Jerry Pinkney (see booklist) is an American children's book illustrator noted for his illustration of African-American stories. His father was a carpenter and his mother, a home-maker. Pinkney was the fourth of six children. He has, in turn, become the patriarch of an artistic family with his wife (an author), son (illustrator), son (photography illustrating children's books), and daughter-in-law (children's book author) all pursuing careers in art, writing, or illustration; sometimes in collaboration with Jerry Pinkney and sometimes on their own.
Pinkney had an average academic career in school but found that he had a real talent for drawing for which he found good use. In fact, as he relates in Junior Authors and Illustrators, his drawing led to a pivotal event in his childhood:
I worked at a local newspaper stand and always took along my sketch pad and pencils to draw the store display windows and the people passing by. One day, the cartoonist John Liney saw me drawing and invited me to his studio. He gave me supplies and introduced me to the possibility of making a living at drawing and inspired me as a young artist.
Graduating high school, Pinkney briefly attended Dobbins Vocational School where he met his future wife, Gloria Maultsby. Obtaining a scholarship, Pinkey then attended the Philadelphia Museum College of Art.
Pinkney began his career, using his drawing talents and skills, by taking a position in Boston with the Rustcraft Greeting Card Company. From there he moved to Barker-Black Studio working as an illustrator and it was here that, in 1966, he illustrated his first children's book, an African folktale, The Adventures of Spider by Joyce Arkhurst.
He subsequently left Barker-Black and formed an independent studio, Kaleidoscope Studio, with a number of friends. In 1971, however, he struck out on his own, moving his wife and four children to Croton-on-Hudson near New York City. Initially he focused on profitable work in the advertising industry but through the 1970's he spent more and more time illustrating books. In addition he also produced posters and calendars, illustrated magazine articles, and stamps for the US government. By the mid-1980's he was also working as a visiting art professor at various universities.
Pinkney's art work usually consists of energetic water colors with a fairly muted palette. His approach is to research a book, its setting, the historical period, etc and then to produce in outline some initial sketches. Reviewing these initial sketches with the author and publisher he then produces a more finished set of sketches and colors following the flow of the story before he then produces a final set of illustrations. He illustrated the Newbery Medal winner of 1977, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. He has also won three Caldecott Honor awards (for John Henry, Mirandy and Brother Wind, and for The Talking Eggs); five Coretta Scott King illustrator awards (Goin' Someplace Special, Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman, Mirandy and Brother Wind, Half a Moon and One Whole Star, and The Patchwork Quilt) and three honor awards for the illustrations of various books (God Bless the Child, The Talking Eggs, and Count on Your Fingers African Style).
In writing about Pinkney, it is difficult to circumvent an issue that attaches to much of modern children's literature of the past twenty or thirty years. That is the issue of agenda-driven didactic books, not written so much to entertain children as to instruct them or to advance a particular view; social, political, or otherwise. While a very few of these books do rise to the level of entertainment, it does call to mind Dr. Johnson's remark about a dog walking on its hind legs: "It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."
I would hope it to not be a controversial position to suggest that it is natural for any parent to desire to have books which reinforce a particular world view to their children and that that world view might encompass not only their own values but race as well. This is of course not a particularly significant issue for white Americans as children's literature has historically been primarily a product of countries and cultures that are racially white. The product of some two or three hundred years of children's books from these cultures means that effectively the default probability of any children's book is that the protagonist and most, if not all, the characters will be white. It is important to emphasize that this is on average as there are a large number of exceptions.
For African-American parents, wanting to have good books that reinforce not just values but also a sense of identity in racial terms, the pickings are dramatically slimmer and complicated by the existence of "identity politics," the practice of trying to ascribe certain characteristics or needs to some group, usually in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The practice of identity politics tends towards efforts to put forward a particular message of group interests (over individual worth) and frequently reinforces an us-versus-them perspective. Strident didacticism and divisiveness are often a consequence.
The philosophical moorings, political efficiency, and coherence of identity politics are not the subject of this essay other than to the extent to which it impinges on children's books. The extreme practitioners of identity politics usually manifest their concerns, as they relate to children's books, around three actions: 1) a desire to increase the number of books representing the targeted group, 2) attempts to ban or bowdlerize books seen as inconsistent with the desired message regarding the targeted group, and 3) efforts to "authenticate" books based on whether the author shares the targeted characteristic. In other words, only African-Americans can authentically write about the African-American experience, only Native-Americans can authentically write about the Native-American experience, only women can write authentically about women's experiences, etc.
This is a profound rejection of some of our core cultural values arising from the Age of Reason and Age of Enlightenment during which we moved away from sectarian and ethnic profiling (and all the tragic wars, pogroms, and conflicts that arose from that targeting) and put the emphasis on individual merit within the context of political and legal systems that extended the same protections to all citizens. There is no place, we believe, for book banning, bowdlerization or the "authenticating" of authors.
