Uri Shulevitz

Caldecott Medal Winner
Caldecott Honor Book

Uri Shulevitz is a Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator and author. He was born in Warsaw, Poland, on February 27, 1935. He began drawing at the age of three and, unlike many children, never stopped. The Warsaw blitz occurred when he was four years old, and the Shulevitz family fled. For eight years they were wanderers, arriving, eventually, in Paris in 1947. There Shulevitz developed an enthusiasm for French comic books, and soon he and a friend started making their own. At thirteen, Shulevitz won first prize in an all-elementary-school drawing competition in Paris's 20th district.

In 1949, the family moved to Israel, where Shulevitz worked a variety of jobs: an apprentice at a rubber-stamp shop, a carpenter, and a dog-license clerk at Tel Aviv City Hall. He studied at the Teachers' Institute in Tel Aviv, where he took courses in literature, anatomy, and biology, and also studied at the Art Institute of Tel Aviv. At fifteen, he was the youngest to exhibit in a group drawing show at the Tel Aviv Museum.

At 24 he moved to New York City, where he studied painting at Brooklyn Museum Art School and drew illustrations for a publisher of Hebrew books. One day while talking on the telephone, he noticed that his doodles had a fresh and spontaneous look—different from his previous illustrations. This discovery was the beginning of Uri's new approach to his illustrations for The Moon in My Room, his first book, published in 1963. Since then he was written and illustrated many celebrated children’s books. He won the Caldecott Medal for The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, written by Arthur Ransome. He has also earned three Caldecott Honors, for The Treasure, Snow and How I Learned Geography. His other books include One Monday Morning, Dawn, So Sleepy Story, and many others. He also wrote the instructional guide Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books. He lives in New York City.

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When I Wore My Sailor Suit

Caldecott Honor winning author Uri Shulevitz discusses his new picture book When I Wore My Sailor Suit.

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Snow (Book & CD Set)

Uri Shulevitz
Macmillan Young Listeners

This playful depiction of a snowy day and the transformation of a city is perfectly captured in simple, poetic text and lively illustrations.

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When I Wore My Sailor Suit

Uri Shulevitz
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

When he puts on his sailor suit, sailor hat, and sailor whistle, the boy in this book is ready for a journey. He imagines himself on a ship, sailing across the...

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How I Learned Geography

Uri Shulevitz
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Having fled from war in their troubled homeland, a boy and his family are living in poverty in a strange country. Food is scarce, so when the boy’s father...

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So Sleepy Story

Uri Shulevitz
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

In a sleepy sleepy house everything is so sleepy – until music drifts in through an open window. Chairs begin to rock, dishes begin to dance, and a sleepy boy...

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Rain Rain Rivers

Uri Shulevitz
Sunburst Paperbacks

It rains! It rains all over town, pattering congenially on windowpanes and rooftops. From indoors, a child watches, listens, and feels a delicious coziness. It...

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The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela

Uri Shulevitz
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Through Three Continents in the Twelfth Century Imagine a time when streets were narrow and dirty, towns were surrounded by walls, brigands lurked alongside...

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Snow

Uri Shulevitz
Square Fish

"It's snowing, said boy with dog. "It's only a snowflake," said grandfather with beard. No one thinks one or two snowflakes will amount to anything. Not...

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One Monday Morning

Written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz
Sunburst Paperbacks

"One Monday morning the king, the queen, and the little prince came to visit me. But i wasn't home . . . "

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The Moon in my Room

Uri Shulevitz; Illustrated by the author
Sunburst Paperbacks

In the little boy's room there is a whole world. He has a private sun, a private moon, private stars, and many friends. But where is Prince Bear, the...

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Uri Shulevitz

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