Robie Harris

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Robie Harris
Harris at the 2014 Brooklyn Book Festival
Harris at the 2014 Brooklyn Book Festival
BornRobie Heilbrun
(1940-04-03)April 3, 1940
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 6, 2024(2024-01-06) (aged 83)
New York City, U.S.
OccupationChildren's book author
Notable worksIt's Perfectly Normal
It's so Amazing
RelativesElizabeth Levy (cousin)

Robie Harris (née Heilbrun; April 3, 1940 – January 6, 2024) was an American author. She wrote more than 30 children's books, including the frequently challenged It's Perfectly Normal (1994) and It's so Amazing (1999).[1][2]

Early life and education[edit]

Robie Heilbrun was born in Buffalo, New York on April 3, 1940.[3][4] Her mother worked in a biology laboratory, while her father was a radiologist.[5] She grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Buffalo.[6] She became interested in writing at a young age, and began writing stories in kindergarten.[7] In high school, she was an editor of her school's newspaper.[7] She graduated from Wheaton College, where she served as editor of the school's yearbook, with a bachelor's degree in English in 1962.[7][8] She went on to graduate from the Bank Street College of Education with a master's in teaching in 1966.[7][8]

Career[edit]

After earning her teaching degree in 1966, Harris became an English elementary school teacher at the Bank Street School for Children. While working with children at the school's after-school Head Start program, she headed a project allowing the students to film the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood through their eyes. With the help of filmmaker Philip Courter, the students' footage was compiled into a film, Child’s Eye View. In 1968, the film was screened at the Lincoln Center Film Festival.[7]

Harris collaborated with multiple writers through the Bank Street Writers’ Laboratory, of which she was a member.[7]

In 1977, Harris released her first book, Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings, which she co-wrote with her friend and cousin Elizabeth Levy. The book was inspired by the birth of her first child, and her nieces' and nephews' reaction to him.[7]

Harris wrote several children's books about childbirth and human sexuality, including It's Perfectly Normal and It's so Amazing, two of the American Library Association's most-challenged books of the 21st century. Harris continued to update the two books, as well as the third in the trio, It's NOT the Stork!, up until her death.[7]

Harris was a board member of the National Coalition Against Censorship for 20 years.[9]

Awards[edit]

She won the 2019 Mathical Book Prize for her book Crash! Boom! A Math Tale.[10]

In 2020, Harris received the inaugural Mills Tannenbaum Award for Children’s Literacy from Reach Out and Read of Greater New York.[11]

Personal life[edit]

Harris lived in New York City beginning in the 1960s, and was roommates with her cousin, novelist Elizabeth Levy, beginning in 1964.[7]

She married William W. Harris, whom she met during an interview on her Child's Eye View film project.[7] The couple had two sons.[4][7]

She died at a hospital in Manhattan, on January 6, 2024, at the age of 83.[4]

Publications[edit]

  • Harris, Robie; Levy, Elizabeth (1977). Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings. Delacorte.
  • Harris, Robie (1978). Don't Forget to Come Back!. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-7636-1782-0.
  • Harris, Robie (1981). I Hate Kisses. Knopf.
  • Harris, Robie (1994). It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, and Sexual Health. Candlewick.
  • Harris, Robie H.; Emberley, Michael (1996). Happy Birth Day!. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-0974-0.
  • Harris, Robie (1999). It's So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Brith, Babies, and Families. Candlewick.
  • Harris, Robie H. (2004). Goodbye Mousie. Turtleback. ISBN 978-1-4177-4039-0.[12]
  • Harris, Robie H. (2005). I'm So Mad!. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-10939-0.
  • Harris, Robie H. (2005). I Love Messes!. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-10946-8.
  • Harris, Robie (2006). It's NOT the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends. Candlewick.
  • Harris, Robie (2011). Turtle and Me. little bee books. ISBN 978-1-4998-0046-3.
  • Harris, Robie H. (September 11, 2012). Who's in My Family?: All about Our Families. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-3631-9.
  • Harris, Robie H. (September 24, 2013). What's in There?: All about You Before You Were Born. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-3630-2.
  • Harris, Robie (September 23, 2014). What's So Yummy?: All About Eating Well and Feeling Good. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-3632-6.
  • Harris, Robie H. (2016). Who We Are!: All about Being the Same and Being Different. Walker Books and Subsidiaries. ISBN 978-1-4063-6739-3.
  • Harris, Robie H. (May 8, 2018). CRASH! BOOM! A Math Tale. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-7827-2.
  • Harris, Robie H. (June 5, 2018). Who?: A Celebration of Babies. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-68335-270-9.
  • Harris, Robie H. (August 27, 2019). Look!: Babies Head to Toe. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-68335-355-3.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ulaby, Neda (February 8, 2024). "Robie Harris, who wrote an often-banned book about sexuality for kids, dies at 83". NPR. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  2. ^ "Robie Harris, whose sex ed books for kids were often banned, dies at 83". The Washington Post. February 7, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  3. ^ "Robie H. Harris". PEN American Center. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  4. ^ a b c Nossiter, Adam (February 5, 2024). "Robie Harris, Often-Banned Children's Author, Is Dead at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  5. ^ Trimel, Suzanne (January 19, 2024). "PEN America Mourns the Death of Children's Book Author Robie Harris, a Champion of Free Expression and the Right to Read". PEN America. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  6. ^ "Learning the Facts of Life". The Forward. October 20, 2006. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Maughan, Shannon (January 18, 2024). "Obituary: Robie Harris". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Robie H. Harris". Candlewick Press. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  9. ^ "NCAC Mourns Robie Harris: Champion for Free Expression". National Coalition Against Censorship. January 19, 2024. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  10. ^ "Mathical Book Prize". Mathical Book Prize. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  11. ^ "Robie Harris Honored With New Literacy Award". National Coalition Against Censorship. May 14, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  12. ^ "Parents are encouraged to discuss death". The Bryan Times. Associated Press. April 5, 2005. p. 6. Retrieved April 1, 2024.

External links[edit]

Media related to Robie Harris at Wikimedia Commons

Further reading[edit]

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