Ellen Raskin
Ellen Raskin | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 13, 1928 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.[1] |
| Died | August 8, 1984 (aged 56) New York, New York[2] |
| Occupation | Writer, illustrator |
| Education | University of Wisconsin |
| Genre | Children's novels, picture books |
| Notable works | |
| Notable awards | Newbery Medal 1979 The Westing Game |
| Spouse |
|
| Children | Susan Kuhlman Metcalfe[3] |
| Parents | |
Ellen Raskin (March 13, 1928 – August 8, 1984) was an American children's writer and illustrator. She won the 1979 Newbery Medal for The Westing Game, a mystery novel, and another children's mystery, Figgs & Phantoms, was a Newbery Honor Book in 1975.
In 2012 The Westing Game was ranked number nine all-time among children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with a primarily-U.S. audience.[4]
Life
[edit]Raskin was born in Milwaukee,[5] where she grew up during the Great Depression. She was educated at the University of Wisconsin with a major in fine art.[1][6]
Raskin was an accomplished graphic artist. She worked in New York City as a commercial artist for about 15 years. Among other things, she designed more than 1000 dust jackets for books, including the first edition of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, the 1963 Newbery Medal winner.[1]
In 1957, she married graphic designer Roy Kuhlman, but they soon divorced. In 1960 she married Dennis Flanagan, editor of Scientific American.[1][6]
Raskin died at the age of 56 on August 8, 1984, in New York City, as a result of a connective-tissue disease.[2]
Education
[edit]At the age of 17, Raskin entered the University of Wisconsin with the intention of majoring in journalism. However, after visiting an art exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago,[7] she changed her major to fine arts.
Works
[edit]Children's picture books
[edit]Raskin wrote and illustrated twelve picture books, published by Atheneum Books except as noted.[8]
- Nothing Ever Happens on My Block, 1967
- Silly Songs and Sad, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1967
- Spectacles, 1968
- Ghost in a Four-Room Apartment, 1969
- And It Rained, 1969
- A & The, or, William T. C. Baumgarten Comes to Town, 1970
- The World's Greatest Freak Show, 1971
- Franklin Stein, 1972
- Moe Q. McGlutch, He Smoked Too Much, Parents, 1973
- Who, Said Sue, Said Whoo?, 1973
- Moose, Goose & Little Nobody, 1976
- Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, 1976
Children’s novels
[edit]Raskin wrote four novels, all published by E. P. Dutton.[8]
- The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel), 1971
- Figgs & Phantoms, 1974
- The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues, 1975
- The Westing Game, 1978
As illustrator
[edit]Raskin also illustrated more than twenty books by other writers.[8]
- Happy Christmas: Tales for Boys and Girls, edited by Claire H. Bishop, Ungar, 1956.
- The Bound Man and Other Stories, by Ilse Aichinger, transl. by Eric Mosbacher, New York: Noonday Press, 1956.
- A Child's Christmas in Wales, by Dylan Thomas (1950); J. M. Dent, 1968.
- Mama, I Wish I Was Snow, Child You'd Be Very Cold, by Ruth Krauss, Atheneum, 1962.
- Philosophy and History. The Ernst Cassirer Festschrift, ed. Raymond Klibansky and H. J. Paton, 1963. (second edition)
- Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, selected by Dwight MacDonald, Crowell, 1965.
- We Dickinson's, by Aileen Fisher and Olive Rabe, Atheneum, 1965.
- The Jewish Sabbath, by Molly Cone, Crowell, 1966.
- Paths of Poetry: Twenty-Five Poets and Their Poems, ed. Louis Untermeyer, Delacorte, 1966.
- Songs of Innocence (Volumes 1 & 2), by William Blake (1789, 1794), music and illustrations by Ellen Raskin, Doubleday, 1966.
- D. H. Lawrence: Poems Selected for Young People, ed. William Cole, Viking, 1967.
- Ellen Grae, by Vera and Bill Cleaver, Lippincott, 1967.
- Poems of Robert Herrick, ed. Winfield T. Scott, Crowell, 1967.
- Probability: The Science of Chance, by Arthur G. Razzell and K. G. O. Watts, Doubleday, 1967. ‡
- This Is 4: the Idea of a Number, by Razzell and Watts, Doubleday, 1967. ‡
- Books: A Book to Begin On, by Susan Bartlett, Holt, 1968.
- Inatuk's Friend, by Suzanne Stark Morrow, Atlantic/Little, 1968.
- A Paper Zoo: A Collection of Animal Poems by Modern American Poets, edited by Renee K. Weiss, Macmillan, 1968.
- Piping Down the Valleys Wild: Poetry for the Young of All Ages, edited by Nancy Larrick, Delacorte, 1968.
- Symmetry, by Razzell and Watts, Doubleday, 1968. ‡
- We Alcotts, by Aileen Fisher and Olive Rabe, Atheneum, 1968.
- Circles and Curves, by Razzell and Watts, Doubleday, 1969. ‡
- Come Along!, by Rebecca Caudill, Holt, 1969.
- Shrieks at Midnight: Macabre Poems, Eerie and Humorous, edited by Sara and John E. Brewton, Crowell, 1969.
- Three and the Shape of Three, by Razzell and Watts, Doubleday, 1969. ‡
- Elidor, by Alan Garner (1965), Walck, 1970.
- Goblin Market, by Christina Rossetti (1862), Dutton, 1970.
- ‡ Raskin illustrated at least five volumes in a series of 32- and 48-page mathematics books by Arthur C. Razzell and Kenneth George Oliver Watts, which was inaugurated by Doubleday in 1964.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Ellen Raskin: Notable Wisconsin Author" Archived February 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine [Biography]. Ginny Moore Kruse. Copyright 1981, 2000. Wisconsin Authors and Illustrators. The Cooperative Children's Book Center [CCBC]; School of Education; University of Wisconsin (ccbc.education.wisc.edu).
- ^ a b "Ellen Raskin". The New York Times. August 10, 1984.
- ^ a b "Ellen Raskin Papers". MS 85. Boston, MA, USA: Simmons College Archives.
- ^ Bird, Elizabeth (July 7, 2012). "Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results". A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. School Library Journal (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com). Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
- ^ "Ellen Raskin". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
- ^ a b "Free Study Guide for The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin". Ray Mescallado. The Best Notes (thebestnotes.com). May 15, 2008.
- ^ "Archived copy". ccbc.education.wisc.edu. Archived from the original on April 8, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b c "Books Written and Illustrated by Ellen Raskin". Wisconsin Authors and Illustrators. CCBC. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
Further reading
[edit]- Ellen Raskin (Volume 579 of Twayne's United States Authors Series: Children's Literature), Marilynn Strasser Olson, Twayne Publishers, 1991; ISBN 9780805776270
External links
[edit]
- Ellen Raskin at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Ellen Raskin at Library of Congress, with 46 library catalog records
- 1928 births
- 1984 deaths
- American children's writers
- American women children's writers
- American children's book illustrators
- American women children's book illustrators
- American mystery novelists
- Newbery Medal winners
- Newbery Honor winners
- University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
- Writers from New York City
- Writers from Milwaukee
- Artists from New York City
- Artists from Wisconsin
- American women illustrators
- American women novelists
- American women mystery writers
- 20th-century American novelists
- 20th-century American women writers
- Novelists from New York (state)
- Novelists from Wisconsin
- 20th-century American women artists