Jane Yolen – American Author 1939-
With a confident writing style and inexhaustible imagination, Jane Yolen has proven herself one of the most prolific and diverse creators in the field of children’s literature.
Born in New York City, Jane Yolen spent her early years in Virginia and California but returned to New York, where she attended grade school and wrote the script, music, and lyrics for school plays. She continued to develop her writing and musical skills while attending high school in Connecticut and Smith College in Massachusetts. After graduation, she worked in publishing for several years, then settled in Massachusetts with her family and embarked on a full-time writing career.
Jane Yolen’s first book for children was Pirates in Petticoats (1963), a factual work about female pirates. Although she has continued to publish an occasional volume of nonfiction, including the biographical Friend: The Story of George Fox and the Quakers (1972), Yolen has concentrated on fiction and poetry. She has published several volumes of verse, beginning with See This Little Line? in 1963 and including How Beastly!: A Menagerie of Nonsense Poems (1980) and The Three Bears Rhyme Book (1987). Although her picture books include lighthearted narratives such as No Bath Tonight (1978), the story of Jeremy’s attempts to avoid bathing, her best-known picture book texts are sensitive free-verse poems. Owl Moon (1987) received the Caldecott Medal for John Schoenherr’s watercolor illustrations, but Yolen’s story of a father and child walking in the woods on a winter night is equally masterful; All the Secrets in the World (1991), Letting Swift ’River Go (1992), and other prose poems are distinguished by their lyrical, evocative writing and the sense of wonder that imbues much of the author’s work.
Jane Yolen’s literary fairy tales, such as The Girl Who Cried Flowers and Other Tales (1974), combine traditional fantasy motifs, including magic, giants, and animals transformed into human beings, with themes of death, kindness, and love to create memorable, original stories. With illustrator Mark Teague she created the extremely popular picture book How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? (2000).
As Jane Yolen’s children grew, she extended her talents to writing books for young adults. The Gift of Sarah Barker (1981) is a historical novel about two teenagers who fall in love, although they belong to a celibate Shaker community. Their emerging sexuality is sensitively and tastefully explored, despite some unlikely plot twists. Yolen has sometimes included an implausible element of fantasy in her realistic fiction for older readers. This has a detrimental effect in The Stone Silenus (1984), which concerns a girl coping with her father’s death, but works extremely well in The Devil’s Arithmetic (1988), the moving story of a contemporary Jewish girl magically transported to a Nazi death camp. Yolen’s first foray into young adult high fantasy was the well-received Pit Dragon trilogy, consisting of Dragon’s Blood (1982), Heart’s Blood (1984), and A Sending of Dragons (1987). Writing for a younger audience, she has published the humorous Commander Toad science fiction series, which includes Commander Toad in Space (1980).
Jane Yolen has written well over a hundred books, has edited anthologies, continues to write stories and nonfiction for magazines, and oversees her own imprint of children’s books for a major publishing house. Considering her prodigious output, Yolen’s sure-handed writing is consistently high in quality and child appeal. An occasional volume may be considered slight or facile, but die majority are sensitive, poetic, and imaginative.
P.D.S.
Source: Children’s Books and their Creators, Anita Silvey.
Jane Yolen Selected Bibliography
Children’s books and picture books
- The Witch Who Wasn’t (1964, illustrated by Arnold Roth)
- Gwinellen: The Princess Who Could Not Sleep (1965, illustrated by Ed Renfro)
- The Emperor and the Kite (1967, illustrated by Ed Young; Caldecott Medal winner, 1968)
- Isabel’s Noel (1967, illustrated by Arnold Roth)
- The Minstrel and the Mountain: A Tale of Peace (1968, illustrated by Anne Rockwell)
- The Longest Name on the Block (1968, illustrated by Peter Madden)
- It All Depends (1969, illustrated by Don Bolognese)
- The Seventh Mandarin (1970, illustrated by Ed Young)
- The Bird of Time (1971, illustrated by Mercer Mayer)
- Rainbow Rider (1974, illustrated by Michael Foreman)
- The Boy Who Had Wings (1974, illustrated by Helga Aichinger)