This extreme version of identity politics also repudiates one of the central tenets which we share at Through the Magic Door, a belief that one of the profound benefits of reading is the cultivation of imagination and empathy. It is through fine story-telling that children reach beyond their immediate circumstances and develop fellow-feeling for others. It is a rich world where our first literary friends from India are Kim or Mowgli; from China, the poor Emperor and his nightingale, and from Persia, Scheherazade.
This is a long way around to the end objective of affirming that the increase in volume of books allowing children to self-identify whether by race or religion or ethnicity is a wonderful thing if it means an increase in gripping, well-told stories with which all children, (regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity), will be enchanted. The challenge is to identify those great stories that are going to appeal to all children while steering clear of the didactic, the victim-mongering, the pandering, and the divisive. Slowly, we are beginning to build up a reservoir of books which, with an African-American protagonist, tell a story appealing to everyone and whom might be admired by any child: stories such as Pappy's Handkerchief, Casey Jones's Fireman - The Story of Sim Webb, Jackie and Me and of course John Henry. Jerry Pinkney has been in the vanguard of creating this new population of great stories that appeal to all.
Pinkney was in the right place at the right time as a talented artist in the 1960's and 1970's when publishers began seeking to address the emerging African-American market. He has been very creative over time in illustrating a variety of books, almost all of whom have African-American or children of color protagonists.
Pinkney has not only been creative but bold as well. This is new ground - how do you reinforce a national culture with common folktales and cultural literacy while at the same time, "customizing" the portrayal of those stories in such a way that they can appeal to particular racial, ethnic or religious demographics? It is not an easy path to blaze, but Pinkney was one of the first.
His early efforts concentrated on illustrating retellings of European and other world folktales but with children of color as the protagonists. Sometimes this works easily and well. Sometimes it is a little bit more challenging as with The Little Match Girl. It is like an experience I had many years ago when I attended a musical, The Wiz, a rendition of The Wizard of Oz with an all black cast. I found the musical entertaining, but had a hard time disengaging in a process of comparing it to the actual books and to the traditional movie and play version of The Wizard of Oz. Another example of the challenge here is that of his rendition of Hans Christian Andersen's story, The Nightingale. In the original, you have a story written for European children about a Chinese emperor. In this version, you have the tale set in Morocco with a black Emir. It works, but you lose an important element from the original. It is a little like transplanting a shrub from one part of the garden to another, sometimes the plant does better, sometimes not so well. In sum, these retellings work and I think it is wonderful that African-American parents have these critical folktales (The Ugly Duckling, Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Match Girl, The Nightingale and others) available to their children.
Pinkney has also done many other folktales and other stories from around the world such as The Jungle Book, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, The Adventure of Spiders, and others. He has had a shot at a retelling of Little Black Sambo, a charming but much maligned and willfully misrepresented tale from India. Pinkney's version, a retelling by Julius Lester, Sam and the Tigers, would be appropriate if you particularly like Pinkney's artwork. There is another version which I think to be a better bowdlerization, The Story of Little Babaji, which keeps Helen Bannerman's original text intact (with all its beautiful cadences and rhythms) save for the new illustrations by Fred Marcellino and the renaming of the protagonist and his parents.
Where I think Pinkney really hit his stride, though, and has made the greatest contribution, is in illustrating vignettes from African-American history (such as Home Place; Tanya's Reunion; The Patchwork Quilt; Minty; The Black Cowboy, Wild Horses; and others) and from African-American folktales (Uncle Remus, The Tales of Uncle Remus, The Talking Eggs, and best of all, John Henry). These are books that stand-out as books for all children - stories for everyone and in which race is just part of the background of the story: relevant but not necessarily the central focus. Many of these titles are part of sequence of a long lasting collaboration with the writer Julius Lester.
Try some of these books by Pinkney - I think you and your children will enjoy them.
