Dillon, Leo 1933-

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Dillon, Leo 1933-

Personal

Born March 2, 1933, in Brooklyn, NY; son of Lionel J. (owner of a truck business) and Marie (a dressmaker) Dillon; married Diane Sorber (an artist and illustrator), March 17, 1957; children: Lionel ("Lee"). Education: Attended Parsons School of Design, 1953, 1956; also attended School of Visual Arts, 1958.

Addresses

Home—Brooklyn, NY.

Career

Artist and illustrator. Dave Fris Advertising Agency, Albany, NY, staff artist, 1956-57; freelance artist and illustrator, 1957—; instructor, School of Visual Arts, 1971-74. Exhibitions: Gallery on the Green, Boston, MA; Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY; Boulder Center for the Visual Arts, Boulder, CO; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington; Bratislava Book Show, Bratislava, Slovakia; American Institute of Graphic Arts, New York, NY; Art Directors Club of New York; Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY; New York Historical Society; Earthlight Gallery, Boston; The Pentagon, Washington, DC; Delaware Museum, Washington, DC; Society of Illustrators, NY. Artist of stained-glass ceiling in Eagle Gallery, New York, NY.

Member

Society of Illustrators, Graphic Artists Guild.

Awards, Honors

All with wife, Diane Dillon: Children's Spring Book Festival Honor Book designation, New York Herald Tribune, 1963, for Hakon of Rogen's Saga; certificates of merit, Society of Illustrators, 1968-77; Children's Book of the Year designation, Child Study Association, 1968, for Dark Venture, 1971, for The Untold Tale, 1973, for Behind the Back of the Mountain, 1974, for Burning Star and Songs and Stories from Uganda, 1975, for The Hundred Penny Box, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, and Song of the Boat, 1976, for Ashanti to Zulu, and 1986, for Brother to the Wind; Hugo Award, International Science Fiction Association, 1971; Outstanding Book of the Year citation, New York Times, 1975, for Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears and The Hundred Penny Box, and 1990, for The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks; Newbery Honor Book designation, 1996, for The Hundred Penny Box; Caldecott Medal, American Library Association (ALA), 1976, for Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, and 1977, for Ashanti to Zulu; Best Illustrated Children's Book designation, New York Times, 1976, for Ashanti to Zulu, and 1985, for The People Could Fly; Illustration Honor, Boston Globe/ Horn Book Awards, 1976, for Song of the Boat, and 1977, for Ashanti to Zulu; Hamilton King Award, Society of Illustrators, 1977, for Ashanti to Zulu; Art Books for Children citation, Brooklyn Museum/Brooklyn Public Library, 1977, for Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears; Highly Commended designation, Hans Christian Andersen Medal, International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), 1978; Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, 1978, for Who's in Rabbit's House?; Balrog Award, 1982, for lifetime contribution to sci-fi/fantasy art; honor list for illustration, IBBY, and honorable mention, Coretta Scott King Award, ALA, both 1986, both for The People Could Fly; Coretta Scott King Award for illustration, 1991, for Aïda, and 1996, for Her Stories; Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for illustration, 1991, for The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks; Chesley Award, 1997; inducted into Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, 1997; Best Books designation, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal, both 1998, both for To Every Thing There Is a Season; Virginia Hamilton Literary Award for body of work, 2002; Coretta Scott King Honor Book designation, 2005, for The People Could Fly, and 2008, for Jazz on a Saturday Night; Knickerbocker Award for body of work, New York Library Association, 2006; honorary D.F.A., Montserrat School of Art, 2006; Life Achievement Award, World Fantasy Convention, 2008.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED; WITH WIFE DIANE DILLON

Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles—Think of That!, Blue Sky Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Jazz on a Saturday Night, Blue Sky Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Mother Goose: Numbers on the Loose, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2007.

ILLUSTRATOR; WITH DIANE DILLON

Erik C. Haugaard, Hakon of Rogen's Saga, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1963.

Erik C. Haugaard, A Slave's Tale, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1965.

Basil Davidson and the editors of Time-Life, African Kingdoms, Time-Life Books (New York, NY), 1966.

Sorche Nic Leodhas (pseudonym of Leclair G. Alger), Claymore and Kilt: Tales of Scottish Kings and Castles, Holt (New York, NY), 1967.

F.M. Pilkington, Shamrock and Spear: Tales and Legends from Ireland, Holt (New York, NY), 1968.

Erik C. Haugaard, The Rider and His Horse, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1968.

Audrey W. Beyer, Dark Venture, Knopf (New York, NY), 1968.

Frederick Laing, Why Heimdall Blew His Horn: Tale of the Norse Gods, Silver Burdett, 1969.

John Bierhorst and Henry R. Schoolcraft, editors, The Ring in the Prairie: A Shawnee Legend, Dial (New York, NY), 1970.

Alta Jablow, Gassire's Lute: A West African Epic, Dutton (New York, NY), 1971.

