Bio

The American author or illustrator of nearly 100 children's books, Arnold Stark Lobel is best remembered for his classic series of Frog and Toad books: Frog and Toad Are Friends (1970), Frog and Toad Together (1972), Frog and Toad All Year (1976), and Days with Frog and Toad (1979).

Using engaging stories and interesting vocabulary to explore the meaning of friendship, Lobel significantly loosened the traditional early-reader format. Appealing animals populate most of his books, including A Zoo for Mister Muster (1962) and Fables (1980), which won the Caldecott Medal. He also wrote poetry (Whiskers and Rhymes, 1986), folktales (Ming Lo Moves the Mountain, 1982), and nonsense books (The Book of Pigericks, 1984).

With his wife, Anita Lobel, also a children's book writer and illustrator, he collaborated on several books, including How the Rooster Saved the Day (1977), A Treeful of Pigs (1979), and The Rose in My Garden (1984). He also illustrated The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (1983) and The Random House Book of Mother Goose (1986).

This biography was written for Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. For more information on this online reference, visit Grolier Online.