Ehlert, Lois 1934–

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Ehlert, Lois 1934–

(Lois Jane Ehlert)

Personal

Born November 9, 1934, in Beaver Dam, WI; daughter of Harry and Gladys (Grace) Ehlert; married John Reiss, 1967 (separated, 1977). Education: Graduated from Layton School of Art, 1957; University of Wisconsin, B.F.A., 1959.

Addresses

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Harcourt Brace, 525 B St., Ste. 1900, San Diego, CA 92101.

Career

Writer and illustrator. Layton School of Art Junior School, Milwaukee, WI, teacher; John Higgs Studio, Milwaukee, WI, layout and production assistant; Jacobs-Keelan Studio, Milwaukee, WI, layout and design illustrator; freelance illustrator and designer, 1962–. Has also designed toys and games for children, a series of basic art books, banners for libraries and public spaces, posters and brochures, and sets for the Moppet Players, a children's theater. Exhibitions: Creativity on Paper Show, New York, NY, 1964; Society of Illustrators shows, 1971, 1989, 1990; International Children's Book Exhibit, Bologna, Italy, 1979.

Member

American Institute of Graphic Arts.

Awards, Honors

Three gold medals for outstanding graphic art, a best-of-show citation, and fourteen merit awards, Art Directors Club of Milwaukee, 1961–69; five awards of excellence, five merit awards, one gold medal, and one bronze medal, Society of Communicating Arts of Milwaukee, 1970–72, 1976; Graphic Arts awards, Printing Industries of America, 1980–81, for Manpower posters; Paul Revere Award for Graphic Excellence, Hal Leonard Publishing Corp., 1983; National Endowment for the Arts/Wisconsin Arts Board grant, 1984; Design Award, Appleton Paper Co., 1985; grants from Wisconsin Arts Board, 1985, 1987; Award of Excellence citations, Art Museum Association of America, 1985, 1986, 1987; Best Children's Book citations, New York Public Library, 1987, for Growing Vegetable Soup, and 1989, for Planting a Rainbow; Pick of the Lists citations, American Booksellers, 1988, for Planting a Rainbow, and 1989, for Color Zoo and Eating the Alphabet; Eating the Alphabet selected among ten best books of 1989 by Parenting; Caldecott Honor Book citation, American Library Association (ALA), 1989, for Color Zoo; Museum of Science and Industry book list of children's science books inclusion, 1989, and Parents' Choice Award for paperback, 1990, both for Growing Vegetable Soup; Planting a Rainbow included on John Burroughs list of nature books for young readers, 1989; Notable Children's Book citation, ALA, 1989, and Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Award, 1990, both for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin, Jr., and John Ar-chambault; Wisconsin Library Association citation, 1989; Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children citations, National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), for Planting a Rainbow, and 1990, for Color Farm; John Cotton Dana Award, Wisconsin Summer Reading Program, 1990; Color Farm and Fish Eyes named among best books by Parenting, 1990; Parents' Choice Honor awards for story book, 1990, for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Fish Eyes; Feathers for Lunch named among Redbook ten best picture books, 1990; Ten Best Illustrated Books designation, New York Times, and Certificate of Merit, Graphics Arts Awards, both both for Fish Eyes; Certificate of Excellence, Parenting, and NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book designation, both 1991, and Elizabeth Burr Award, Wisconsin Library Association, Boston Globe/Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book designation, and California Children's Media Award for Nonfiction, all 1992, all for Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf; Gold Award, Dimensional Illus-trators Awards Show, 1991, for Color Zoo; first place award for Juvenile Trade Specialty, New York Book Show, and Reading Magic Award, Parenting magazine, both 1992, both for Circus; New York Public Library Best Children's Books, Notable Book selection, ALA, and Booklist Editors' Choice, all 1992, and Horn Book Fanfare listee, 1993, all for Moon Rope; Boston Globe/Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Award, 1992, and NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book, 1993, both for Feathers for Lunch; Best Children's Books designation, Printing Industry of America, 1994, for Nuts to You!; Gold Seal Award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, 1996, for Eating the Alphabet; New York Show Award, 1996, for Snowballs; Best Books designation, Book Links, Reading Magic Award, Parenting magazine, and Booklist Editors' Choice designation, all 1997, all for Hands; Notable Children's Book citation, ALA, 2005, for Leaf Man; named Wisconsin Notable Author, Wisconsin Library Association. D.H.L., University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1994.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Growing Vegetable Soup, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1987, reprinted, Red Wagon (San Diego, CA), 2004.

Planting a Rainbow, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1988, reprinted, Red Wagon (San Diego, CA), 2003.

Color Zoo, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1989.

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1989.

Color Farm, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1990.

Feathers for Lunch, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1990.

Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1990.

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1991.

Circus, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1992.

Moon Rope: A Peruvian Folktale, Spanish translation by Amy Prince, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1992.

Nuts to You!, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1993, reprinted, Voyager (San Diego, CA), 2004.

Mole's Hill: A Woodland Tale, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1994.

Snowballs, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1995.

Under My Nose (autobiography), photographs by Carlo Ontal, Richard C. Owen (Katonah, NY), 1996.

Hands, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1997.

Cuckoo: A Mexican Folktale, Spanish translation by Gloria de Aragon Andujar, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1997.

Top Cat, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1998.

Market Day: A Story Told with Folk Art, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 2000.

Waiting for Wings, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 2001.

In My World, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 2002.

Pie in the Sky, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2004.

Leaf Man, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2005.

ILLUSTRATOR

Patricia M. Zens, I Like Orange, F. Watts (New York, NY), 1961.

Edward Lear, Limericks, World Publishing (Chicago, IL), 1965.

