Jerry Pinkney was an American illustrator and writer of children's literature. Pinkney illustrated over 100 books since 1964, including picture books, nonfiction titles and novels. Pinkney's works addressed diverse themes and were usually done in watercolors.
The Lion & the Mouse is a 2009 nearly wordless picture book illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. This book, published by Little, Brown and Company, tells Aesop's fable of The Lion and the Mouse. In the story, a mouse's life is a spared by a lion. Later, after the lion is trapped, the mouse is able to set the lion free. Adapting the fable, with the moral that the weak can help the strong, as a wordless picture book was seen as a successful way of overcoming the brief plot generally found in the source stories. While it was Pinkney's first wordless picture book, it was not the first time he had told the story, having previously included it in his Aesop's Fables, published in 2000. Pinkney, who had received five Caldecott Honors, became the first African American to win the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in this book. His illustrations were generally praised for their realism and sense of place. The cover illustrations, featuring the title characters but no text, drew particular praise.
Robert Daniel San Souci was an American children's book author known most for his retellings of folktales for children. A native Californian, Robert D. San Souci was born in San Francisco and raised across the bay in Berkeley. He often worked with his brother, Daniel San Souci, a children's book illustrator. He was widely sought as a presenter at conferences, trade shows, and in schools across the country. Mr. San Souci was the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career, and his adaptations are, according to Mary M. Burns in Horn Book, typified by "impeccable scholarship and a fluid storytelling style."
Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman is a 1996 children's picture book by Alan Schroeder and is illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. Released in 1996 by Dial Press, it is a fictionalized story of Harriet Tubman as a young girl.
The Little Match Girl is a 1999 adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen story by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a girl who is a street vendor of artificial flowers and matches in a city during the early twentieth century and rather than returning home, as she hasn't made any sales, lights her matches to keep warm, sees wonderful visions, then dies and goes to heaven.
Journeys with Elijah: Eight Tales of the Prophet is a 1999 children's picture book by Barbara Diamond Goldin and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is based on the tradition that the biblical prophet Elijah can reappear to anyone anywhere at any time and is eight stories of people's encounters with him from ancient times to the modern day throughout the world.
Aesop's Fables is a 2000 collection of 61 fables from the Aesop oeuvre, retold by Jerry Pinkney. It includes stories about wolves, foxes, lions, dogs, mice, and donkeys.
The Nightingale is a 2002 adaptation of the classic 1843 Hans Christian Andersen story by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a king who forsakes a nightingale for a bejeweled mechanical bird, becomes gravely ill, and is then revived by the song of the nightingale.
The Little Red Hen is a 2006 book by Jerry Pinkney of the classic folktale about a chicken and some animals that decline to assist her in the growing and harvesting of wheat which she then uses to bake bread. When the animals ask to have some, she refuses and instead eats the bread with her chicks.
The Grasshopper & the Ants, by Jerry Pinkney, is a 2015 adaptation of the classic Aesop fable where a grasshopper relaxes through Spring, Summer, and Autumn, while a colony of ants work at gathering food for the Winter, but although initially refusing the grasshopper's request for help, they relent and invite him in to share.
The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll is a 2007 picture book by Patricia McKissack and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a girl, Nella, living during the Great Depression who amazingly receives a doll for Christmas, initially doesn't share with her sisters but then relents after discovering that it's not fun to play by herself.
The Tortoise & the Hare is a 2013 wordless picture book of Aesop's classic fable and is illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a tortoise and a hare that compete in a foot race with the tortoise surprisingly winning.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a 1997 retelling of Rudyard Kipling's classic story by Jerry Pinkney about a mongoose that protects a family from two cobras. The book won a Caldecott honor in 1998 for its illustrations.
I Want to Be is a 1993 picture book by Thylias Moss and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is about a girl who is asked what she wants to be and the imaginative answers she gives.
Ma Dear's Aprons is a 1997 book by Patricia McKissack about the relationship between a son, David Earl, and his mother, Ma dear.
Stitchin' and Pullin': A Gee's Bend Quilt is a 2008 picture book by Patricia McKissack and illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. It is about a young girl, Baby girl, who, growing up amongst the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama, makes her first quilt.
The People Could Fly: The Picture Book is a 2004 picture book by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. It is a reissue, by the Dillons, of Hamilton's title story of her 1985 book The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales and is about a group of African-American slaves who call upon old magic to escape their oppression by flying away.
Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl is a 2003 picture book by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by James Ransome. It is a retelling by Hamilton, in the Gullah dialect, of the classic story of Bruh Rabbit outwitting Bruh Wolf.
The Aesop Prize and Aesop Accolades are conferred annually by the Children’s Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society upon English language books for children and young adults, both fiction and nonfiction.
The Adventure of Charlie and His Wheat-Straw Hat: A Memorat is a 1986 children's picture book by Berniece T. Hiser, and illustrated by Mary Szilagyi. Based on a folktale told amongst Hiser's family, it is about a boy, Charlie, who has a hat made for him by his mother and grandmother, and saves his neighbor's farm animals from some rebel soldiers.
