Kevin Henkes

Notable awardsCaldecott Medal
2005
SpouseLaura Dronzek (1985–present)^[1]ChildrenWill (1995)
Clara (1998)^[2][3]Websitekevinhenkes.com

Kevin Henkes (born November 27, 1960) is an American writer and illustrator of children's books.^[4] As an illustrator he won the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon (2004). Two of his books were Newbery Medal Honor Books, Olive's Ocean in 2004 and The Year of Billy Miller in 2014.^[5] His picture book Waiting was named both a 2016 Caldecott Honor Book and a Geisel Honor Book. It was only the second time any author has won that combination of awards.^[6][4]

Career

Kevin Henkes (pronounced HANK-us^[7]) thought he would be an artist until his junior year of high school when one of his teachers encouraged him in his writing efforts. He discovered that children's books combined both his literary and artistic interests.

Henkes writes and illustrates children's picture books, many of which feature mice as their main characters. He also writes middle-grade fiction. Henkes wrote his first book during his freshman year in college. The book's theme deals with how a child describes the pleasures of occasional solitude. This theme is common in many of Henkes' later books. Henkes, one of five children, says that many of his storylines are inspired by his family and the neighborhood where he grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. Henkes has written and illustrated around fifty critically acclaimed and award-winning picture books, early readers, and novels in his career thus far.

Henkes' first book, All Alone, was published in 1981 by Greenwillow Books. More than 50 books followed, including Chrysanthemum and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. In 1994 Henkes was a runner-up for one of the premier American Library Association (ALA) children's book awards, the Caldecott Medal for Owen, one of his mouse books. In 2004, he was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal for Olive's Ocean. The next year he won the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon, recognizing that as the year's best children's picture book published in the U.S. All of his books to date have been published by Greenwillow Books.

Henkes won the inaugural Phoenix Picture Book Award in 2013 for Owen. The Phoenix Awards from the Children's Literature Association recognize the best books that did not win major awards when they were first published twenty years earlier.^[8][9] In 2014, he received a Newbery Honor for his book, The Year of Billy Miller.^[10] In 2020 Henkes was awarded the ALA's Children's Literature Legacy Award, celebrating his entire body of work.^[11]

Henkes and his wife, Laura Dronzek, have been collaborating on a series of picture books based on the four seasons. Henkes writes the story, while Dronzek provides the acrylic painting illustrations. The next title expected is Winter is Here.^[12]

Early and personal life

Henkes was born November 27, 1960, in Racine, Wisconsin.^[4] He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.^[13] He lives in Madison with his wife, artist Laura Dronzek, and their two children.^[14]

Awards and honors

Henkes has won numerous awards for both his books and as an author. In 2007, Henkes delivered the Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, an honor bestowed upon "an individual of distinction in the field of children’s literature ... chosen to write and deliver a lecture that will make a significant contribution to the world of children’s literature."^[15] In 2008, he won the Council for Wisconsin Writers' Major Achievement Award.^[16] In 2009, he was a finalist for the Astrid Lindgren Prize^[17] and won the Jeremiah Ludington Award, which honors "an individual who has made a significant contribution to the paperback book business."^[18] Lastly, in 2020, he won the "Children’s Literature Legacy Award honoring an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a significant and lasting contribution to literature for children."^[19]

In 1987, Library of Congress named Once Around the Block one of the Best Books of the Year. In 2017, the American Booksellers Association inducted Kitten's First Full Moon into their Picture Book Hall of Fame.^[20]

The Year of Billy Miller was a New York Times bestselling book.^[21] Kirkus Reviews and The Horn Book named it one of the best books of 2013.^[21][22]

Waiting was a New York Times bestselling book.^[23] Kirkus Reviews and The Horn Book named it one of the best books of 2013.^[23][22]

The Horn Book has included many of Henkes's other books on their lists of the best children's books of the year: Jessica (1989), Julius, the Baby of the World (1990), Chrysanthemum (1991), Words of Stone (1992), Owen (1993), Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (1996), Olive’s Ocean (2003), A Good Day (2007), Old Bear (2008), Birds (2009), Penny and Her Doll (2012), Penny and Her Marble (2013), Waiting (2015), Egg (2017), A Parade of Elephants (2018), Penny and Her Sled (2019), Billy Miller Makes a Wish (2021), and Oh, Sal (2022).^[22]

