An author study of Tomie DePaola

¶ … America's most prolific writers is largely unknown outside his genre: children's books. Tomie dePaola is one of the nation's most popular children books writers and that fact alone distinguishes him but the fact that he is also one of the country's best illustrators makes his career even more remarkable. Tomie dePaola has had a long, interesting, and successful career that spans over forty years in which he has illustrated almost 250 books and written the story for 100 of them. These 250 books have generated total sales of 150 million volumes worldwide.

Tomie dePaola was born in Meriden, Connecticut in 1934 as one of four children in a multi-ethnic family (Elleman). Having been born during the middle of the Great Depression and before the birth of television he grew up reading books and being creative. His interest and love for literature developed at an early age. His mother initiated this love by reading to him every day and by age 4 dePaola had professed a desire to become a writer and illustrator. This dream was fostered through his active participation in artistic and musical activities in his neighborhood community where he never failed to take advantage of an opportunity to display his talents for writing and drawing.

Subsequent to his graduation from high school dePaola attended the Pratt Institute in New York where he further developed the skills that he had been working on since his youth. Being afforded the opportunity for the first time in his life to receive professional training, Pratt developed his skills even further and graduated from the Institute in 1956 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. For a brief period, dePaola decided to pursue a possible career as a Benedictine Monk and actually entered the Order's Vermont Weston Priory for a few months. Having decided that that monastic life was not for him, he left for the West Coast where he worked at a number of odd jobs while deciding on his career options. While pursuing his advanced degrees, dePaola he taught art at Newton College of the Sacred Heart and the San Francisco College for Women but he maintained his interest in religion by creating liturgical art for several churches. After receiving his Masters Degree of Fine Arts from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1969, dePaola returned to his roots and relocated to the New England area where he procured a position teaching at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire.

In was during his tenure at Colby-Sawyer College that dePaola's writing skills began to be noticed and where one of his most well-known characters, Strega Nona, was created. While sitting in the rear of a faculty meeting dePaola was discovered doodling and this doodling, with some minor refinements, developed into Strega Nona. Tomie dePaola used his Strega Nona character in a book by the same name. The book became an instant success in children's bookstores and sparked the beginning of dePaola's career as a writer and illustrator. The character Strega Nona was included in an number of dePaola's other books as well.

Although he has been well-published and received honorary degrees and other honors he has never been able to reach the upper echelons of the literary community. The biggest book awards in children's literature, the Randolph Caldecott Medal for Illustration, the John Newberry Medal for writing, or the National Book Award have never been awarded to him. Additionally, although he has sold millions of books and enjoys popularity with children, he is not without his critics. The primary focus of his critics is that his work is not that creative. These individuals feel that his stories do not address new issues or handle old issues in a new manner. On the other hand there are a great number of persons who see his work as doing a good job of making complicated human issues easier for young children to understand (Mehegan). Similarly, he takes the same approach in his illustrations where he creates characters that are easily recognized by children. Proponents of his books point out that he does a remarkable job of avoiding sexual stereotyping in his stories which may not be understood by his young readers but is appreciated by their parents.