Uri Shulevitz


Uri Shulevitz was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He won the 1969 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, an Eastern European fairy tale retold by Arthur Ransome in 1916.

Life and career

Uri Shulevitz was born in Warsaw, Poland, on February 27, 1935. During the bombing of Warsaw in 1939, a bomb fell into a stairwell of his apartment building when he was at home. The family fled from Warsaw, first to Bialystok, later to Turkestan, experiences that Shulevitz would later capture in his 2020 memoir Chance: Escape from the Holocaust, which the Wall Street Journal then listed among the 20 best children's books of the past 20 years. Eventually, they settled in Paris by 1947, then moved again to Israel in 1949. During the Sinai War in 1956, Shulevitz joined the Israeli Army. Later, he joined the Ein Gedi kibbutz.
Shulevitz moved to New York City in 1959, studying painting at Brooklyn Museum Art School and working as an illustrator for a Hebrew children's book publisher. In 1962, an editor at Harper & Row saw his freelance portfolio and suggested that Shulevitz write children's books. He created his first picture book, The Moon in My Room, in 1963. Shulevitz wrote over three dozen books; the last, The Sky Was My Blanket, about his uncle, who fought alongside the Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War and the French Resistance during World War II, will be published in August 2025.
Shulevitz lived in New York City with his wife, Paula Brown. He died from complications of influenza and pneumonia at a Manhattan hospital on February 15, 2025, 12 days before his 90th birthday.

Works

  • The Moon in My Room
  • The Mystery of the Woods
  • A Rose, a Bridge, and a Wild Black Horse
  • The Second Witch
  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses
  • The Carpet of Solomon
  • The Month Brothers
  • Runaway Jonah, and other tales
  • One Monday Morning
  • The Silkspinners
  • My Kind of Verse
  • The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
  • Rain Rain Rivers
  • The Wonderful Kite
  • Oh What a Noise!
  • Soldier and Tsar in the Forest
  • The Magician
  • The Fools of Chelm and Their History
  • Dawn
  • The Touchstone
  • The Treasure
  • Hanukah Money
  • The Lost Kingdom of Karnica
  • The Golem
  • Writing With Pictures
  • The Strange and Exciting Adventures of Jeremiah Hush
  • Toddlecreek Post Office
  • The Diamond Tree
  • The Secret Room
  • The Golden Goose
  • Hosni the Dreamer
  • Snow
  • What Is a Wise Bird Like You Doing in a Silly Tale Like This
  • Daughters of Fire
  • The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela
  • SoSleepyStory
  • How I Learned Geography
  • When I Wore My Sailor Suit
  • Dusk
  • Troto and the Trucks
  • Chance
  • ''The Sky Was My Blanket''

    Awards

  • 1969: Caldecott Medal, The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
  • 1980: Caldecott Honor, The Treasure
  • 1999: Charlotte Zolotow Award, Snow
  • 1999: Golden Kite Award, Picture Book Illustration, Snow
  • 1999: Caldecott Honor, Snow
  • 2005: National Jewish Book Award in the Illustrated Children's Book category for The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela
  • 2009: Caldecott Honor, ''How I Learned Geography''