Uri Shulevitz (Hebrew: אורי שולביץ; born February 27, 1935) is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He won the 1969 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, an Eastern European fairy tale retold by Arthur Ransome in 1916.^[1][2][3]

Biography

Uri Shulevitz was born in Warsaw, Poland, on February 27, 1935. During the bombing of Warsaw in 1939, a bomb fell into a stairwell of his apartment building when he was at home.^[4] The family fled from Poland and settled in Paris by 1947, then moved again to Israel in 1949. During the Sinai War in 1956, Mr. Shulevitz joined the Israeli Army. Later, he joined the Ein Gedi kibbutz.

Shulevitz moved to New York City in 1959, studying painting at Brooklyn Museum Art School and working as an illustrator for a Hebrew children's book publisher. In 1962, an editor at Harper & Row saw his freelance portfolio and suggested he write children's books. He created his first picture book, The Moon in My Room, in 1963.

Shulevitz lives in New York City. Despite having the same name, Uri Shulevitz is not directly related to noted independent filmmaker Robert Shulevitz.^[5]

Works

• Chance (2020)

Awards

• 1969: Caldecott Medal, The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
• 1979: Caldecott Honor, The Treasure
• 1998: Charlotte Zolotow Award, Snow
• 1998: Golden Kite Award, Picture Book Illustration, Snow
• 1999: Caldecott Honor, Snow
• 2005: National Jewish Book Award in the Illustrated Children's Book category for The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela^[6]
• 2009: Caldecott Honor, How I Learned Geography