Robert's Fans (10)

Robert Lawson

Author profile

born

in New York City, The United States

October 04, 1892

died

May 27, 1957

gender

male

genre

Children's

About this author

edit data

Born in New York City, Lawson spent his early life in Montclair, New Jersey. Following high school, he studied art for three years under illustrator Howard Giles (an advocate of dynamic symmetry as conceived by Jay Hambidge) at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (now Parsons School of Design), marrying fellow artist and illustrator Marie Abrams in 1922. His career as an illustrator began in 1914, when his illustration for a poem about the invasion of Belgium was published in Harper's Weekly. He went on to publish in other magazines, including the Ladies Home Journal, Everybody's Magazine, Century Magazine, Vogue, and Designer.

During World War I, Lawson was a member of the first U.S. Army camouflage unit (called the American Camoufl...more Born in New York City, Lawson spent his early life in Montclair, New Jersey. Following high school, he studied art for three years under illustrator Howard Giles (an advocate of dynamic symmetry as conceived by Jay Hambidge) at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (now Parsons School of Design), marrying fellow artist and illustrator Marie Abrams in 1922. His career as an illustrator began in 1914, when his illustration for a poem about the invasion of Belgium was published in Harper's Weekly. He went on to publish in other magazines, including the Ladies Home Journal, Everybody's Magazine, Century Magazine, Vogue, and Designer.

During World War I, Lawson was a member of the first U.S. Army camouflage unit (called the American Camouflage Corps), in connection with which he served in France with other artists, such as Barry Faulkner, Sherry Edmundson Fry, William Twigg-Smith and Kerr Eby. In his autobiography, Faulkner recalls that Lawson had a remarkable "sense of fantasy and humor", which made him especially valuable when the camoufleurs put on musical shows for the children of the French women who worked with them on camouflage

After the war, Lawson resumed his work as an artist, and in 1922, illustrated his first children's book, The Wonderful Adventures of Little Prince Toofat. Subsequently he illustrated dozens of children's books by other authors, including such well-known titles as The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf (which later became an animated film by the Walt Disney Studios) and Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. In total, he illustrated as many as forty books by other authors, and another seventeen books that he himself was author of, including Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin By His Good Mouse Amos and Rabbit Hill. His work was widely admired, and he became the first, and so far only, person to be given both the Caldecott Medal (They Were Strong and Good, 1941) and the Newbery Medal (Rabbit Hill, 1945). Ben and Me earned a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1961.

Lawson was a witty and inventive author, and his children's fiction is no less engaging for grown-ups. One of his inventive themes was the idea of a person's life as seen through the eyes of a companion animal, an approach that he first realized in Ben and Me. Some of his later books employed the same device (which was compatible with his style of illustration) to other figures, such as Christopher Columbus (I Discover Columbus) and Paul Revere (Mr. Revere and I). Captain Kidd's Cat, which he both wrote and illustrated, is narrated by the feline in the title, named McDermot, who tells the story of the famous pirate's ill-starred voyage, in the process of which he is shown to have been a brave, upright, honest, hen-pecked man betrayed by his friends and calumniated by posterity. His artistic witticism and creativity can be seen in The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, where he illustrates a cork tree as a tree that bears corks as fruits, ready to be picked and placed into bottles.

In the early 1930s, Lawson became interested in etching. One of the resulting prints was awarded the John Taylor Arms Prize by the Society of American Etchers.

Lawson died in 1957 at his home in Westport, Connecticut, in a house that he referred to as Rabbit Hill, since it had been the setting for his book of the same name. He was 64. He is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. An annual conference is held in his honor in Westport.

The Robert Lawson Papers are in the University of Minnesota Children's Literature Research Collections.(less)

combine editions
Robert Lawson's Books

Average rating: 4.11 · 62,423 ratings · 2,311 reviews · 47 distinct works · Similar authors

	Rabbit Hill 3.71 of 5 stars 3.71 avg rating — 2,397 ratings — published 1944 — 20 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos 3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 921 ratings — published 1923 — 12 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mr. Revere and I: Being an Account of certain Episodes in the Career of Paul Revere,Esq. as Revealed by his Horse 3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 349 ratings — published 1953 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	They Were Strong and Good 3.27 of 5 stars 3.27 avg rating — 332 ratings — published 1940 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson, Richard Peck (Foreword) 3.71 of 5 stars 3.71 avg rating — 285 ratings — published 1957 — 7 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Tough Winter 3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 avg rating — 64 ratings — published 1954 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Captain Kidd's Cat: Being the True and Dolorous Chronicle of Wm. Kidd, Gent. & Merchant of New York, Late Captain of the Adventure Galley 3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 1984	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fabulous Flight 4.57 of 5 stars 4.57 avg rating — 28 ratings	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mr Twigg's Mistake 4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 1947	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Edward, Hoppy and Joe 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 1972 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Robert Lawson…

Quotes by Robert Lawson

“Going to fetch Uncle Analdas. Have you been by the Hill?"
Just left there," Robin answered. "Everybody's excited. Seems there's new Folks coming."
Yes, I know," cried Little Georgie eagerly. "I've just made a song about it. Wouldn't you like to hear it? It goes like -"
No, thanks," called Robin.”
― Robert Lawson, Rabbit Hill

tags: humor

2 people liked it

“I've made up a song about the new Folks," he (Little Georgie)added eagerly. "Would you like to hear it?"
Don't think I would," answered Uncle Analdas.”
― Robert Lawson, Rabbit Hill

tags: humor

1 person liked it

Polls

What Newbery Medal winner would you like to read in August?

Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson

3 votes 37.5%

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

2 votes 25.0%

The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds

1 vote 12.5%

It's Like This, Cat by Emily Cheney Neville

1 vote 12.5%

M.C. Higgins, The Great by Virginia Hamilton

1 vote 12.5%

8 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Newbery Award...: 1945 Medal Winner - Rabbit Hill	1	7	Jan 29, 2010 07:25am
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks	2748	2247	May 31, 2010 09:00pm
What's The Name o...: SOLVED!: point of view of horse of George Custer's horse [s]	9	42	May 02, 2011 12:29pm
The History Book ...: ELIZABETH S - 50 BOOKS READ IN 2011	100	81	Jul 09, 2011 06:49pm
The Next Best Boo...: Diane -- Frequent Flyer	129	440	Sep 28, 2011 07:02pm
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2012: Completed Tasks -DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC	2344	529	May 31, 2012 09:02pm
Comfort Reads: Children's literature	14	21	Jun 16, 2012 10:19pm
Coffee & Books: June 2012 Read-A-Thon	47	86	Jun 27, 2012 11:42pm
You'll love this ...: Discussion of August's GTR - Newbery winners of the 1940s	59	40	Sep 01, 2012 09:26pm

More…

Robert's Fans (10)

Robert Lawson

Author profile

combine editionsRobert Lawson's Books

Quotes by Robert Lawson

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Robert Lawson's Books