Arnold Lobel

Hello, my name is Arnold Lobel, and I was a storyteller who loved to use both pictures and words to share my imagination with the world. I was born on May 22nd, 1933, in a town called Schenectady, New York. When I was a young boy, I was often sick and had to spend a lot of time by myself. It was during those quiet hours that I discovered a wonderful secret: I could create entire worlds with just a pencil and a piece of paper. I would draw for hours, making up stories to go along with my pictures. This became my favorite way to pass the time. When I was in second grade, I found that my stories could do more than just entertain me; they could also help me connect with others. I started sharing my drawings and tales with my classmates, and soon, the kids who had once seen me as the quiet, sick boy began to see me as a friend. That experience was very important to me because it was the first time I understood the true power of imagination to bring people together.

As I grew older, my love for art never faded. In the early 1950s, I moved to the big, bustling city of Brooklyn, New York, to attend a special art school called the Pratt Institute. It was an incredibly exciting time. The city was overflowing with artists, and I felt like I had finally found my place in the world, surrounded by people who were just as passionate about creating as I was. It was at Pratt that I met another talented artist named Anita Kempler. We fell in love and were married in 1955. Together, we started our family, and I began to build my career. At first, I worked as an illustrator, drawing pictures for books that other people had written. But I dreamed of telling my own stories. In 1962, that dream came true when I published my very own book, 'A Zoo for Mister Muster.' It was the beginning of a long and wonderful journey of writing and illustrating for children.

Of all the characters I ever created, two are especially dear to my heart: Frog and Toad. In many ways, they were really just two different sides of my own personality. Frog was the cheerful, helpful, and optimistic one, always ready for an adventure. Toad, on the other hand, was often worried, a bit grumpy, and preferred the comfort of his home. I think many of us have a little bit of Frog and a little bit of Toad inside us. In 1970, I introduced them to the world in a book called 'Frog and Toad Are Friends.' The following year, in 1971, the book was given a very special award called a Caldecott Honor for its illustrations. I continued their adventures in other books, like 'Frog and Toad Together,' which won another important award, a Newbery Honor, in 1973. Through their simple stories about flying kites, looking for lost buttons, and eating too many cookies, I wanted to celebrate the small, everyday moments that make a friendship deep and true.

While Frog and Toad became my most famous friends, I loved creating other worlds and characters, too. I wrote about the clever characters in 'Mouse Soup' and the gentle, sometimes silly bird in 'Owl at Home.' But a project that brought me immense pride was a book called 'Fables,' which I wrote and illustrated, and it was published in 1980. This book was a collection of my own original fables—short, funny stories that each had an important lesson, much like the classic fables I had loved reading as a child. The following year, in 1981, 'Fables' received the Caldecott Medal, which is the highest honor an American illustrator can receive for a picture book. It was an incredible moment for me, as it recognized my work as both a writer and an artist. It felt like a wonderful achievement to have created a book that could make children laugh while also making them think.

Over the course of my life, I had the great joy of creating nearly 100 books for children. My work was my passion, and I filled my days with drawing stories about friendship, courage, and what it means to be yourself. After a life dedicated to my art, I became very ill. I lived to be 54 years old and passed away in 1987. Even though I am no longer here, my stories live on. I hope that when you read about Frog and Toad, you see that true friends accept each other exactly as they are, flaws and all. And I hope their stories remind you that even when you feel a little worried like Toad, there is always a friend like Frog nearby, ready to help you see the sunshine.