Happy Birthday, Jeanette Winter

Today is the birthday of author and illustrator Jeanette Winter, who was born on October 6, 1938. Winter wrote and illustrated The Librarian of Basra, a nonfiction picture book for 8- to 12-year-olds, about how one determined woman helped save the Basra Central Library's books during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Jeanette Winter has also written and/or illustrated numerous other children's books. Among my favorites are September Roses, a poignant story based on Jeanette Winter's experience a few days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York City and Elsina's Clouds, about a Basotho girl in southern Africa and why and how she paints her family's house.

(Cover art courtesy of Harcourt)