Molly Bang

Molly Garrett Bang (born December 29, 1943) is an American illustrator. For her illustration of children's books she has been a runner-up for the American Caldecott Medal three times and for the British Greenaway Medal once. Announced June 2015, her 1996 picture book Goose is the 2016 Phoenix Picture Book Award winner – that is, named by the Children's Literature Association the best English-language children's picture book that did not win a major award when it was published twenty years earlier.

Bang began writing children's books after a failed stint as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. At first illustrating folk tales, she turned eventually to her own stories. The ability to carry emotion in pictures is of particular interest to her; her one book for adults, Picture This (1991) is specifically about the practical ways pictures work. Her wordless picture book The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher is notable for its use of negative space and the way Bang contrasts bright colors against grey.

In the 2000s, Bang and her daughter Monika Bang-Campbell collaborated as illustrator and writer to create three picture books featuring Little Rat, a girl rat who learns with courage or practice to sail, to ride a horse, and to play the violin. Little Rat Rides, by Monika Bang-Campbell 2004) Little Rat Makes Music, by Monika Bang-Campbell (2004) Old Mother Bear, by Victoria Miles (2007) Harley, by Star Livingstone

Awards and honors

The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher (1980) — Caldecott Medal Honor Book, Aesop Award, Agatha Award Finalist, ALA Notable Children's Books, Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award, Bay Area Book Reviewers Association Award, Booklist Editors' Choice, Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Ten, Nine, Eight (1983) — U.S. Caldecott Honor Book; U.K. Greenaway Medal commended runner-up The Paper Crane. (1987) Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, illustration award, International Board on Books for Young People Goose. (1996) School Library Journal Best Book, 2016 Phoenix Picture Book Award Common Ground: The Water, Earth, and Air We Share. (1998) Giverny Book Award When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry. (1999) Caldecott Honor Book, Jane Addams Children's Book Awards Honor Award, Arbuthnot Award, Charlotte Zolotow Award My Light. ALA Notable book. Massachusetts Book Award When Sophie Thinks She Can’t, 2021 Mathical Honors