Newbery Awards Library A Wrinkle in Time, The Twenty-One Balloons, Strawberry Girl, Thimble Summer, & Roller Skates

by William Pène du Bois, Lois Lenski, Elizabeth Enright

The Newberry Medal is named after John Newberry, the famous 18th century publisher and seller of children's books in England. It was first offered in 1921, and has come to represent the best in quality children's literature. These five Newberry winners form an ideal introduction to the world of books for young readers.

Paperback

Published January 1, 1978

About the author

William Pène du Bois was an American writer and illustrator of books for young readers. He is best known for The Twenty-One Balloons, published in April 1947 by Viking Press, for which he won the 1948 Newbery Medal. As illustrator he was twice a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal.

The Twenty-One Balloons is the work by Pène du Bois that WorldCat reports most widely held in participating libraries, by a wide margin. His other most widely held works are five books written by others, which he illustrated (below), and the two Caldecott Honor picture books, which he also wrote.

From 1953 to 1960, Pène du Bois was art editor of The Paris Review, working alongside founder and editor George Plimpton.

Reviews

[Leslie Callahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My aunt gave me this book for Christmas when I was in jr high and I just finally read it (30 years later!)