His wordless adaptation of Aesop's classic tale marks his fourth 'Best of' honor from the 'Times'

PHILADELPHIA (November 10, 2009) – Illustrator and children’s book author Jerry Pinkney’s wordless adaptation of the classic fable The Lion & the Mouse (Little, Brown) has earned the 1960 University of the Arts alumnus a spot on the list of the 10 best illustrated children’s books of 2009 as selected by The New York Times Book Review. This marks the fourth time Pinkney's work has been so honored.

In one of Aesop's most beloved fables, an unlikely pair learns that no act of kindness is ever wasted. After a ferocious lion spares a cowering mouse that he'd planned to eat, the mouse later comes to his rescue, freeing him from a poacher's trap. With vivid depictions of the African Serengeti landscape and expressively drawn characters, Pinkney makes this a special retelling with stunning pictures that speak volumes.

Horn Book Magazine Editor-in-Chief Roger Sutton wrote the following in a review in The New York Times: "The art of Jerry Pinkney's new picture book is commanding enough to do without the author's name or even the title on the front cover. A jacket with no words at all? It's been done before, but not often...Pinkney gives us a lion's head with a magnificent mane, filling the entire frame. The Sun King demeanor is somewhat diminished by the uneasy glance the lion is casting stage right, toward the back cover, where a mouse looks up with a question in its eye. Which creature will be the hero of the tale within?"

The winner of five Caldecott Honors, awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children, Pinkney has also earned five Coretta Scott King Awards, an international Hans Christian Andersen Award nomination, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators, among many other honors. He has illustrated over 100 books and is a recipient of the University’s Silver Star Alumni Award.

Every year since 1952, the Book Review has asked a panel of judges to select 10 books from among the several thousand children’s books published that year. The judges for this year's selections were Adam Gopnik, who writes regularly for The New Yorker and is the author of two novels for children, The King in the Window and the forthcoming Steps Across the Water; Jillian Tamaki, a teacher at the School of Visual Arts and the recipient of a Society of Illustrators gold medal; and Lisa Von Drasek, the children’s librarian of the Bank Street College of Education.

The University of the Arts is the nation’s first and only university dedicated to the visual, performing and communication arts. Its 2,400 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs on its campus in the heart of Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. The institution’s roots as a leader in educating creative individuals date back to 1868.

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