Happy 90th, Alice Provensen! (Illustrator, "The Color Kittens" by Margaret Wise Brown, 1949)

[leno...@yahoo.com]

Born in Chicago, she now lives on Maple Hill Farm in Staatsburg, New
York (on the Hudson River edge of Catskill Park).

Some claim she was born in 1917.

Her awards include (these were won in collaboration with her husband
Martin, who died in 1987):

Newbery Award, American Library Association (ALA), 1982, Caldecott
Honor Book citation, 1982, ALA, and Boston Globe/Horn Book citation,
1982, all for A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and
Experienced Travelers, written by Nancy Willard; New York Times
Outstanding Book citation and Parents' Choice citation, both 1983, and
Caldecott Medal, ALA, 1984, all for The Glorious Flight: Across the
Channel with Louis Blériot, July 25, 1909.

"September 29, 2003, was named Alice Provensen Day by the town of
Clinton, NY, in recognition of her contributions to children's
literature."

The Provensens' books included "The Golden Bible - The New Testament"
edited by Elsa Jane Werner (aka Jane Werner Watson) in 1953. You can
see the cover here:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=598125421&searchurl=an%3Dwerner%26kn%3Dalice%26pics%3Don%26tn%3Dbible%26x%3D63%26y%3D20

(Feodor Rojankovsky illustrated Werner's edition of the Old
Testament.)

http://www.rmichelson.com/Artist_Pages/Provensen/Alice_Provensen_Gallery.html
(some of Provensen's artwork)

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=%22alice%20provensen%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
(artwork & photos)

http://www.kidspoint.org/columns2.asp?column_id=807&column_type=author
(brief bio plus a link to "Window Shopping on Red Square" - the
latter includes a photo)

From Wikipedia:

"After college, Alice went to work with Walter Lantz Studio, the
creators of Woody Woodpecker, and Martin took work with the rival Walt
Disney Studio, where he collaborated on Dumbo, Fantasia, and
Pinocchio.

"The pair met in 1943 when Martin, working as a creator of training
films for the American military, was assigned to the Walter Lantz
Studio. They were married in 1944 and resettled in Washington, D.C.,
where they worked on war-related projects. Following the end of the
war, they moved to New York City, where a friend assisted them in
finding their first job, illustrating The Fireside Book of Folk Songs.
In 1952, Tony the Tiger, designed by Martin, debuted as a Kellogg's
mascot........"

WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR:
SELF-ILLUSTRATED

The Buck Stops Here: The Presidents of the United States, Harper (New
York, NY), 1990.
Punch in New York, Viking (New York, NY), 1991.
My Fellow Americans: A Family Album, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1995.
Count on Me (board books; boxed set, includes The Book of Babies, The
Book of Traffic, The Book of the Farm, The Book of Children, The Book
of Birds, The Book of Fruit, The Book of Flying High, The Book of
Insects, The Book of Silly Soup, and The Book of Berries), Harcourt
(San Diego, CA), 1998.

(Reteller) The Master Swordsman and The Magic Doorway: Two Legends
from Ancient China (picture book), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY),
2001.
A Day in the Life of Murphy, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.

SELF-ILLUSTRATED; FOR CHILDREN; WITH HUSBAND, MARTIN PROVENSEN

The Animal Fair, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1952.

Karen's Curiosity, Golden Press (New York, NY), 1963.
Karen's Opposites, Golden Press (New York, NY), 1963.
What Is a Color?, Golden Press (New York, NY), 1967.

Who's in the Egg?, Golden Press (New York, NY), 1970.
(Editors) Provensen Book of Fairy Tales, Random House (New York, NY),
1971.
Play on Words, Random House (New York, NY), 1972.
My Little Hen, Random House (New York, NY), 1973.
Roses Are Red, Are Violets Blue?: A First Book about Color, Random
House (New York, NY), 1973.
Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, Random House (New York, NY),
1974, Aladdin (New York, NY), 2001.
The Mother Goose Book, Random House (New York, NY), 1976.
A Book of Seasons, Random House (New York, NY), 1976.
The Year at Maple Hill Farm, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1978, Aladdin
(New York, NY), 2001.