Alma Murray and Robert Thomas, editors, The Search, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1971.

Erik C. Haugaard, The Untold Tale, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1971.

Verna Aardema, Behind the Back of the Mountain: Black Folktales from Southern Africa, Dial (New York, NY), 1973.

Eth Clifford (pseudonym of Ethel C. Rosenberg), Burning Star, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1974.

W. Moses Serwadda, Songs and Stories from Uganda, Crowell, 1974.

Jan Carew, The Third Gift, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1974.

Natalie Belting, Whirlwind Is a Ghost Dancing, Dutton (New York, NY), 1974.

Lorenz Graham, Song of the Boat, Crowell, 1975.

Harlan Ellison, editor, Dangerous Visions, New American Library (New York, NY), 1975.

Sharon Bell Mathis, The Hundred Penny Box, Viking (New York, NY), 1975, reprinted, Puffin (New York, NY), 2006.

Verna Aardema, reteller, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale, Dial (New York, NY), 1975.

Margaret W. Musgrove, Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions, Dial (New York, NY), 1976.

Verna Aardema, reteller, Who's in Rabbit's House?: A Masai Tale, Dial (New York, NY), 1977.

Eloise Greenfield, Honey, I Love: And Other Love Poems, Crowell, 1978.

Frederick Laing, Tales from Scandinavia, Silver Burdett, 1979.

P.L. Travers, Two Pairs of Shoes, Viking (New York, NY), 1980.

Jan Carew, Children of the Sun, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1980.

Dorothy S. Strickland, editor, Listen Children: An Anthology of Black Literature, Bantam (New York, NY), 1982.

Mildred Pitts Walter, Brother to the Wind, Lothrop, 1985.

Virginia Hamilton, reteller, The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales, Knopf (New York, NY), 1985, adapted as The People Could Fly: The Picture Book, Knopf (New York, NY), 2004.

Michael Patrick Hearn, The Porcelain Cat, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1987, reprinted, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

Barbara A. Brenner, The Color Wizard: Level 1, Bantam (New York, NY), 1989.

Alice Bach and J. Cheryl Exum, Moses' Ark: Stories from the Bible, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1989.

Leontyne Price, editor, Aida: A Picture Book for All Ages, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1990.

Katherine Paterson, The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks, Dutton (New York, NY), 1990.

Alice Bach and J. Cheryl Exum, Miriam's Well: Stories about Women in the Bible, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1991.

Claire Martin, The Race of the Golden Apples, Dial (New York, NY), 1991.

Nancy Willard, Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1991.

Nancy White Carlstrom, Northern Lullaby, Putnam (New York, NY), 1992.

Nancy Willard, (edited by Leo D. Dillon) The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Virginia Hamilton, Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom, Knopf (New York, NY), 1993.

Ray Bradbury, Switch on the Night, Knopf (New York, NY), 1993.

N.N. Charles, What Am I?: Looking through Shapes at Apples and Grapes, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1994.

Virginia Hamilton, Her Stories: African-American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1995.

Howard Norman, The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese, and Other Tales of the Far North, Harcourt Brace (New York, NY), 1997.

To Every Thing There Is a Season: Verses from Ecclesiastes, Blue Sky Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy, Wind Child, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

Virginia Hamilton, The Girl Who Spun Gold, Blue Sky Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, translated by Anthony Bonner, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

Sylvia Louise Engdahl, Enchantress from the Stars, foreword by Lois Lowry, Walker (New York, NY), 2001.

Margaret Wise Brown, Two Little Trains, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Khephra Burns, Mansa Musa: The Lion of Mali, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 2001.

John Herman, One Winter's Night, Philomel (New York, NY), 2003.

Howard Norman, Between Heaven and Earth: Bird Tales from around the World, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2004.

Margaret Wise Brown, Where Have You Been?, new edition, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Ellen Jackson, Earth Mother, Walker & Company (New York, NY), 2005.

Rob D. Walker, Mama Says, Blue Sky Press (New York, NY), 2008.

Mem Fox, The Night Goblin, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2009.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, The Secret River, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2009.

Contributor to books, including Mitsumasa Anno, compiler, All in a Day, Dowanya (Japan), 1986; Once upon a Time: Celebrating the Magic of Children's Books in Honor of the Twentieth Anniversary of Reading Is Fundamental, Putnam, 1986; and On the Wings of Peace: Writers and Illustrators Speak out for Peace, in Memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995. Contributor of illustrations to periodicals, including Ladies' Home Journal, Saturday Evening Post, and Washington Post.

Work included in the Kerlan Collection, University of Minnesota.

Adaptations

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears was adapted as a filmstrip with audiocassette and as a motion picture, Weston Woods, 1977; Ashanti to Zulu was adapted as a filmstrip with audiocassette, Weston Woods, 1977; Brother to the Wind was adapted as a filmstrip with audiocassette, Weston Woods, 1988; The People Could Fly was released on audiocassette, Knopf, 1988; The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks was produced on video cassette by Weston Woods, 1998; Rap a Tap Tap was adapted for audiobook by Live Oak Media, 2005.