 | The Tales of Uncle Remus by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Highly Recommended |
 | The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Highly Recommended |
 | The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Recommended |
 | John Henry by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Recommended |
 | Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Recommended |
 | Goin' Someplace Special by Pat McKissack and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | The Adventures of Spider by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Song of the Trees by Mildred D. Taylor and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Childtimes by Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Mirandy and Brother Wind by Pat McKissack and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Rabbit Makes a Monkey of Lion by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Home Place by Crescent Dragonwagon and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Pretend You're a Cat by Jean Marzollo and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Drylongso by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Back Home by Gloria Jean Pinkney and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | The Sunday Outing by Gloria Jean Pinkney and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Tanya's Reunion by Valerie Flournoy and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Sam and the Tigers by Julius Lester and Helen Bannerman and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Minty by Alan Schroeder and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Black Cowboy, Wild Horses by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | New Shoes for Silvia by Johanna Hurwitz and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Noah's Ark written and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | God Bless the Child by Arthur Herzog and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Ain't Nobody a Stranger to Me by Ann Grifalconi and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll by Pat McKissack and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Little Red Riding Hood written and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Uncle Remus by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
 | Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Suggested |
Jerry Pinkney's Bibliography
The Adventures of Spider: West African Folk Tales written by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1964
This Is Music written by Adeline McCall and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1965
The Traveling Frog written by V. Mikhailovich Garshin and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1966
Folktales and Fairytales of Africa written by Lila Green and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1967
The Clock Museum written by Ken Sobol and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1967
Even Tiny Ants Must Sleep written by Harold J. Saleh and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1967
The Beautiful Blue Jay, and Other Tales of India written by John W. Spellman and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1967
Shoes, Pennies, and Rockets written by Ralph Dale and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1968
Kostas the Rooster written by Traudl and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1968
Homerhenry written by Cora Annett and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1969
The Twin Witches of Fingle Fu written by Irv Phillips and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1969
The Porcupine and the Tiger written by Fern Powell and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1969
Babushka and the Pig written by Ann Trofimuk and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1969
Juano and the Wonderful Fresh Fish written by Thelma Shaw and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1969
Sizes and Shapes written by Ken Sobol and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1969
The King's Ditch: A Hawaiian Tale written by Francine Jacobs and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1971
The Planet of Junior Brown written by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1971
More Adventures of Spider written by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1972
Femi and Old Grandaddie written by Adjai Robinson and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1972
JD written by Mari Evans and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1973
Kasho and the Twin Flutes written by Adjai Robinson and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1973
Prince Littlefoot written by Berniece Freschet and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1974
The Great Minu written by Beth P. Wilson and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1974
Song of the Trees written by Mildred D. Taylor and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1975
Yagua Days written by Cruz Martel and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1976
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry written by Mildred D. Taylor and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1976
Mildred Murphy, How Does Your Garden Grow? written by Phyllis Green and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1977
Mary McLeod Bethune (biography) written by Eloise Greenfield and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1977
Ji-Nongo-Nongo Means Riddles written by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1978
Tales from Africa written by Lila Green and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1979
Tonweya and the Eagles, and Other Lakota Indian Tales written by Rosebud Yellow Robe and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1979
Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir written by Eloise Greenfield and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1979
Jahdu written by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1980
Count on Your Fingers African Style written by Claudia Zaslavsky and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1980
Monster Myths of Ancient Greece written by William Wise and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1981
Apples on a Stick: The Folklore of Black Children written by Barbara Michels and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1983
The Patchwork Quilt written by Valerie Flournoy and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1985
Half a Moon and One Whole Star written by Crescent Dragonwagon and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1986
Creatures of the Desert World and Strange Animals of the Sea written by Barbara Gibson and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1987
Wild, Wild Sunflower Child Anna written by Nancy White Carlstrom and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1987
The Tales of Uncle Remus written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1988
More Tales of Uncle Remus: Further Adventures of Brer Rabbit, His Friends, Enemies, and Others written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1988
The Green Lion of Zion Street written by Julia Fields and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1988
Mirandy and Brother Wind written by Pat McKissack and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1988
Rabbit Makes a Monkey of Lion written by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1989
The Talking Eggs written by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1989
Turtle in July written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1989
Further Tales of Uncle Remus: The Misadventures of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Wolf, the Doodang, and All the Other Creatures written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1990
Home Place written by Crescent Dragonwagon and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1990
Pretend You're a Cat written by Jean Marzollo and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1990
In for Winter, Out for Spring written by Arnold Adoff and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1991
Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1991
The Man with His Heart in a Bucket written by Anonymous and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1991
Drylongso written by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1992
Back Home written by Gloria Jean Pinkney and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1992
John Henry written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1994
The Last Tales of Uncle Remus written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1994
The Sunday Outing written by Gloria Jean Pinkney and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1994
Tanya's Reunion written by Valerie Flournoy and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1995
The Jungle Book: The Mowgli Stories written by Rudyard Kipling and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1995
Sam and the Tigers: A New Telling of Little Black Sambo written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1996
Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman written by Alan Schroeder and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1996
Fever Dream written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1996
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi written by Rudyard Kipling and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1997
The Hired Hand: An African-American Folktale written by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1997
Sarny, A Life Remembered written by Gary Paulsen and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1997
Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1998
The Little Match Girl written by Hans Christian Andersen and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1999
The Ugly Duckling written by Hans Christian Andersen and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1999
Journeys with Elijah: Eight Tales of the Prophet written by Barbara Diamond Goldi and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1999
New Shoes for Sylvia written by Johanna Hurwitz and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 1999
Albidaro and the Mischievous Dream written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 2000
Goin' Someplace Special written by Patricia McKissack and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 2000
Aesop's Fables written by Aesop and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 2001
In the Forest of Your Remembrance (illustrated with Brian and Myles C. Pinkney) written by Gloria Jean Pinkney and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 2001
The Nightingale written by Hans Christian Andersen and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 2002
Noah's Ark written by Anonymous and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 2002
God Bless the Child (words and music) written by Arthur Herzog Jr. and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney 2005
Ain't Nobody a Stranger to Me written by Ann Grifalconi and illustrated by JerryPinkney
Uncle Remus written by Julius Lester and illustrated by JerryPinkney
The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll written by PatMcKissack and illustrated by JerryPinkney
Nightjohn written by GaryPaulsen and illustrated by JerryPinkney
Little Red Riding Hood written and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
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