A Horse and a Hound, a Goat and a Gander, Atheneum (New York, NY),
1980.
An Owl and Three Pussycats, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1981.
The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Blériot, July 25,
1909, Viking (New York, NY), 1983.
Leonardo da Vinci: The Artist, Inventor, Scientist in Three-
Dimensional, Movable Pictures, paper engineering by John Strejan,
Viking (New York, NY), 1984.
Town and Country, Crown (New York, NY), 1984.
Shaker Lane, Viking (New York, NY), 1987.

ILLUSTRATOR; WITH HUSBAND, MARTIN PROVENSEN

Margaret Bradford Boni, editor, Fireside Book of Folksongs, Simon &
Schuster (New York, NY), 1947.
Dorothy Bennett, editor, The Golden Mother Goose, Golden Press (New
York, NY), 1948.
Jane Werner Watson, Mr. Noah and His Family, Simon & Schuster (New
York, NY), 1948.
Jane Werner Watson, The Fuzzy Duckling, Simon & Schuster (New York,
NY), 1949, Golden Books (New York, NY), 2003.
Margaret Wise Brown, The Color Kittens, Simon & Schuster (New York,
NY), 1949, Golden Books (New York, NY), 2003.
James A. Beard, Fireside Cook Book, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY),
1949.
Kathryn and Byron Jackson, Katie the Kitten, Simon & Schuster (New
York, NY), 1949.

Kathryn Jackson, The Golden Circus, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY),
1950.
Rachel Learnard, Funny Bunny, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1950.
Margaret Wise Brown and Edith Thacher Hurd, The Little, Fat Policeman,
Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1950.
Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verses, Golden Press (New
York, NY), 1951.
Elsa Jane Werner, adapter, The Golden Bible for Children: The New
Testament, Golden Press (New York, NY), 1953.
Margaret Bradford Boni, editor, Fireside Book of Lovesongs, Simon &
Schuster (New York, NY), 1954.
Jan Werner Watson, adapter, Iliad and Odyssey, Golden Press (New York,
NY), 1956.
Anne Terry White, adapter, Treasury of Myths and Legends, Golden Press
(New York, NY), 1959.
The First Noel: The Birth of Christ from the Gospel According to St.
Luke, Golden Press (New York, NY), 1959.

George Wolfson, editor, Shakespeare: Ten Great Plays, Golden Press
(New York, NY), 1962.
Jane Bunche, An Introduction to the Instruments of the Orchestra (with
record), Golden Press (New York, NY), 1962.
Bryna and Louis Untermeyer, editor, Legendary Animals, Golden Press
(New York, NY), 1963.
Lord Alfred Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Golden Press
(New York, NY), 1964.
Louis Untermeyer, adapter, Aesop's Fables, Golden Press (New York,
NY), 1965.
Louis Untermeyer, editor, Fun and Nonsense, Golden Press (New York,
NY), 1967.
Louis Untermeyer, adapter, Tales from the Ballet, Golden Press (New
York, NY), 1968.

Sarah Catherine Martin, Old Mother Hubbard, Random House (New York,
NY), 1977.
A Peaceable Kingdom: The Shaker Abecedarius, Viking (New York, NY),
1978.

Walter Dean Myers, The Golden Serpent, Viking (New York, NY), 1980.
Nancy Willard, A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and
Experienced Travelers, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1981.
D. H. Lawrence, Birds, Beasts, and the Third Thing: Poems, Viking (New
York, NY), 1982.
Nancy Willard, The Voyage of the Ludgate Hill: Travels with Robert
Louis Stevenson, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1987.
Old Mother Goose and Other Nursery Rhymes, Western (Racine, WI),
1988.

Lenona.

[leno...@yahoo.com]

I forgot to mention that in an interview with Nancy Willard in the
"Children's Literary Review" (I hope I'm not mixing Provensen up with
someone else) Provensen said that one of her favorite books as a child
was "The Poppy-Seed Cakes" by Margery Clark.

Lenona.