Sidelights

For Sidelights essay on Leo Dillon, please see entry on Diane Dillon, elsewhere in this volume.

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

The Art of Leo and Diane Dillon, edited by Byron Preiss, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1981.

Children's Literature Review, Volume 44, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1997, pp. 17-49.

Newbery and Caldecott Medalists and Honor Book Winners, compiled by Jim Roginski, Libraries Unlimited, 1982.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 15, 1992, Ilene Cooper, review of Northern Lullaby, p. 1834; December 1, 1992, Hazel Rochman, review of Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom, p. 665; November 1, 1993, Hazel Rochman, review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, p. 529; November 15, 1994, Carolyn Phelan, review of What Am I? Looking through Shapes at Apples and Grapes, p. 605; November 1, 1995, Hazel Rochman, review of Her Stories: African-American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales, p. 470; September 15, 1997, Karen Morgan, review of The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese, and Other Stories of the Far North, p. 233; October 1, 1998, Ilene Cooper, review of To Everything There Is a Season: Verses from Ecclesiastes, p. 344; August, 2000, Hazel Rochman, review of The Girl Who Spun Gold, p. 2134; April 15, 2001, Carolyn Phelan, review of Two Little Trains, p. 1550; December 1, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of Mansa Musa: The Lion of Mali, p. 642; October 15, 2002, Ilene Cooper, review of Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles—Think of That!, p. 406; September 14, 2003, Julie Cummins, review of One Winter's Night, p. 245; May 1, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Where Have You Been?, p. 156; August, 2005, Karin Snelson, review of Earth Mother, p. 2023; September 1, 2007, John Peters, review of Mother Goose: Numbers on the Loose, p. 122; September 15, 2007, Bill Ott, review of Jazz on a Saturday Night, p. 62.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November, 1998, Janice M. Del Negro, review of To Every Thing There Is a Season, p. 89; December, 2002, review of Rap a Tap Tap, p. 151.

Horn Book, August, 1976, Phyllis J. Fogelman, "Leo and Diane Dillon," pp. 378-383, and Diane and Leo Dillon, "Caldecott Award Acceptance"; August, 1977, Diane and Leo Dillon, "Caldecott Award Acceptance," Leo Dillon, "Diane Dillon," pp. 422-423, and Diane Dillon, "Leo Dillon," pp. 423-425; September-October, 1993, Hanna B. Zeiger, review of Many Thousands Gone, p. 621; March-April, 1994, Nancy Vasilakis, review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, p. 193; January-February, 1996, Maria B. Salvadore, review of Her Stories, pp. 81-82; September-October, 1998, Roger Sutton, review of To Every Thing There Is a Season, pp. 619-620; November-December, 2001, Anita L. Burkam, review of Mansa Musa, p. 733; September-October, 2007, Robin Smith, review of Jazz on a Saturday Night, p. 559; November-December, 2007, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Mother Goose, p. 691.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1998, review of To Every Thing There Is a Season, p. 1383; May 1, 2002, review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, p. 655; August 1, 2002, review of Rap a Tap Tap, p. 1126; September 1, 2007, reviews of Jazz on a Saturday Night and Mother Goose.

New York Times Book Review, November 8, 1987, Patricia MacLachlan, review of The Porcelain Cat, p. 50; November 15, 1998, Valerie Sayers, review of To Every Thing There Is a Season, p. 55.

Publishers Weekly, June 28, 1991, review of The Race of the Golden Apples, p. 101; August 8, 1994, review of What Am I Looking For? p. 428; November 13, 1995, review of The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks, p. 60; July 27, 1998, review of To Everything There Is a Season, p. 76; July 31, 2000, review of The Girl Who Spun Gold, p. 95; October 22, 2001, review of Mansa Musa, p. 74; August 12, 2002, review of Rap a Tap Tap, p. 299; August 6, 2007, review of Jazz on a Saturday Night, p. 187; October 8, 2007, review of Mother Goose, p. 51.

School Library Journal, November, 1987, Patricia Dooley, review of The Porcelain Cat, p. 90; October, 1990, Kay Vandergrift, review of The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks, p. 111; January, 1992, Patricia Dooley, review of Miriam's Well: Stories about Women in the Bible, p. 118; May, 1993, Lyn Miller-Lachmann, review of Many Thousand Gone, p. 116; January, 1994, Patricia Dooley, review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, pp. 116-117; September, 1998, Patricia Pearl Dole, review of To Every Thing There Is a Season, p. 198; September, 2000, Carol Ann Wilson, review of The Girl Who Spun Gold, p. 217; September, 2002, Wendy Lukehart, review of Rap a Tap Tap, p. 189; June, 2004, Sophie R. Brookover, review of Where Have You Been?, p. 103; September, 2007, Joyce Adams Burner, review of Jazz on a Saturday Night, p. 162.