Ruth Krauss

Ruth Krauss ( born July 25, 1901 in Baltimore, † July 10, 1993 in Westport, CT) was an American children's book author. Her most famous works include the children's books The Carrot Seed and A Hole Is to Dig.

Life

Ruth Krauss visited the Peabody Institute of Music in her home city of Baltimore, and then studied at the Parsons School in New York, where she the BA obtained. Early 1940s was a member of the experimental Krauss Writer's Laboratory at the Bank Street College of Education, which also Margaret Wise Brown visited. The college founder Lucy Sprague Mitchell took a here-and- now philosophy of child development, therefore children live in the here and now, and use their environment as a laboratory. Krauss made ​​this philosophy as its own, and also adopted the method of direct observation by listening to children, watching them, and their thoughts recorded directly in their books. To this end exploited, Krauss and the language acquisition theories of Arnold Gesell, which are expressed, for example, directly in A Hole is to Dig, in which Krauss children asked for their explanations for words, and it unfiltered put together a book, with statements such as: Dogs are to kiss people or A lap is so you do not get crumbs on the floor. Her first book, published in 1944, and was illustrated by the abstract painter Ad Reinhardt. Over the next forty years she wrote 34 more children's books, many of which were illustrated by her husband, Crockett Johnson. Eight of her books were illustrated by Maurice Sendak. The first book of its cooperation - A Hole Is to Dig by 1952 - is considered a breakthrough for Sendak, who regarded her as a mentor. Krauss is considered a pioneer of children's book with minimal but precise text that takes teaching and morality is aimed at the child's imagination. In addition to her children's books Krauss also wrote plays and poems for adults. Her books The Happy Day ( 1950) and A Very Special House (1954 ) were awarded the Caldecott Honor Book.

Works (selection)

  • A Good Man and His Good Wife, illustrated by Ad Reinhardt. (1944 ); by Marc Simont neuillustriert. In 1962.
  • The Carrot Seed, illustrated by Crockett Johnson., 1945.
  • Bears, illustrated by Phyllis Rowand (1948 ); neuillustriert by Maurice Sendak. , 2005.
  • The Happy Day, illustrated by Marc Simont. In 1949.
  • A Hole is to Dig: A First Book of First Definitions, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In 1952.
  • A Very Special House, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. 1953
  • I'll Be You and You Be Me, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In 1954.
  • How To Make An Earthquake, illustrated by Crockett Johnson. In 1954.
  • Charlotte and the White Horse, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In 1955.
  • Is This You?, Illustrated by Crockett Johnson. In 1955.
  • I Want to Paint My Bathroom Blue, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In 1956.
  • The Happy Egg, illustrated by Crockett Johnson. In 1967.
  • The Birthday Party, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In 1957.
  • Somebody Else's Nut Tree, and Other Tales from Children, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In 1958.
  • Open House for Butterflies, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In 1960.
  • Big and Little, illustrated by Mary Szilagyi. In 1987.
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