Molly Schaar Idle is an American children's book illustrator, author and animator. In 2014, she was awarded a Caldecott Honor for her picture book Flora and the Flamingo . [1]
Molly Idle was born in Los Angeles, California and moved with her family to Tempe, Arizona when she was six years old. [2] She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Arizona State University. [3] After college, she began her career as an animator for DreamWorks, working as an inbetweener and breakdown artist [4] [5] for five years. She worked on the films The Road to El Dorado , Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas . [6] She also was an animation artist for PBS Kids. [3] She left DreamWorks after the studio transitioned to computer animation. [7]
Idle's illustrated book, Emma's Gift, was published in 2003. Between 2004 and 2007, her self-illustrated books were published as part of the In God We Trust series of fiction. [3]
Idle began a wordless picture book series, starting with the publishing of her book Flora and the Flamingo in 2013. The book received a Caldecott Honor in 2014. [3]
Her drawing technique uses a layering of color pencil drawings. [4]
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 to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The Caldecott and Newbery Medals are considered the most prestigious American children's book awards. Besides the Caldecott Medal, the committee awards a variable number of citations to runners-up they deem worthy, called the Caldecott Honor or Caldecott Honor Books.
Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo is an American children's fiction author. She has published over 25 novels, including Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising, The Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Magician's Elephant, the Mercy Watson series, and Flora & Ulysses. Her books have sold around 37 million copies. Four have been developed into films and two have been adapted into musical settings. Her works have won various awards; The Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses won the Newbery Medal, making DiCamillo one of six authors to have won two Newbery Medals.
Mo Willems is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and children's book author. His work includes creating the animated television series Sheep in the Big City for Cartoon Network, working on Sesame Street and The Off-Beats, and creating the children's book series Elephant and Piggie.
Carson Friedman Ellis is a Canadian-born American children's book illustrator and artist. She received a Caldecott Honor for her children's book Du Iz Tak? (2016). Her work is inspired by folk art, art history, and mysticism.
Marcia Joan Brown was an American writer and illustrator of more than 30 children's books. She won three annual Caldecott Medals from the American Library Association, six Caldecott Medal honors as an illustrator, recognizing the year's best U.S. picture book illustration, and the ALA's Children's Literature Legacy Award in 1992 for her career contribution to children's literature. This total of nine books with awards and honors is more than any other Caldecott-nominated illustrator. Many of her titles have been published in translation, including Afrikaans, German, Japanese, Spanish, and Xhosa-Bantu editions. Brown is known as one of the most honored illustrators in children's literature.
The Pura Belpré Award is a recognition presented to a Latino or Latina author and illustrator whose work best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children or youth. It was established in 1996. It was given every other year since 1996 until 2009 when it was changed to be given annually.
Molly Garrett Bang is an American illustrator. For her illustration of children's books she has been a runner-up for the American Caldecott Medal three times and for the British Greenaway Medal once. Announced June 2015, her 1996 picture book Goose is the 2016 Phoenix Picture Book Award winner – that is, named by the Children's Literature Association the best English-language children's picture book that did not win a major award when it was published twenty years earlier.
Laura Vaccaro Seeger is an American author and illustrator of children's books. She has often appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List and has won the Caldecott Honor twice, the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Best Picture Book, the Empire State Award for "Body of Work and Contribution to Children’s Literature", the Massachusetts Reading Association Award for "Body of Work and Contribution to Children's Literature", and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor twice.
Charlotte Louise Fullerton is an American writer of television, novels, comic books and video games.
Jake Parker is an American comics short-story creator, concept artist, illustrator, and animator. Parker worked as a set designer for Blue Sky Studios where he contributed to the animated films Horton Hears a Who, Rio and Epic. Parker is a children's book illustrator; his work includes the 2015 New York Times bestseller The Little Snowplow. In 2016, he wrote and illustrated his first children's book Little Bot and Sparrow which was inspired by his "Robot and Sparrow" comic. He is the creator of Inktober, a popular annual ink drawing celebration during October.
Olivia is a fictional pig character in a series of children's picture books written and illustrated by the late Ian Falconer, the first entry of which was published in 2000. An animated television series, Olivia, inspired by the character premiered in 2009.
Marla Frazee is an American author and illustrator of children's literature. She has received three Caldecott Honors for picture book illustration.
Jon Klassen is a Canadian writer and illustrator of children's books and an animator. He won both the American Caldecott Medal and the British Kate Greenaway Medal for children's book illustration, recognizing the 2012 picture book This Is Not My Hat, which he also wrote. He is the first person to win both awards for the same work.
Molly Knox Ostertag is an American cartoonist and writer. Her work includes the animated series The Owl House, webcomic Strong Female Protagonist, the middle grade graphic novel series, and on the series Tales of the Night Watchman. She was named one of Forbes magazine's 30 Under 30 in 2021.
Christian Robinson is an American illustrator of children's books and an animator. He is based in Sacramento, California and has worked with The Sesame Street Workshop and Pixar Animation Studios. He graduated from the California Institute of the Arts.
Vashti Harrison is an American writer, illustrator and filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. Her book, Big, received the 2024 Randolph Caldecott Medal. She was born in Virginia and her films and other artworks are rooted in Caribbean heritage and folklore.
Sophie Jocasta Blackall is an Australian artist, author, and illustrator of children's books based in Brooklyn, New York.
Juana Martinez-Neal is a Peruvian American children's book author and illustrator. Her debut book as an author and illustrator, Alma and How She Got Her Name, was well reviewed and won a 2019 Caldecott Honor.
LeUyen Pham is a children's book illustrator and author. She has illustrated and written more than 120 books. In 2020, she won a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in the book Bear Came Along.
We Are Water Protectors is a 2020 picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade. Written in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, the book tells the story of an Ojibwe girl who fights against an oil pipeline in an effort to protect the water supply of her people. It was published by Roaring Brook Press on March 17, 2020. The book was well received. Critics praised its message of environmental justice, its depiction of diversity, and the watercolor illustrations, for which Goade won the 2021 Caldecott Medal, becoming the first Indigenous recipient of the award. The book also received the 2021 Jane Addams Children's Book Award winner in the Books for Younger Children category.