Lois Ehlert

Biography

Janis Elmore

Mary Morgan Ryan

HarperCollins Publishers OCT.2003

Born and raised in

Beaver

Dam, Wisconsin on

November

1934, L

ois Ehlert grew up in

a home where she

claims that

―everyone seemed

to be making

something.‖

She went to the Layton School of Art after

winning a 4 year scholarship. After getting her

degree she worked as an apprentice in an art

studio delivering illustrations. Here, she was

able to work in the evenings on her own art.

Lois. Ehlert did graduate work from the

University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a degree

in English and Psychology.

as a freelance

illustrator and

designer of

books, toys, p

osters, and

children’s

clothes.

She has

illustrated over

16 books to

date.Publisher: Beach Lane Books, July, 2010

Ehlert’s has a particular style when creating

her books. She begins with a ―dummy book‖

made from pencil drawings. Once she has a

topic, she does the background research to

learn more. Then she will begin her

artwork, which involves cutting out each piece

individually and then gluing them on the pages

of her book.

She remembers being

frustrated with what she

felt were the limitations

of illustrating other

people's books, and

started to

design, write, and

illustrate her own

children's books. "As

an artist," she says, "I

love to experiment, and

I find that each book

really has its own

personality."

Some of Lois Ehlert works:

Growing Vegetable Soup – May

1991

The book describes the

process of growing

vegetable soup, from

preparing the tools and

digging holes for the

seeds to weeding

plants; picking

vegetables;

washing, chopping, and

cooking them and finally

enjoying the homemade

soup while planning to

Lois Ehlert’s Picture Books

. Nine animals, nine

shapes, and sixteen shades of

color everyone can have fun

discovering them all by turning

Color Zoo's full-color pages

and watching a lion turn into a

goat, an ox into a monkey, a

tiger into a mouse

Each recto page shows

a barnyard animal--

cow, chicken, rooster, du

ck--composed almost

entirely of geometric

shapes.

Book that allows parent and child to

read, experiment and pretend

Leaf Man takes off from a

backyard and flutters away

on the breeze, across prairie

and meadows.

We are building a snow

family

Fish Eyes is primarily a numbers and counting

book that counts up to 10. In the counting

section, the eyes on the fish are punched-

out, leaving holes. Children can count fish or fish

eyes.Sandpiper (August 17, 1992)

Top Cat rules the

house until an

unexpected box

from the humane

society arrives with

someone new -

and cute - inside.

At first, top cat

doesn't want to

share his house

and favorite

things, but soon he

learns that two cats

Some of Lois Ehlert’s familiar Illustrated

titles

Pie in the SkyHarcourt Children's Books (April

1, 2004)

Market Day

Sandpiper (August 1, 2002)

Boo To You!

Beach Lane Books (August 4, 2009)

CircusHarperCollins; 1st edition (March 30, 1992)

Eating the Alphabet

Harcourt Big Books (March 31, 1994)

―I get lots of letters, and

you know what? No

one agrees on what

they love the most or

which book is the best

one. I like that. I know

what I like best—color!‖

Lois Ehlert