The Unfriendly Book

Charlotte Zolotow was born Charlotte Gertrude Shapiro on June 26, 1915 in Norfolk, Virginia. She studied at the University of Wisconsin, where she took classes in art, writing and child psychology. She began her publishing career in New York, in the adult trade-book division of what is now known as HarperCollins, but eventually took a job in the children's division. As an editor, she presided over her own imprint, Charlotte Zolotow Books. She was named publisher emerita at HarperCollins in 1991.

Her first picture book, The Park Book, was published in 1944. During her lifetime, she wrote more than 90 children's books including Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, My Grandson Lew, William's Doll, The Hating Book, and The Seashore Book. In 1998, the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) at the Univeristy of Wisconsin - Madison's School of Education established the Charlotte Zolotow Award, which is an American literary award presented annually for outstanding picture book writing published in the United States in the preceding year. Zolotow died on November 19, 2013 at the age of 98.

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