Ellen Raskin

Ellen Raskin (March 13, 1928 – August 8, 1984) was an American children's writer and illustrator. She won the 1979 Newbery Medal for The Westing Game, a mystery novel, and another children's mystery, Figgs & Phantoms, was a Newbery Honor Book in 1975.

Ellen Raskin
BornMarch 13, 1928 (1928-03-13)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.[1]
DiedAugust 8, 1984(1984-08-08) (aged 56)
New York, New York[2]
OccupationWriter, illustrator
EducationUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
GenreChildren's novels, picture books
Notable works
Notable awardsNewbery Medal
1979 The Westing Game
Spouse
ChildrenSusan Kuhlman Metcalfe[3]
Parents
  • Solomon Raskin
  • Margaret (Goldfisch) Raskin[3]

In 2012 The Westing Game was ranked number nine all-time among children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with a primarily-U.S. audience.[4]

Life

Raskin was born in Milwaukee[5] and grew up during the Great Depression. She was educated at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a major in fine art.[1][6]

Raskin was an accomplished graphic artist. In New York City she worked as a commercial artist for about 15 years. Among other things, she designed more than 1000 dust jackets for books, including the first edition of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, the 1963 Newbery Medal winner.[1]

In 1957, she married graphic designer Roy Kuhlman, but they soon divorced. In 1960 she married Dennis Flanagan, editor of Scientific American.[1][6]

Raskin died at the age of 56 on August 8, 1984, in New York City, as a result of a connective-tissue disease.[2]

Education

At the age of 17, Ms. Raskin entered the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the intention of majoring in journalism. However, after visiting an art exhibit at the Chicago Art Institute,[7] she changed her major to fine arts.

Works
Library resources about
Ellen Raskin
By Ellen Raskin

Children's picture books

Raskin wrote and illustrated twelve picture books, published by Atheneum Books except as noted.[8]

  • Nothing Ever Happens on My Block, 1967
  • Silly Songs and Sad, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1967
  • Spectacles, 1968
  • Ghost in a Four-Room Apartment, 1969
  • And It Rained, 1969
  • A & The, or, William T. C. Baumgarten Comes to Town, 1970
  • The World's Greatest Freak Show, 1971
  • Franklin Stein, 1972
  • Moe Q. McGlutch, He Smoked Too Much, Parents, 1973
  • Who, Said Sue, Said Whoo?, 1973
  • Moose, Goose & Little Nobody, 1976
  • Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, 1976

Children’s novels

Raskin wrote four novels, all published by E. P. Dutton.[8]

As illustrator

Raskin also illustrated more than twenty books by other writers.[8]

  • Happy Christmas: Tales for Boys and Girls, edited by Claire H. Bishop, Ungar, 1956
  • The bound Man and other stories, by Ilse Aichinger, transl. by Eric Mosbacher, New York: Noonday Press, 1956
  • A Child's Christmas in Wales, by Dylan Thomas (1950); J. M. Dent, 1968
  • Mama, I Wish I Was Snow, Child You'd Be Very Cold, by Ruth Krauss, Atheneum, 1962
  • Philosophy and History. The Ernst Cassirer Festschrift, ed. Raymond Klibansky and H. J. Paton, 1963 (second edition)
  • Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, selected by Dwight MacDonald, Crowell, 1965
  • We Dickinson's, by Aileen Fisher and Olive Rabe, Atheneum, 1965
  • The Jewish Sabbath, by Molly Cone, Crowell, 1966
  • Paths of Poetry: Twenty-Five Poets and Their Poems, ed. Louis Untermeyer, Delacorte, 1966
  • Songs of Innocence (Volumes 1 & 2), by William Blake (1789, 1794), music and illustrations by Ellen Raskin, Doubleday, 1966
  • D. H. Lawrence: Poems Selected for Young People, ed. William Cole, Viking, 1967
  • Ellen Grae, by Vera and Bill Cleaver, Lippincott, 1967
  • Poems of Robert Herrick, ed. Winfield T. Scott, Crowell, 1967
  • Probability: the Science of Chance, by Arthur G. Razzell and K. G. O. Watts, Doubleday, 1967 ‡
  • This Is 4: the Idea of a Number, by Razzell and Watts, Doubleday, 1967 ‡
  • Books: A Book to Begin On, by Susan Bartlett, Holt, 1968
  • Inatuk's Friend, by Suzanne Stark Morrow, Atlantic/Little, 1968
  • Lady Ellen Grae, by Vera and Bill Cleaver, Lippincott, 1968
  • A Paper Zoo: A Collection of Animal Poems by Modern American Poets, edited by Renee K. Weiss, Macmillan, 1968
  • Piping Down the Valleys Wild: Poetry for the Young of All Ages, edited by Nancy Larrick, Delacorte, 1968
  • Symmetry, by Razzell and Watts, Doubleday, 1968 ‡
  • We Alcotts, by Aileen Fisher and Olive Rabe, Atheneum, 1968
  • Circles and Curves, by Razzell and Watts, Doubleday, 1969 ‡
  • Come Along!, by Rebecca Caudill, Holt, 1969
  • Shrieks at Midnight: Macabre Poems, Eerie and Humorous, edited by Sara and John E. Brewton, Crowell, 1969
  • Three and the Shape of Three, by Razzell and Watts, Doubleday, 1969 ‡
  • Elidor, by Alan Garner (1965), Walck, 1970
  • Goblin Market, by Christina Rossetti (1862), Dutton, 1970
‡ Raskin illustrated at least five volumes in a series of 32- and 48-page mathematics books by Arthur C. Razzell and Kenneth George Oliver Watts, which was inaugurated by Doubleday in 1964.

References
  1. "Ellen Raskin: Notable Wisconsin Author" [Biography]. Ginny Moore Kruse. Copyright 1981, 2000. Wisconsin Authors and Illustrators. The Cooperative Children's Book Center [CCBC]; School of Education; University of Wisconsin (ccbc.education.wisc.edu).
  2. "Ellen Raskin". The New York Times. August 10, 1984.
  3. "Ellen Raskin Papers". MS 85. Boston, MA, USA: Simmons College Archives.
  4. Bird, Elizabeth (July 7, 2012). "Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results". A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. School Library Journal (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com). Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  5. "Ellen Raskin". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  6. "Free Study Guide for The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin". Ray Mescallado. The Best Notes (thebestnotes.com). May 15, 2008.
  7. "Archived copy". ccbc.education.wisc.edu. Archived from the original on April 8, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Books Written and Illustrated by Ellen Raskin". Wisconsin Authors and Illustrators. CCBC. Retrieved 2010-12-25.

Further reading
  • Ellen Raskin (Volume 579 of Twayne's United States Authors Series: Children's Literature), Marilynn Strasser Olson, Twayne Publishers, 1991; ISBN 9780805776270
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