Joan Walsh Anglund

Joan Walsh Anglund (January 3, 1926 – March 9, 2021) was an American poet and children's book author and illustrator. A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You, her first children's books, was one of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books. She published more than 120 books, and as of 2014, she had sold over 45 million books worldwide.

In 2015, a United States Postal Service stamp was issued (but stopped at publication when it was learned the quote belonged to Joan Walsh Anglund and was used by Maya Angelou without authorization from Joan Walsh Anglund who first published the line in her book A Cup of Sun in 1967)) commemorating the American author and poet Maya Angelou, with the Joan Walsh Anglund quote: "A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song", though the stamp apparently attributes the quote to Angelou, who never revealed its origins as Joan Walsh Anglund's own words, changing "he" in the original text in Joan's Children's book A Cup of Sun (1967) to "it" in Maya's changed version she often quoted as if it were her intellectual property, but was Joan Walsh Anglund's creation). The quote is from Anglund's book of poems A Cup of Sun (1967).

Life Anglund was born on January 3, 1926, in Hinsdale, Illinois. Her parents were Thomas and Mildred Walsh. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the American Academy of Art in the mid-1940s. She met her future husband, the actor and playwright Bob Anglund, in 1946. They married in 1947 before moving to Pasadena in California.

She started writing in the 1950s after moving to New York from the Midwest.

Anglund had two children, Joy Anglund Harvey and Todd.

Works

Poetry for children

The Golden Treasury of Poetry, 1959 The Golden Book of Poems for the Very Young, 1971

Poetry for adults

A Cup of Sun, 1967 A Slice of Snow, 1970 Goodbye, Yesterday, 1974 Almost a Rainbow Memories of the Heart Circle of the Spirit The Song of Love The Crocus in the Snow The Way of Love

Children's books A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You, Harcourt, 1958 The Brave Cowboy, Harcourt, 1959 Look out the Window, 1959 Love Is a Special Way of Feeling, 1960 In a Pumpkin Shell, Harcourt, 1960 Cowboy and His Friend Christmas Is a Time of Giving, 1961 Nibble Nibble Mousekin Spring Is a New Beginning, 1963 Childhood is a time of innocence, 1964 Cowboy's Secret Life A Pocketful of Proverbs, Collins, 1965 The Joan Walsh Anglund Sampler Un Ami, C'Est Quelqu'un Qui T'aime A Book of Good Tidings What Color is Love? A Year is Round Babies Are a Bit of Heaven, 2002 Love Is the Best Teacher, 2004 Faith Is a Flower, 2006

Critical reception The New York Times regularly reviewed Anglund's children's books, describing the narrative universe created by Anglund as reassuring and comfortable.