“It is the duty of the publisher to encourage not only the authors whom we publish, but anyone who has some spark that burns underneath.” Zolotow said in a speech in Los Angeles in 1986. “Love and passion are a large part of being an editor,” Mrs. There, she edited several authors of children’s and young adult works, including Mary Rodgers, Barbara Dana, Paul Fleischman, sportswriter Robert Lipsyte and actor Alan Arkin. Zolotow attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she studied the works of Swiss child psychologist Jean Piaget and continued writing.īut professionally, she first worked on the publishing side of the business, joining Harper & Brothers (later Harper & Row) in 1938. “I loved the idea of not only expressing myself in words but, because I was very shy in conversation, reaching other people through my writing,” she said.
Her mother said the dog had run away, causing the girl much anguish, and only later did she learn the truth. In elementary school she was given a dog she described as her “closest friend,” but during a move her parents secretly gave the pet away because they felt it could make it difficult to find an apartment. Zolotow’s Web site as “not a good businessman,” and the family moved several times during her childhood.Īs a girl, she had to deal with a number of physical problems - including curvature of the spine that required her to wear a back brace - that made her feel apart from other children. Her father owned several businesses but is described on Mrs. “The boy asks, ‘Why does the day end?’ ” Dragonwagon said, “and his mother tells him that it doesn’t end, it goes on to become day somewhere else.”Ĭharlotte Gertrude Shapiro was born June 26, 1915, in Norfolk, Va. Zolotow’s last published books was 1997’s “Who Is Ben?” about a boy asking questions about his existence. No cause was provided.Ĭharlotte Zolotow in 1986. 19 at her home in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., said her daughter, author Crescent Dragonwagon. “Children have the same emotions as adults, though they experience them more intensely,” she is quoted as saying on a Web site dedicated to her work, “since they haven’t yet learned the protective camouflage with which we adults disguise our feelings.” The author, who had a difficult, troubled upbringing, firmly believed that it was unhealthy for children’s feelings toward sadness to be discounted or, even worse, ignored. Zolotow approached these topics and many more in a gentle, reassuring manner.
“My Grandson Lew” is about a boy struggling with the death of his grandfather “The Old Dog” concerns the loss of a beloved pet “The Hating Book” deals with anger toward a friend and “William’s Doll” is about a boy who is bullied because he wants a doll. The more than 70 children’s books by Charlotte Zolotow are not, in many cases, escapist, fantasy fare.
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