Bonnie Christensen (January 23, 1951 – January 12, 2015), an American author and illustrator, is best known for writing biographies and other illustrated non-fiction books for children and young adults. She was also an accomplished wood engraver and fine artist whose works were shown internationally in both solo and group exhibitions.
She taught fine arts at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont from 1996 - 2008 and writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program from 2011 - 2015.
Bibliography
As author
Sunshine, Moonshine, by Bonnie Christensen and Emily Herder. Onion River Press, March 2024.
As author and illustrator Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King, Henry Holt, 2015 I, Galileo, Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 2012 Plant a Little Seed, Roaring Brook Press, NY, 2012 Fabulous, A Portrait of Andy Warhol, Henry Holt, 2011 Django, World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist, Roaring Brook Press, NY, 2009 Mama Went to Jail for the Vote, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2005 (with Kathleen Karr and Malene Laugesen) GoodReads website, Bonnie Christensen The Daring Nellie Bly, Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 2003 In My Grandmother's House, HarperCollins, NY, 2003 Woody Guthrie, Poet of the People, Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 2001 Rebus Riot!, Dial/Penguin, NY, 1997 An Edible Alphabet, Dial/Penguin, NY, 1994
As illustrator The Princess of Borscht by Leda Schubert. Roaring Brook Press, NY, 2011 Ida B. Wells by Walter Dean Myers. HarperCollins, NY, 2008 Magic in the Margins by W. Nikola-Lisa. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2007 Pompeii, Lost and Found by Mary Pope Osborne. Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 2006 I, Dred Scott by Sheila P. Moses. Simon & Schuster, NY, 2005 Moon Over Tennessee by Craig Crist Evan. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1999 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Folio Society, London, England, England, 1998 Breaking into Print by Stephen Krensky. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1996 Putting the World to Sleep by Shelley Moore Thomas. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1995 Green Mountain Ghosts, Ghouls, and Unsolved Mysteries by Joe Citro. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1994
Awards Christensen received a number of book awards including an American Library Association Schneider Family Book Award (for Django, World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist in 2010), a Kirkus "Best Children's Book of 2006" designation (for her illustrations in Pompeii, Lost and Found in 2006), an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award (for The Daring Nellie Bly in 2004), and a Horn Book-Boston Globe Honor Award, a Parent's Choice Gold Award, a designation of "Best Book Of the Year" by Publishers Weekly, a "Notable Books" designation by the New York Times Book Review, and a New York Book Show Award (for Woody Guthrie, Poet of the People in 2001). Death Christensen died of ovarian cancer on January 12, 2015, aged 63.
External links
Official website for Bonnie Christensen, updated November 2023
Finding aid for the Bonnie Christensen Papers at the University of Connecticut Archives and Special Collections
References