Rosemary Wells

Rosemary Wells is an American writer and illustrator of children's books who uses animal characters to address real human issues. Her book series Max & Ruby and Timothy Goes to School were both adapted into Canadian-animated preschool television series.

Background & Career

Wells was born on 1943 in New York City and raised in Red Bank, New Jersey. Her mother was a ballerina with the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo and her father was a playwright. She began drawing at age two. Wells' family encouraged her artistic talents and love of stories. "Reading stories aloud was as much a part of my childhood as the air I breathed," she recalled.

When Wells was nineteen, she attended the Boston Museum School, where she studied illustration. Before becoming an author and illustrator, Wells worked as an art editor for Allyn and Bacon, Inc and as an art designer for Macmillan Publishing.

In 1963, she married architect Thomas Moore Wells, with whom she has two daughters.

In 1968, Wells published her first book, an illustrated version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s A Song to Sing, O!. In her career of more than 30 years, she has published more than 60 books.

Wells often uses animals as characters. In the children's journal Stone Soup, Wells explained that she writes using animals because it allows her to address sophisticated, controversial topics in ways children can understand and adults can accept. For example, Yoko tackles the thorny topic of racism. It is about a young Japanese kitten who, in the beginning, is ostracized when she brings in sushi for her school lunch. At the story's conclusion, she gains acceptance by hosting a school luncheon where everyone brings in food native to their family from around the world. Many of the animal characters, such as those in Max & Ruby, interact with one another much as humans would, while others such as McDuff, a West Highland Terrier, take on a more realistic role as the adopted pet of a young couple.

Works

Children's books

Impossible, Possum (1971), written by Ellen Conford

A Hot Thirsty Day (1971), by Marjorie W. Sharmat

Two Sisters and Some Hornets (1972), by Beryl Epstein and Dorrit Davis

Unfortunately Harriet (1972)

Noisy Nora (1973)

Benjamin & Tulip (1973)

Other books

Fog Comes on Little Pig Feet (1972)

John and the Rarey (1968) published by Funk & Wagnalls

Following Grandfather

Help Children Cope with Divorce

Help Children Cope with Grief

House in the Mail

Lincoln and His Boys

Mary on Horseback

My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood, written with Secundino Fernandez, illustrated by Peter Ferguson

On the Blue Comet, illus. Bagram Ibatoulline

Red Moon at Sharpsburg

Streets of Gold

Through the Hidden Door

Leave Well Enough Alone

The Man in the Woods

When No One Was Looking

Little Bunny, Big Germs

Awards and recognition

Rosemary Wells's books have received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Horn Book Magazine. She has been nominated for numerous awards, such as the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Black-Eyed Susan Award, the Red Clover Award, and the Beehive Award. She has won the following:

Irma S. and James H. Black Award, 1975 - Morris's Disappearing Bag

Virginia Readers Choice Award, 1987 - Man in the Woods

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, 1989 - Shy Charles

Parents' Choice Award, 2014 - Stella's Starliner