Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.
He had written and/or illustrated over 270 books, including Strega Nona, Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose, Oliver Button Is a Sissy, and 26 Fairmount Avenue. Nearly 25 million copies of his books have been sold.
His newest books are Quiet, Wings, by Cheryl B. Klein, and I WILL TALK TO YOU, LITTLE ONE, by Phyllis E. Grann. FIGHT THE NIGHT, first published in 1968, was published in a new edition this spring as was GOD IS GREAT, GOD IS GOOD, by Sanna Anderson Baker, first published in 1987 (former title: WHO’S A FRIEND OF THE WATER-SPURTING WHALE?).
Tomie dePaola and his work have been recognized with the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, and the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award. The American Library Association honored him with the Caldecott Honor and Newbery Honor awards, and the Children's Literature Legacy Award (called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award until June, 2018) for "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."
Pratt Institute and Georgetown University, among others, have granted him honorary doctoral degrees. Pratt Institute, in 2012, named him "one of the top 125 Pratt icons of all time." In 1999, he was selected for the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.
Tomie dePaola lived in New Hampshire, and worked in a 200-year-old renovated barn. He died on March 30, 2020.