Uri Shulevitz

Uri Shulevitz (; February 27, 1935 – February 15, 2025) 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.

Works

The Moon in My Room (1963) The Mystery of the Woods (1964) (written by Mary Stolz) A Rose, a Bridge, and a Wild Black Horse (1964) (written by Charlotte Zolotow) The Second Witch (1965) (written by Jack Sendak) The Twelve Dancing Princesses (1966) (Brothers Grimm tale adapted by Elizabeth Shub) The Carpet of Solomon (1966) (written by Sulamith Ish-Kishor) The Month Brothers (1967) (written by Dorothy Nathan) Runaway Jonah, and other tales (1967) (written by Jan Wahl) One Monday Morning (1967) The Silkspinners (1967) (written by Jean Russell Larson) My Kind of Verse (1968) (edited by John Smith) The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (1969) (written by Arthur Ransome) Rain Rain Rivers (1969) The Wonderful Kite (1970) (written by Jan Wahl) Oh What a Noise! (1971) (written by William Brighty Rands) Soldier and Tsar in the Forest (1972) (written by A N Afanasʹev) The Magician (1973) (adapted from the Yiddish of Isaac Leib Peretz) The Fools of Chelm and Their History (1973) (written by Isaac Bashevis Singer) Dawn (1974) The Touchstone (1976) (written by Robert Louis Stevenson) The Treasure (1978) Hanukah Money (1978) (written by Sholem Aleichem) The Lost Kingdom of Karnica (1979) (written by Richard Kennedy) The Golem (1982) (written by Isaac Bashevis Singer) Writing With Pictures (1985) The Strange and Exciting Adventures of Jeremiah Hush (1986) Toddlecreek Post Office (1990) The Diamond Tree (1991) (written by Howard Schwartz and Barbara Rush) The Secret Room (1993) The Golden Goose (1995) (adapted from the Brothers Grimm) Hosni the Dreamer (1997) (written by Ehud Ben-ʻEzer) Snow (1998) What Is a Wise Bird Like You Doing in a Silly Tale Like This (2000) Daughters of Fire (2001) (written by Fran Manushkin) The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela (2005) SoSleepyStory (2006) How I Learned Geography (2008) When I Wore My Sailor Suit (2009) Dusk (2013) Troto and the Trucks (2015) Chance (2020) The Sky Was My Blanket (2025)

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