Awards for Henkes's books

Year	Title	Award	Result	Ref.
1986	Grandpa & Bo	Council of Wisconsin Writers Children’s Book Award	Winner	[16]
1988	The Zebra Wall	Council of Wisconsin Writers Children’s Book Award	Winner	[16]
1991	Chrysanthemum	Council of Wisconsin Writers Children’s Book Award	Winner	[16]
1993	Owen	Archer-Eckblad Children’s Picture Book Award	Winner	[16]
	Words of Stone	Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature	Nominee
		Elizabeth Burr / Worzalla Award	Winner
1994	Owen	Caldecott Medal	Honor	[24]
1996	Protecting Marie	Elizabeth Burr / Worzalla Award	Winner
1997	Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse	American Booksellers Book of the Year: Children's	Winner	[25]
1999	Circle Dogs	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
2003	Owen's Marshmallow Chick	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
2004	Kitten's First Full Moon	Betty Ren Wright Children’s Picture Book Award	Honorable Mention	[16]
	Olive's Ocean	Newbery Medal	Honor	[27]
2005	Kitten's First Full Moon	Caldecott Medal	Winner	[28]
		Charlotte Zolotow Award	Winner	[26]
		Midwest Booksellers' Choice Award for Children's Picture Book	Winner	[29]
2007	A Good Day	Midwest Booksellers' Choice Awards	Winner	[30]
	Lilly's Big Day	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
2008	A Good Day	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
2009	Birds	Great Lakes Book Awards	Finalist	[31]
	Old Bear	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
		Great Lakes Book Awards	Finalist	[31]
2010	Birds	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Honor	[26]
	My Garden	Goodreads Choice Award for Picture Book	Nominee	[32]
2011	Little White Rabbit	Goodreads Choice Award for Picture Book	Nominee	[33]
	My Garden	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
2012	Jessica	ALSC Notable Children's Recordings	Selection	[34]
2014	Penny and Her Marble	Theodor Seuss Geisel Award	Honor	[35]
	The Year of Billy Miller	Elizabeth Burr / Worzalla Award	Winner
		Newbery Medal	Honor	[27]
		The E.B. White Read Aloud Award	Finalist	[36]
	Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse	ABA Picture Book Hall of Fame	Finalist	[36]
2015	Waiting	Goodreads Choice Award for Best Picture Books	Nominee	[37]
2016		ALSC Notable Children's Books	Selection	[38][39]
		Caldecott Medal	Honor	[40][41]
		Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
		Theodor Seuss Geisel Award	Honor	[42]
2018	Egg	Eisner Award for Best Publication for Early Readers	Finalist	[43]
	In the Middle of Fall	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
2019	A Parade of Elephants	ALSC Notable Children's Books	Selection	[44]
	Winter is Here	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
	A Parade of Elephants	ALSC Notable Children's Books	Selection	[45]
2020	Sun Flower Lion	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]
2022	Little Houses	Charlotte Zolotow Award	Highly commended	[26]

Publications

Novels

Standalone books

• Return to Sender (1984, ISBN 978-0-1403-8556-4)
• Two Under Par (1987, ISBN 978-0-0607-5695-6)
• The Zebra Wall (1988, ISBN 978-0-0607-3303-2)
• Words of Stone (1992, ISBN 978-0-0607-8230-6)
• Protecting Marie (1995, ISBN 978-0-1403-8320-1)
• Sun & Spoon (1997, ISBN 978-0-6881-5232-1)
• The Birthday Room (1999, ISBN 978-0-0644-3828-5)
• Olive's Ocean (2001, ISBN 978-0-0605-3545-2)
• Bird Lake Moon (2008, ISBN 978-0-0614-7076-9)
• Junonia (2011, ISBN 978-0-0619-6417-6)
• Sweeping up the Heart (2019, ISBN 978-0-0628-5254-0)
• Oh, Sal (2022, ISBN 978-0-0632-4492-4)

Billy Miller books

The Billy Miller books are published by Greenwillow Books.

