Updates on the Alma Powell Branch Library can be found on kpl.gov/pow

Remembering Award-winning Children’s Author and Illustrator Steve Jenkins

Award-winning children’s author and illustrator Steve Jenkins, widely praised for his distinctive and detailed cut- and torn-paper collages depicting animals and the natural world, has died at age 69.

The first book Jenkins both wrote and illustrated was Duck’s Breath and Mouse Pie: A Collection of Animal Superstitions. He continued to hone his signature cut-and-torn-paperAuthor Steve Jenkins and his wife Robin Page collage artwork and received accolades for his inventive use of color, texture, scale, and perspective in his images, as well as his talent for distilling scientific facts and concepts into language accessible to young readers. Page was a frequent collaborator. Jenkin’s wife, Robin Page partnered to produce 2001’s Animals in Flight, a look at various types of animal wings and the mechanics of how creatures fly. Their book What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? received a 2004 Caldecott Honor.

In all, Jenkins created more than 80 books for young readers. Though it’s a profession he came to by serendipity, it proved a perfect fit. “For me, making children’s books represents the happy intersection of children, science, art, my design partnership with Robin, and my lifelong love of reading,” he said in a SATA interview.

KPL has created a collection in Jenkin’s honor.

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