Early life Paul O. Zelinsky was born in
Evanston, Illinois, and grew up in
Wilmette. As a child, he spent much of his time drawing. He would make up imaginary worlds with his friends and draw them. When he was only four, he submitted work to
Highlights magazine, and this is when his artwork was first showcased. Influential early childhood books included
The Color Kittens and
Tawny Scrawny Lion. Regarding his memories of childhood reading, Zelinsky said, "Feelings come to me as a sort of flavor. I know that when I call up my earliest memories, what I remember seeing and hearing is accompanied by a flavor-like sense of what it felt like to be
there and see
that." (This phenomenon is known as
synesthesia.) Later in his childhood, his favorite authors were
William Pène du Bois and
Robert Lawson. He especially loved the books
The Twenty-One Balloons by Du Bois, and
The Fabulous Flight by Lawson.
Career At
New Trier High School, Zelinsky was interested in natural history and architecture and saw himself following one of those paths for a career. However, he went to study at
Yale. He took a class taught by
Maurice Sendak on the history and art of children's books, and it inspired him to a career in the area. Zelinsky attended the
Tyler School of Art graduate school in
Philadelphia and
Rome. Renaissance and Italian art have always fascinated him, and this time in his life also influenced this love. His career in children's books began in 1978 with the illustrations for
Avi's ''Emily Upham's Revenge''. Since then, he has continued illustrating others' work and creating his own books. He won the 1998
Caldecott Medal for his illustrated retelling of
Rapunzel and three
Caldecott Honors (for
Hansel and Gretel (1985),
Rumpelstiltskin (1987), and
Swamp Angel (1995)). His most popular book,
Wheels On the Bus, has sold millions. ==Artistic style==