During his distinguished career Arnold Lobel wrote and/or illustrated over 70 books for children. To his illustrating credit, he has a Caldecott Medal book—Fables (1981)—and two Caldecott Honor Books—his own, Frog and Toad are Friends (1971), and Hildilid's Night by Cheli Duran Ryan (1972). To his writing credit, he has a Newbery Honor Book—Frog and Toad Together (1973). But to his greatest credit, he has a following of literally millions of young children with whom he shared the warmth and humor of his unpretentious vision of life.
Though he was a born storyteller (he began making up stories while he grew up in the care of his grandparents), Mr. Lobel called himself a "lucky amateur" in terms of his writing. When he first started drawing pictures for children's books, Arnold Lobel got many of his ideas from the cartoons his children liked to watch. Arnold Lobel used to tell stories and illustrate them to entertain his classmates when he was a young boy.
When he graduated from art school, he married Anita Kempler, and they moved to New York. He and his wife had two children, Adam and Adrianne. Arnold Lobel died in 1987.
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