David Wiesner

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American illustrator and writer of children's books (born 1956)

title: "David Wiesner" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-children's-writers", "american-children's-book-illustrators", "bridgewater-raritan-high-school-alumni", "caldecott-medal-winners", "1956-births", "living-people", "people-from-bridgewater-township,-new-jersey", "writers-who-illustrated-their-own-writing", "caldecott-honor-winners", "rhode-island-school-of-design-alumni", "writers-from-somerset-county,-new-jersey"] description: "American illustrator and writer of children's books (born 1956)" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wiesner" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American illustrator and writer of children's books (born 1956) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox writer"]

FieldValue
nameDavid Wiesner
imageDavid Wiesner 2011.jpg
image_size250px
captionWiesner at the Mazza Museum in 2011
birth_nameDavid Wiesner
birth_date
birth_placeBridgewater Township, New Jersey
occupationIllustrator, writer
nationalityAmerican
period1980–present
genreChildren's picture books
notableworks{{plainlist
awards
::

| name = David Wiesner | image = David Wiesner 2011.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = Wiesner at the Mazza Museum in 2011 | birth_name = David Wiesner | birth_date = | birth_place = Bridgewater Township, New Jersey | occupation = Illustrator, writer | nationality = American | period = 1980–present | genre = Children's picture books | notableworks = {{plainlist|

David Wiesner (born February 5, 1956) is an American illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books including some that tell stories without words. As an illustrator he has won three Caldecott Medals recognizing the year's "most distinguished American picture book for children" and he was one of five finalists in 2008 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available for creators of children's books.

Life

Wiesner was born and raised in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, and attended Bridgewater-Raritan High School. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration. Wiesner currently resides outside of Philadelphia with his family.

Career

Wiesner's first book was Honest Andrew, a picture book with text by Gloria Skurzynski, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1980. That year he also illustrated a novel by Avi, Man From the Sky (Knopf, 1980). After illustrating a dozen or more books with other writers, he and his wife Kim Kahng co-wrote Loathsome Dragon, a picture book with his illustrations that G.P. Putnam's published in 1987. Since then Wiesner has created many picture books solo—as writer and illustrator, or stories without words. Free Fall (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1988) was a Caldecott Honor Book, a runner-up for the annual Caldecott Medal, conferred by the American Library Association on the illustrator of the year's best-illustrated picture book.

Free Fall was the first example of the predominant style of his solo books, which tell a fantastical, often dream-like story without words, only illustrations. Subsequently he won three Caldecott Medals for solo picture books—Tuesday (1991), The Three Pigs (2001), and Flotsam (2006)—and he was one of the runners-up for Sector 7 (1999) and Mr. Wuffles! (2013).

In January 2017, Wiesner had a retrospective art exhibition entitled David Wiesner & the Art of Wordless Storytelling at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. In the exhibition Wiesner showed his work highlights throughout the years of his career. Zena Sutherland Award --formerly listed in the infobox without explanation or reference; deleted as unworthy there

Works

As writer and illustrator

  • 1987 Loathsome Dragon, retold by Wiesner and Kim Kahng
  • 1988 Free Fall
  • 1990 Hurricane
  • 1991 Tuesday
  • 1992 June 29, 1999
  • 1999 Sector 7
  • 2001 The Three Pigs
  • 2006 Flotsam
  • 2010 Art & Max
  • 2013 Mr. Wuffles!
  • 2017 Fish Girl
  • 2018 I Got It!
  • 2020 Robobaby

As illustrator

Other

References

References

  1. [http://www.davidwiesner.com/article-for-the-horn-book/ Article for the Horn Book], David Wiesner. Accessed September 4, 2019. "A guy walked into my tenth-grade art class at Bridgewater-Raritan high school New Jersey, and changed my life. Sounds like the setup for a classic punch line, but this was no joke. The guy had graduated from my school two years earlier and was now a student at some place called the Rhode Island School of Design. He said it was an art school."
  2. Metzler, Laura. "LibGuides: Caldecott Award Books: All Caldecott Award Winners".
  3. (February 9, 2017). "David Wiesner at SBMA".

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american-children's-writersamerican-children's-book-illustratorsbridgewater-raritan-high-school-alumnicaldecott-medal-winners1956-birthsliving-peoplepeople-from-bridgewater-township,-new-jerseywriters-who-illustrated-their-own-writingcaldecott-honor-winnersrhode-island-school-of-design-alumniwriters-from-somerset-county,-new-jersey