Arnold Lobel

Arnold Lobel
Born	Arnold Stark Lobel (1933-05-22)May 22, 1933 Los Angeles, California
Died	Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Writer, illustrator
Nationality	American
Genre	Children's picture books
Notable works	Frog and Toad series Mouse Soup Prince Bertram the Bad
Notable awards	Caldecott Medal 1981
Spouse	Anita Lobel
Children	Adrianne Lobel, Adam Lobel

Arnold Stark Lobel (May 22, 1933 – December 4, 1987) was an American author of children's books, including the Frog and Toad series and Mouse Soup. He both wrote and illustrated those picture books, as well as Fables, for which he won the 1981 Caldecott Medal recognizing the year's best-illustrated U.S. picture book.

Lobel also illustrated the works of other writers, including Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley, published in 1969.

Biography

He was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lucille Stark and Joseph Lobel, but was raised in Schenectady, New York. He attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. When he graduated from art school, he married Anita Kempler, also a children's writer and illustrator. He had two children, daughter Adrianne and son Adam, and three grandchildren.

Lobel died of complications arising from AIDS on December 4, 1987, at Doctors Hospital (Manhattan, New York).

In 2009, Adrianne Lobel started releasing some of her father's archive material in the form of new books, with added watercolors by herself. The Frogs and Toads All Sang was released in May and Odd Owls and Stout Pigs in October 2009.

Awards

Lobel won the 1981 Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association, recognizing Fables as the year's best-illustrated U.S. children's picture book. He was also a runner-up in 1971 and 1972 Medals, for Frog and Toad are Friends and Hildilid's Night (Caldecott Honor Books). He won the Garden State Children's Book Award from the New Jersey Library Association for Mouse Soup (1977).

Selected works as writer

• Prince Bertram the Bad (1963)
• A Holiday for Mister Muster (1963)
• Giant John (1964)
• Lucille (1964)
• The Bears of the Air (1966)
• Martha the Movie Mouse (1966)
• The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog (1968)
• The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments" (1968)
• Small Pig (1969)
• Ice-Cream Cone Coot, and Other Rare Birds (1971)
• On the Day Peter Stuyvesant Sailed Into Town (1971)
• Owl at Home (1975)
• Grasshopper on the Road (1978)
• A Treeful of Pigs (1979)
• Fables (1980) (A Caldecott Medal winner)
• Uncle Elephant (1981)
• Ming Lo Moves the Mountain (1982)
• The Book of Pigericks: Pig Limericks (1983)
• The Rose in My Garden (1984)
• Whiskers & Rhymes (1985)

• Odd Owls & Stout Pigs: A Book of Nonsense (2009), color by Adrianne Lobel

Frog and Toad series

A series of books featuring Frog and Toad

• Frog and Toad Are Friends (1970)
• Frog and Toad Together (1972)
• Frog and Toad All Year (1976)
• Days with Frog and Toad (1979)

The musical A Year with Frog and Toad (workshopped 2000, premiered 2002), by Adrianne Lobel and others, played on Broadway in 2003 and has toured nationally since.

• The Frogs and Toads All Sang (2009), color by Adrianne Lobel

Mister Muster series

Featuring Arnold Lobel's first self-written and illustrated book

• A Zoo for Mister Muster (1962)
• A Holiday for Mister Muster (1963)

Mouse series

• Mouse Tales (1972)
• Mouse Soup (1977) (Garden State Children's Book Award winner)

As illustrator

• Happy Times with Holiday Rhymes (1958) by Tamar Grand
• My First Book of Prayers (1958) by Edythe Scharfstein, Sol Scharfstein, and Ezekiel Schloss
• The Book of Chanukah Poems, Riddles, Stories, Songs, Things to Do (1959) by Edythe Scharfstein and Ezekial Schloss
• The Complete Book of Hanukkah (1959) by Kinneret Chiel
• Holidays are Nice: Around the Year with the Jewish Child (1960) by Robert Garvey and Ezekiel Schloss
• Red Tag Comes Back (1961) by Fred Phleger
• Something Old Something New (1961) by Susan Rhinehart
• Little Runner of the Longhouse (1962) by Betty Baker
• The Secret Three (1963) by Mildred Myrick
• Miss Suzy (1964) by Miriam Young
• Dudley Pippin (1965) by Phil Ressner
• The Witch on the Corner (1966) by Felice Holman
• The Star Thief (1968) by Andrea DiNoto
• Ants Are Fun (1969) by Mildred Myrick
• I'll Fix Anthony (1969) by Judith Viorst
• As I Was Crossing Boston Common (1973) by Norma Farber
• The Clay Pot Boy (1974) by Cynthia Jameson

Written by Millicent E. Selsam

A series of Science I Can Read Books all written by Millicent E. Selsam and illustrated by Arnold Lobel:

• Greg's Microscope (1963)
• Terry and the Caterpillars (1963)
• Let's Get Turtles (1965)
• Benny's Animals and How He Put Them in Order (1966)

Written by Jack Prelutsky

Books that Arnold Lobel illustrated for Jack Prelutsky:

• The Terrible Tiger (1970)
• Circus (1974)
• Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1976)
• The Mean Old Mean Hyena (1978)
• The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight: More Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1980)
• The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (1983)
• Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast: Dinosaur Poems (1988)

Written by Nathaniel Benchley

Books that Arnold Lobel illustrated for Nathaniel Benchley:

• Red Fox and His Canoe (1964)
• Oscar Otter (1966)
• The Strange Disappearance of Arthur Cluck (1967)
• Sam the Minuteman (1969)

Written by Peggy Parish

Books that Arnold Lobel illustrated for Peggy Parish:

• Let's Be Indians (1962)
• Let's Be Early Settlers with Daniel Boone (1967)
• Dinosaur Time (1974)

Written by Lilian Moore

Books that Arnold Lobel illustrated for Lilian Moore:

• The Magic Spectacles and Other Easy-to-Read Stories (1965)
• Junk Day on Juniper Street and Other Easy-to-Read Stories (1969)

Written by Edward Lear

Books that Arnold Lobel illustrated for Edward Lear:

• The Four Little Children Who Went Around the World (1968)
• The New Vestments (1970)

Written by Charlotte Zolotow

Books that Arnold Lobel illustrated for Charlotte Zolotow:

• The Quarreling Book (1963)
• Someday (1965)

Written by Jean van Leeuwen

Books that Arnold Lobel illustrated for Jean van Leeuwen:

• Tales of Oliver Pig (1979)
• More Tales of Oliver Pig (1981)

See also

• Fables
• Folklore

References

Citations

• Shannon, George. Arnold Lobel. Boston: Twayne, 1989.

External links

• Arnold Lobel at Library of Congress Authorities, with 109 catalog records
• Adrianne Lobel at LC Authorities, with 4 catalog records