Teacher and picture book expert Robin Smith died in June while Cynsations was on summer hiatus.
Robin Smith (1959-2017) from The Horn Book. Peek: “A second-grade teacher at Ensworth School in Nashville for the last twenty-four years, she was a longtime Horn Book contributor and reviewer and a founding co-author of the Calling Caldecott blog.
Author and illustrator Geoffrey Hayes died in June while Cynsations was on summer hiatus.
Obituary: Geoffrey Hayes by Shannon Maughan from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “…Hayes, best known for the comics-style artwork and expressive animal characters in his many titles for emerging readers, died suddenly on June 2, of apparent natural causes,
Author-illustrator Rebecca Bond died in August while Cynsations was on summer hiatus.
Obituary: Rebecca Bond by Emily Kantor from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “Rebecca Bond, who created 10 books for young readers, died on August 2 after a brief illness. She was 45.
“Bond was named a PW Flying Start in 1999 for her debut picture book,
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.
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.”
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.
