Elizabeth Orton Jones facts for kids

Elizabeth Orton Jones (born June 25, 1910 – died May 10, 2005) was an American artist who drew pictures for books and wrote stories, mostly for children. She was very talented and won a special award called the Caldecott Medal in 1945 for her amazing drawings in the book Prayer for a Child. A year before that, another one of her illustrated books was also recognized as a runner-up for the same award.

Her Life Story

Growing Up

Elizabeth was born in Highland Park, Illinois. Her dad, George Roberts Jones, played the violin, and her mom, Jessie May Orton, played the piano and was a writer. Elizabeth had a younger brother and sister. When she was little, two girls from Bohemia (a region in Europe) worked in her home. They were the cook and the nurse. They brought new ideas and ways of life into the house, which helped Elizabeth become more artistic.

Elizabeth and her siblings loved to use their imaginations. Elizabeth would pretend to teach her dolls lessons. She even read the entire Bible by herself! She also worked with her brother and sister to create their own secret "Beagle Language," named after one of their pets.

Elizabeth's great-grandfather, Joseph Russell Jones, was a friend of President Abraham Lincoln. He even served as a minister (like an ambassador) to Belgium under President Ulysses S. Grant. Her grandmother was a professional pianist, and her grandfather owned a bookstore.

Her Education

In high school, Elizabeth won the "Silver Cup for English Composition." In 1932, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. After that, she went to France to study art. She attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau and also studied in Paris at the Académie Colarossi. She even learned from a famous artist named Camille Liausu.

When she came back to the United States, she had a special art show at the Smithsonian Institution. She displayed colorful etchings (a type of printmaking) of French children, which she called the "Four Seasons." She also spent time studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Her Work as an Artist

After her time in Paris, Elizabeth started writing and drawing her first book, Ragman of Paris and His Ragamuffins (1937). This book was inspired by her experiences in France. Other books she created also showed parts of her life. For example, Maninka's Children was influenced by the Bohemian girls she knew when she was young.

Her home in Mason, New Hampshire became the model for her drawings in the Little Red Riding Hood book published by Little Golden Books. Her book Big Susan showed how much she loved dolls.

Elizabeth's work was also greatly influenced by Horn Book Magazine, a magazine about children's books. Her friend, Bertha Mahony Miller, who was an editor for Horn Book, would often call Elizabeth with ideas for new stories.

One of the books she illustrated, Small Rain: Verses from the Bible, was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 1944. This means it was a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal. The next year, in 1945, her illustrations for Prayer for a Child (written by Rachel Field) won the actual Caldecott Medal. This award celebrates the "most distinguished picture book for children" published in the U.S. that year.

In her speech when she accepted the Caldecott Medal, she said:

Drawing is very like a prayer. Drawing is a reaching for something away beyond you. As you sit down to work in the morning, you feel as if you were on top of a hill. And it is as if you were seeing for the first time. You take your pencil in hand. You'd like to draw what you see. And so you begin. You try ... . Every child in the world has a hill, with a top to it. Every child-black, white, rich, poor, handicapped, unhandicapped. And singing is what the top of each hill is for. Singing-drawing-thinking-dreaming-sitting in silence ... saying a prayer. I should like every child in the world to know that he has a hill, that that hill is his no matter what happens, his and his only, forever.

Later Years

In 1945, Elizabeth visited New Hampshire for a business trip. She loved the beautiful scenery so much that she moved to Mason soon after. Elizabeth became a very respected person in Mason. She helped collect and save the town's history in a book she edited called Mason Bicentennial, 1768-1968.

In Mason, people knew her by the nickname "Twig". This was the name of the main character from one of her books. Many people in Mason didn't even know her real name!

Elizabeth Orton Jones passed away on May 10, 2005, at Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, New Hampshire, after a short illness. On June 25, 2005, the Mason Public Library renamed its children's room the "Twig Room" to honor her. You can find a scrapbook of "Twig" memories there.

One of "Twig's" biggest achievements was her strong support for a local summer children's theater called Andy's Summer Playhouse. For the last 40 years of her life, she gave artistic advice and guidance to many children in the community who participated in the Playhouse.

Her Books

Books She Wrote and Illustrated

• Ragman of Paris and His Ragamuffins, Oxford University Press, 1937.
• Minnie the Mermaid (with Thomas Orton Jones), Oxford University Press, 1939.
• Maminka’s Children, Macmillan, 1940.
• Twig, Macmillan, 1942.
• Big Susan, Macmillan, 1947.
• Little Red Riding Hood (reteller), Simon & Schuster, 1948.
• How Far Is It to Bethlehem?, Horn Book, 1955.

Children's Books She Illustrated for Others

• Bible, David, Macmillan, 1937.
• Adshead, Gladys L., Brownies—Hush!, Oxford University Press, 1938.
• Meigs, Cornelia Lynde, Scarlet Oak, Macmillan, 1938.
• Association for Childhood Education, Told under the Magic Umbrella: Modern Fanciful Stories for Young Children, Macmillan, 1939.
• Hunt, Mabel Leigh, Peddler’s Clock, Grosset, 1943.
• Jones, Jessie Mae, editor, Small Rain: Verses from the Bible, Viking, 1943.
• Field, Rachel, Prayers for a Child, Macmillan, 1944.
• Adshead, Gladys L., What Miranda Knew, New York, Oxford University Press, 1944.
• Farjeon, Eleanor, Prayer for Little Things, Houghton, 1945.
• Jones, Jessie Orton, Secrets, New York, Viking, 1945.
• Jones, Jessie Mae, Little Child—The Christmas Miracle Told in Bible Verses, New York, Viking, 1946.
• Jones, Jessie Mae, editor, This Is the Way: Prayers and Precepts from World Religions, Viking, 1951.
• St. Francis of Assisi, Song of the Sun, Macmillan, 1952.
• Thurman, Howard, Deep River, Harper, 1955.
• Bridgman, Elizabeth, Lullaby for Eggs, Macmillan, 1955.
• Trent, Robbie, To Church We Go, Follett, 1956.