Young, Ed

Imaginative. Powerful. Richly colored. Stunningly beautiful. These are just a few of the ways critics have described Ed Young's illustrations. Winner of the 1990 Caldecott Medal for LON PO PO: A Red Riding Hood Story From China, Ed has illustrated more than forty books for children, four of which he has also written. His book The Emperor and the Kite, written by Jane Yolen, was named a Caldecott Honor Book. Cats Are Cats, a book of poetry compiled by Nancy Larrick, was named one of the Ten Best Illustrated Books of 1988 by the New York Times Book Review.Ed cites the philosophy of Chinese painting as his inspiration. "A Chinese painting is often accompanied by words," he explains. "They are complementary. There are things that words do that pictures never can, and likewise, there are images that words can never describe."Ed was born in Tientsin, China, and grew up in Shanghai, later moving to Hong Kong. He came to the U.S. as a young man on a student visa. In the 1960s, he abandoned a promising career in advertising to look for work that was more expressive. He found what he was searching for in children's books.A graduate of the Los Angeles Art Center, Ed has since taught at Pratt Institute, Yale University, Naropa Institute, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. He lives with his wife in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.