Tomie dePaola: Children's Author and Illustrator Career

Introduction

One of 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's book 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 spanning over forty years, during which he illustrated nearly 250 books and wrote the stories for 100 of them. These 250 books have generated total sales of 150 million volumes worldwide.

Early Life and Education

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 advent of television, he grew up reading books and exercising his creativity. His interest in and love for literature developed at an early age. His mother initiated this love by reading to him every day, and by age four dePaola had expressed 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.

After graduating from high school, dePaola attended the Pratt Institute in New York, where he further developed the skills he had been working on since his youth. Receiving professional training for the first time in his life, he graduated from the Institute in 1956 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. For a brief period, dePaola considered a career as a Benedictine monk and actually entered the Order's Weston Priory in Vermont for a few months. Having decided that monastic life was not for him, he left for the West Coast, where he worked a number of odd jobs while weighing his career options.

While pursuing advanced degrees, dePaola 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 Master of Fine Arts degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1969, dePaola returned to his roots and relocated to the New England area, where he secured a teaching position at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire.

Career Beginnings and the Creation of Strega Nona

It was during his tenure at Colby-Sawyer College that dePaola's writing skills began to attract attention, and where one of his most well-known characters, Strega Nona, was created. While sitting in the back of a faculty meeting, dePaola was found doodling, and those doodles — with some minor refinements — developed into Strega Nona. He used the character in a book by the same name, which became an instant success in children's bookstores and sparked the beginning of his career as a professional writer and illustrator. The character Strega Nona subsequently appeared in a number of dePaola's other books as well.

Works Cited

Elleman, Barbara. Tomie dePaola: His Art & His Stories. New York: Putnam Juvenile, 1999.

Mehegan, David. "He Simply Knows His Audience: Tomie dePaola Writes (and Writes) for Kids, Not for Acclaim." Boston.com, 10 December 2007.