Today (2/11) is Jane Yolen’s birthday.
If you don’t know Jane Yolen, you should. Newsweek called her “the Hans Christian Anderson of American children’s literature.” However, I have to admit something: I first encountered her as writer of fantasy and science fiction, for adults.
It was only later that I learned of her YA classics, like The Devil’s Arithmetic, in which a teenager from modern times travels back in time to experience the Holocaust in person. And it was later still that I learned of Jane Yolen’s picture books. Wait, make that many, many, many picture books: the books page on her website goes on for 42 pages, and apparently she’s published more than 400 books overall.
So, don’t know Jane? You should. And tell her happy birthday!