• The Year of Billy Miller (2013, ISBN 978-0-0622-6815-0)
• Billy Miller Makes a Wish (2021, ISBN 978-0-0630-4279-7)

Picture books

Standalone books

• All Alone (1981, ISBN 978-0-0605-4115-6)
• Clean Enough (1982, ISBN 978-0-6880-0828-4)
• Margaret & Taylor (1983, ISBN 978-0-6880-1425-4)
• Bailey Goes Camping (1985, ISBN 978-0-6881-5288-8)
• Grandpa and Bo (1986, ISBN 978-0-0662-3837-1)
• Once Around the Block, illustrated by Victoria Chess (1987, ISBN 978-0-6880-4955-3)
• Jessica (1989, ISBN 978-0-6881-5847-7)
• Shhhh (1989, ISBN 978-0-6880-7985-7)
• The Biggest Boy, illustrated by Nancy Tafuri (1995, ISBN 978-0-6881-2827-2)
• Good-bye, Curtis, illustrated by Marisabina Russo (1995, ISBN 978-0-6881-2827-2)
• Circle Dogs, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (1998, ISBN 978-0-6881-5446-2)
• Oh! (1999, ISBN 978-0-6881-7053-0)
• Kitten's First Full Moon (2004, ISBN 978-0-0605-8828-1)
• So Happy! (2005, ISBN 978-0-0605-6483-4)
• A Good Day (2007, ISBN 978-0-0611-4018-1)
• Old Bear (2008, ISBN 978-0-0615-5205-2)
• Birds, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (2009, ISBN 978-0-0613-6304-7)
• My Garden (2010, ISBN 978-0-0617-1517-4)
• Little White Rabbit (2011, ISBN 978-0-0620-0642-4)
• When Spring Comes: An Easter And Springtime Book For Kids, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (2016, ISBN 978-0-0623-3139-7)
• Egg (2017, ISBN 978-0-0624-0873-0)
• In the Middle of Fall, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (2017, ISBN 978-0-0625-7311-7)
• A Parade of Elephants (2018, ISBN 978-0-0626-6828-8)
• Winter Is Here, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (2018, ISBN 978-0-0627-4719-8)
• Summer Song, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (2020, ISBN 978-0-0628-6613-4)
• Sun Flower Lion (2020, ISBN 978-0-0628-6611-0)
• A House (2021, ISBN 978-0-0630-9260-0)
• Little Houses, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (2020, ISBN 978-0-0629-6573-8)
• The World and Everything in It (2023, ISBN 978-0-0632-4564-8)

Mouse books

The Mouse books are published by Greenwillow Books.

• A Weekend with Wendell (1986, ISBN 978-0-6881-4024-3)
• Sheila Rae, the Brave (1987, ISBN 978-0-6881-4738-9)
• Chester's Way (1988, ISBN 978-0-6881-5472-1)
• Julius, the Baby of the World (1990, ISBN 978-0-6881-4388-6)
• Chrysanthemum (1991, ISBN 978-0-6881-4732-7)
• Owen (1993, ISBN 978-0-6881-1449-7)
• Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse (1996, ISBN 978-0-6881-2897-5)
• Wemberly Worried (2000, ISBN 978-0-6881-7027-1)
• Sheila Rae's Peppermint Stick (2001, ISBN 978-0-0602-9451-9)
• Owen's Marshmallow Chick (2002, ISBN 978-0-0600-1012-6)
• Julius's Candy Corn (2003, ISBN 978-0-0605-3789-0)
• Lilly's Chocolate Heart (2003, ISBN 978-0-0605-6066-9)
• Wemberly's Ice-Cream Star (2003, ISBN 978-0-0605-0405-2)
• A Box Full of Lilly (2006, ISBN 978-0-0611-2852-3)
• Lilly's Big Day (2006, ISBN 978-0-0607-4236-2)

Penny books

The Penny books are published by Greenwillow Books.

• Penny and Her Doll (2012, ISBN 978-0-0620-8199-5)
• Penny and Her Song (2012, ISBN 978-0-0620-8195-7)
• Penny and Her Marble (2013, ISBN 978-0-0620-8203-9)
• Penny and Her Sled (2019, ISBN 978-0-0629-3456-7)

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• Caldecott Medal
• Kevin Henkes Audio Name Pronunciation at TeachingBooks.net
• Kevin Henkes at Library of Congress, with 65 library catalog records