Author Michael Bond died in June while Cynsations was on summer hiatus.
Obituary: Michael Bond by Shannon Maughan from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “Bond, widely known for his books starring the duffle-coat-donning Paddington bear, died at his home in London following a brief illness.
Author-illustrator Jill McElmurry died in August while Cynsations was on summer hiatus.
Obituary: Jill McElmurry by Jill Kantor from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “Acclaimed children’s book author and illustrator Jill McElmurry…died of breast cancer on August 3, at her home in Taos, N.M. She was 62 years old.
Patricia C. McKissack, honored children’s author from Chesterfield, dies at 72 by Jane Henderson
from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Peek: “…’I think my mother died of a broken heart.’ Fredrick McKissack Jr. said his mother and father were ‘best friends and partners.’”
Before becoming an author,
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Children’s Author and Filmmaker, Dies at 51 by Sam Roberts from the New York Times. In addition to 28 children’s books and two memoirs, she also wrote many essays, including the recent You May Want to Marry My Husband, published just 10 days before her death.
Compiled by Gayleen Rabakukk
Josanne La Valley obituary from The New York Times.
Peek: “Josanne received degrees from St. Lawrence University, Smith College and Vermont College of Fine Arts. She worked in arts management and as a professional musician before she turned to writing.”
Anna Dewdney Dies; Author of ‘Llama Llama’ Books Was 50 from the New York Times.
Anna illustrated a number of books in the 1990s, then became an author/illustrator with the publication of Llama, Lama Red Pajama (Viking, 2005). Since then, Llama Llama and his Mama have appeared in 18 additional titles and sold more than 10 million copies. Continue Reading In Memory: Anna Dewdney »
Austin architect contributed modernist buildings to city’s landscape by Michael Barnes from The Austin American Statesman. Peek:
“Thomas ‘Tom’ Shefelman, who helped design several of Austin’s outstanding modernist buildings…. Seattle-born Shefelman, a graduate of the University of Texas School of Architecture and the Harvard Graduate School of Design,
Compiled by Gayleen Rabakukk
Award-winning
Author Paul Goble, Dead at 83 (Rapid City Journal, Jan. 5, 2017).
Paul Goble’s work – writing, illustrating, or both – were included in more than 40 books.
In 1979, he won the Caldecott Medal for The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses (Simon & Schuster,
Obituary: Yumi Heo by Shannon Maughan from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “[Henry] Holt’s Laura Godwin shared this remembrance:
‘Yumi was extremely gracious, enthusiastic, and inquisitive,’ she said. ‘I loved the way she incorporated ‘mistakes’ into her art rather than erasing or deleting them.
“If she drew a squiggle where she hadn’t intended,
“Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.”
‘Tuck Everlasting’ Author Natalie Babbitt, Of Hamden, Dies At Age 84 by the Associated Press from The Hartford Courant.
