the children's album Free to Be ... You and Me, and then for the subsequent television special.[2][9]

In 1998 the Cooperative Children's Book Center at UW Madison School of Education (CCBC) inaugurated the Charlotte Zolotow Award, "given annually to the author of the best picture book text published in the United States in the preceding year."[10] (The American Library Association Caldecott Medal is given to the illustrator of an American children's picture book.)

Selected books

Some of Zolotow's picture book writings were revised and several were illustrated more than once. At least two titles (both listed here) were published in three editions with three illustrators.[6]

Notes
  1. Publisher HarperCollins credits her with more than 70 "books for young audiences" [lower-alpha 2] and the UW Madison Children's Book Center (CCBC) with more than 70 "picture book texts".[lower-alpha 3] CCBC lists 69 titles by Zolotow under the "Picture Books" heading.[lower-alpha 4]
  2. "Author Interview: Charlotte Zolotow". HarperCollins. Retrieved 2009-03-25.

See also

References
  1. CCBC, Biographical Information (top page).
  2. Fox, Margalit (November 19, 2013). "Charlotte Zolotow, Author of Books on Children's Real Issues, Dies at 98". The New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  3. Watts, James (illustrator) (1987). Lee Bennett Hopkins (ed.). Best Friends. USA: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-022561-0.
  4. Lloyd, Megan (illustrator) (1987). Lee Bennett Hopkins (ed.). More Surprises (An I Can Read Book). USA: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-022604-8.
  5. Beirhorst, Jane Byers (illustrator) (1990). Ann Durell; Marilyn Sachs (eds.). The Big Book for Peace. New York: Dutton Children’s Books. ISBN 0-525-44605-2.
  6. CCBC, Books Written by Charlotte Zolotow Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. "Formats and editions of When the wind stops". WorldCat. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
  8. "Phoenix Picture Book Award" Archived December 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Children's Literature Association. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
  9. Kois, Dan (October 23, 2012). "Free To Be". Slate. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  10. CCBC, Charlotte Zolotow Award Archived October 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
Citations
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