Donald Crews is the renowned creator of two Caldecott Honor
books, Freight Train and Truck. Among his other enormously popular
books are such favorites as Night at the Fair, Sail Away,
Bigmama''s, Shortcut, and School Bus. He and his wife, Ann Jonas,
live in New York''s Hudson River Valley.
Donald Crews grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and says that all
through his childhood the members of his family were always doing
something with their hands. He was always drawing pictures. Now, in
the old farmhouse where he lives with his wife, the noted author
and illustrator Ann Jonas, Donald Crews is still drawing
pictures.
After graduating from New York City''s Cooper Union, Mr. Crews
spent three years working as a designer. He was assistant art
director of Dance magazine, on the staff of a small design studio,
and did freelance work as a book-jacket designer. But in 1962 he
was inducted into the Army, and for a time his artistic pursuits
were set aside. As the end of his eighteen-month military stint in
Germany approached, he assigned himself to the task of writing and
illustrating a children''s book to add to his portfolio. The result
was the brilliant concept book We Read: A to Z Harper Row,
1967, which, nearly twenty years later, was reissued by
Greenwillow Books. Ten Black Dots, a counting book, came next, and
then several books for which he did illustrations only. But the
turning point came in 1978, when Greenwillow published Freight
Train, a picture book inspired by Mr. Crews''s childhood train trips
from Newark to visit his grandmother in Florida. It was named a
Caldecott Honor Book. Since then, Mr. Crews has created several
other highly acclaimed picture books including Truck, a 1981
Calclecott Honor Book, all painted in the flat, clean colors and
bright, unambiguous shapes that are the hallmarks of his striking
graphics.
Donald Crews grew up in Newark, New Jersey, spent his summers in
Cottondale, Florida, and was graduated from Cooper Union in New
York City. He and his wife, Ann Jonas, live in Brooklyn, New
York.
When Donald Crews is asked why he focuses on picture books, he
frequently answers, "Why not?" All the tools necessary for the
creation of any piece of art are also elements in a successful
picture book. Mr. Crews chooses a subject, explores ways to develop
the subject visually, writes a story, then produces his finished
illustrations. And the final audience, the children, tell him that
they like what he does. Why not, indeed! Donald Crews grew up in
Newark, New Jersey, spent his summers in Cottondale, Florida, and
was graduated from Cooper Union in New York City.
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