- The Little Spotted Fish (1974, illustrated by Friso Henstra)
- An Invitation To The Butterfly Ball (1976, illustrated by Jane Breskin Zalben)
- Milkweed Days (1976, photos by Gabriel Amadeus Cooney)
- The Seeing Stick (1977, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini)
- The Sultan’s Perfect Tree (1977, illustrated by Barbara Garrison)
- The Simple Prince (1978, illustrated by Jack Kent)
- No Bath Tonight (1978, illustrated by Nancy Winslow Parker)
- All in the Woodland Early: An ABC Book (1978, illustrated by Jane Breskin Zalben)
- The Giants Go Camping (1979, illustrated by Tomie dePaola)
- The Giants’ Farm (1979, illustrated by Tomie dePaola)
- Mice on Ice (1980, illustrated by Lawrence Di Fiori)
- Dragon Night and Other Lullabies (1980, illustrated by Demi)
- Sleeping Ugly (1981, illustrated by Diane Stanley)
- Uncle Lemon’s Spring (1981, illustrated by Glen Rounds)
- Shirlick Holmes and the Case of the Wandering Wardrobe (1981, illustrated by Anthony Rao)
- The Boy Who Spoke Chimp (1981, illustrated by David Wiesner)
- The Acorn Quest (1981, illustrated by Susanna Natti)
- Brothers of the Wind (1981, illustrated by Barbara Berger)
- The Sleeping Beauty (1986, illustrated by Ruth Sanderson)
- The Girl Who Loved the Wind (1987, illustrated by Ed Young; Lewis Carroll Shelf Award)
- Owl Moon (1987, illustrated by John Schoenherr; Caldecott Medal winner, 1988)
- Dove Isabeau (1989, illustrated by Dennis Nolan)
- Tam Lin (1990, illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak)
- Elfabet: An ABC of Elves (1990, illustrated by Lauren A. Mills)
- Sky Dogs (1990, illustrated by Barry Moser)
- Dinosaur Dances (1990, illustrated by Bruce Degan)
- All Those Secrets of the World (1991, illustrated by Leslie Baker)
- Hark! A Christmas Sampler (1991, with Tomie dePaola)
- Greyling (1991, illustrated by William Stobbs)
- Wings (1991, illustrated by Dennis Nolan)
- Letting Swift River Go (1992, illustrated by Barbara Cooney)
- Eeny, Meeny, Miney Mole (1992, illustrated by Kathryn Brown)
- Welcome to the Green House (1993, illustrated by Laura Regan)
- Too Old for Naps (1993, illustrated by Alexi Natchev)
- Honkers (1993, illustrated by Leslie Baker)
- Mouse’s Birthday (1993, illustrated by Bruce Degen)
- The Girl in the Golden Bower (1994, illustrated by Jane Dyer)
- Beneath the Ghost Moon (1994, illustrated by Laurel Molk)
- Good Griselle (1994, illustrated by David Christiana)
- Before the Storm (1994, illustrated by Georgia Pugh)
- Grandad Bill’s Song (1994, illustrated by Melissa Bay Mathis)
- Old Dame Counterpane (1994, illustrated by Ruth Tietjen Councell)
- The Ballad of the Pirate Queens (1995, illustrated by David Shannon)
- Alphabestiary (1995, illustrated by Allan Eitzen)
- Merlin and the Dragons (1995, illustrated by Li Ming, based on film Merlin and the Dragons)
- A Sip of Aesop (1995, illustrated by Karen Barbour)
- And Twelve Chinese Acrobats (1995, illustrated by Jean Gralley)
- Little Mouse & Elephant: A Tale from Turkey (1995, illustrated by John Segal)
- Musicians of Bremen: A Tale from Germany (1995, illustrated by John Segal)
- Encounter (1996, picture book illustrated by David Shannon)
- Meet the Monsters (1996, with Heidi E. Y. Stemple; illustrated by Patricia Ludlow)
- Miz Berlin Walks (1997, illustrated by Floyd Cooper)
- Nocturne (1997, illustrated by Anne Hunter)
- Once Upon a Bedtime Story (1997, illustrated by Ruth Tietjen Councell)
- Pegasus, the Flying Horse (1998, illustrated by Li Ming)
- Welcome to the Ice House (1998, illustrated by Laura Regan)
- The Sea Man (1998, illustrated by Christopher Denise)
- King Long Shanks (1998, illustrated by Victoria Chess)
- Raising Yoder’s Barn (1998, illustrations by Bernie Fuchs)
- MoonBall (1999, illustrated by Greg Couch)
- Where Have the Unicorns Gone? (2000, illustrated by Ruth Sanderson)
- Off We Go! (2000, illustrated by Laurel Molk)
- The Flying Witch (2003, illustrated by Vladimir Vagin)
- The Firebird (2002, illustrated by Vladimir Vagin)
- Harvest Home (2002, illustrated by Greg Shed)
- The Sea King (2002, with Shulamith Levey Oppenheim; illustrated by Stefan Czernecki)
- Time for Naps (2002, illustrated by Hiroe Nakata)
- Hoptoad (2003, illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt)
- Child of Faerie, Child of Earth (2005, illustrated by Jane Dyer)
- Grandma’s Hurrying Child (2005, illustrated by Kay Charao)
- Soft House (2005, illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin)
- Dimity Duck (2006, illustrated by Sebastien Braun)
- Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep (2007, with Heidi E. Y. Stemple; illustrated by Brooke Dyer)
- Naming Liberty (2008, illustrated by Jim Burke)
- One Hippo Hops (2008, illustrated by Vlasta van Kampen)
- Sad, Mad, Glad Hippos (2008, illustrated by Vlasta van Kampen)
- Hip Hippos (2008, illustrated by Vlasta van Kampen)
- Mama’s Kiss (2008, illustrated by Daniel Baxter)
- Pumpkin Baby (2009, illustrated by Susan Mitchell)
- The Scarecrow’s Dance (2009, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline)
- My Uncle Emily (2009, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter)
- Come to the Fairies’ Ball (2009, illustrated by Gary Lippincott)
- Under the Star: A Christmas Counting Story (2009, illustrated by Vlasta van Kampen)
- Elsie’s Bird (2010, illustrated by David Small)
- Hush, Little Horsie (2010, illustrated by Ruth Sanderson)
- My Father Knows the Names of Things (2010, illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch)
- Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters (2011, illustrated by Kelly Murphy)
- The Day Tiger Rose Said Goodbye (2011, illustrated by Jim LaMarche)
- Pretty Princess Pig (2011, with Heidi E. Y. Stemple; illustrated by Sam Williams)
- Sister Bear: A Norse Tale (2011, illustrated by Linda Graves)
- Waking Dragons (2012, illustrated by Derek Anderson)
- Romping Monsters, Stomping Monsters (2013, illustrated by Kelly Murphy)
- The Stranded Whale (2015, illustrated by Melanie Cataldo)
- Stone Angel (2015, illustrated by Katie May Green)
- You Nest Here with Me (2015, with Heidi E. Y. Stemple; illustrated by Melissa Sweet)
- Sing a Season Song (2015, illustrated by Lisa Ashlock)
- What To Do With a Box (2016, illustrated by Chris Sheban)
- On Bird Hill (2016, illustrated by Bob Marstall)
- On Duck Pond (2017, illustrated by Bob Marstall)
- Thunder Underground (2017, illustrated by Josée Masse)
- On Gull Beach (2018, illustrated by Bob Marstall)
- Crow Not Crow (2018, illustrated by Elizabeth Dulemba)
- A Bear Sat on My Porch Today (2018, illustrated by Rilla Alexander)
- Monster Academy (2018, with Heidi E. Y. Stemple; illustrated by John McKinley)
- Miriam at the River (2020, illustrated by Khoa Le)
Series
How Do Dinosaurs…? (illustrated by Mark Teague)
- How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? (2000)
- How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? (2002)
- How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read? (2003)
- How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms? (2004)
- How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten? (2004)
- How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? (2005)
- How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends? (2006)
- How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors? (2006)
- How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? (2007)
- How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? (2009)
- How Do Dinosaurs Learn Colours and Numbers? (2009)
- How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Cats? (2010)
- How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs? (2010)
- How Do Dinosaurs Laugh Out Loud? (2010)
- How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Birthday? (2011)
- How Do Dinosaurs Go Up and Down? (2011)
- How Do Dinosaurs Play All Day? (2011)
- How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? (2012)
- How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? (2012)
- How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies? (2012)
- How Do Dinosaurs Say I’m Mad? (2013)
- How Do Dinosaurs Stay Safe? (2013)
- How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends? (2016)
- How Do Dinosaurs Choose Their Pets? (2016)
- How Do Dinosaurs Learn To Read? (2018)
- How Do Dinosaurs Show Good Manners? (2020)
Commander Toad
- Commander Toad in Space (1980)
- Commander Toad and the Planet of the Grapes (1982)
- Commander Toad and the Big Black Hole (1983)
- Commander Toad and the Dis-asteroid (1985)
- Commander Toad and the Intergalactic Spy (1986)
- Commander Toad and the Space Pirates (1987)
- Commander Toad and the Voyage Home (1998)
Piggins (illustrated by Jane Dyer)
- Piggins (1987)
- Picnic with Piggins (1988)
- Piggins and the Royal Wedding (1989)
Baby Bear (illustrated by Melissa Sweet)
- Baby Bear’s Bedtime Book (1990)
- Baby Bear’s Chairs (2005)
- Baby Bear’s Books (2006)
- Baby Bear’s Big Dreams (2007)
Little Frog
- Little Frog and the Scary Autumn Thing (2016, illustrated by Ellen Shi)
- Little Frog and the Spring Polliwogs (2017, illustrated by Ellen Shi)