Mary L. O'Neill, What Is That Sound!, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1966.

Mannis Charosh, Mathematical Games for One or Two, Crowell (New York, NY), 1972.

Andrea Di Noto, The Great Flower Pie, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1973.

Vicki Silvers, Sing a Song of Sound, Scroll Press, 1973.

Nina Sazer, What Do You Think I Saw?: A Nonsense Number Book, Pantheon (New York, NY), 1976.

Diane Wolkstein, The Visit, Knopf (New York, NY), 1977.

Jane J. Srivastava, Number Families, Crowell (New York, NY), 1979.

Richard L. Allington, Shapes and Sizes, Raintree Publishers, 1979.

Bill Martin, Jr., and John Archambault, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1989.

Gene Baer, Thump, Thump, Rat-a-tat-tat, Harper (New York, NY), 1989.

Bill Martin, Jr., and John Archambault, Words, Little Simon (New York, NY), 1993.

Sarah Weeks, Crocodile Smile: Ten Songs of the Earth as the Animals See It, Harper Collins (New York, NY), 1994.

Bill Martin, Jr., and John Archambault, Chicka Chicka Sticka Sticka: An ABC Sticker Book, Little Simon (New York, NY), 1995.

Stuart J. Murphy, Jr., A Pair of Socks, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.

Ann Turner, Angel Hide and Seek, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.

Bill Martin, Jr., and Michael Sampson, Chicka Chicka, 1, 2, 3, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

Also illustrator and designer of "Scribbler's" products for Western Publishing.

A selection of Ehlert's papers are housed in the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota.

Adaptations

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was adapted for a video employing Ehlert's illustrations, Weston Woods, 2000.

Sidelights

Known for creating vibrant collage artwork that features colored paper and found objects, Lois Ehlert has entertained and educated children for over four decades. Initially providing illustrations for the books of others, Ehlert began writing her own material to accompany her artwork in the mid-1980s and has created books on subjects such as birds, flowers, weather, work, retellings of folktales, and the alphabet. These books include pictures that feature bold colors and clear, crisp shapes. Ehlert wrote and illustrated Color Zoo, which was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 1989. A year later, her illustrations helped Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, written by Bill Martin, Jr., and John Archambault, win a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Award. Elhert has gone on to win numerous other awards for her artwork and books. In an article for Horn Book, she discussed her attraction to picture books and described her work: "I didn't want to be gimmicky; I wanted to distill, to get the essence of what it was that was so exciting. I hope I'm still exploring that idea. I don't see any sense in creating books otherwise. I get a lot of joy out of it."

As a child, Ehlert received both the encouragement and the environment to develop an interest in art. Her mother, who liked to sew, supplied her with scraps of cloth, and her father gave her wood from his woodworking projects. They also provided her with a place to work by setting up a card table in a little room in their house. She spent a great deal of time at the table, both as a small child and through high school, working on projects that helped her to develop her talent. Finally, she sent some of her work to the Layton School of Art and received a scholarship that allowed her to become a student there. After taking the table with her to Layton, she made it into a drawing table by placing a wooden breadboard on top of it and then giving the board a slant by propping a tin can underneath it. The table has traveled with her during her career as an artist. "It's got holes drilled in it and ink slopped on it and cuts from razor blades," she noted in Horn Book, "but I still use it." Ehlert explained to Edie Boatman of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Fabric was interesting to me because of its tactile sense and the vibrant colors. When I was young, construction paper was wimpy in color. I always made things out of stuff other people would throw away. Part of it was economic. I've always seen more of a pattern in design—my eyes are different from other people's. I seem to see colors that other people don't see."

After graduating from art school in 1957, Ehlert did graphic design work and illustrated some children's books. She did not enjoy working on picture books, however, mainly because she could not approve the final color selections for her illustrations when her books went to the printer. In disappointment, she stopped working on picture books and concentrated on graphic design projects. But her friends eventually convinced her to go back to illustrating children's books. In Horn Book she acknowledged: "I began to see an emphasis on graphics in picture books, and I thought that the time might be right for my work. I could see that there was a lot more care being taken in the production of children's books."

After providing artwork for many children's books, Ehlert decided to try both writing and illustrating a book of her own. While working as a freelance graphic designer, she created Growing Vegetable Soup, a book that combines pictures and words to show the steps in-volved in growing a vegetable garden. Then she wrote and illustrated Planting a Rainbow, which tells the story of a mother and a child who cultivate a flower garden. Both of these books show Ehlert's passion for using bold colors. Andrea Barnet noted in the New York Times Book Review that Ehlert's "colors are tropical, electric and hot—the grape purples and sizzling pinks children tend to choose when they paint. Often she pairs complementary hues … to startling effect, giving her illustrations a vibrant op-art feel, a visual shimmer that makes them jump off the page."

After achieving success with Growing Vegetable Soup, Ehlert took a class at the University of Wisconsin and found new ways to design books by using such eyecatching techniques as cutting holes in the pages and using different combinations of light and dark colors in the illustrations. She made use of methods that she learned in this class in Color Zoo, a book that introduces children to a wide range of colors and geometrical figures through the use of different-shaped holes cut in sturdy paper and placed on top of a design. Each new cutout shape—circle, square, triangle—is decorated with the features of different animals which make readers think of the whole figure as a tiger, then a mouse, and then a fox. Ehlert repeats this routine with two more sets of shapes and ends Color Zoo with a summary of all of the shapes and colors used in the book. Ehlert reprises this technique with Color Farm, another award-winning title in which she "uses an array of brilliant graphics with carefully planned die-cuts to introduce geometric shapes," according to Horn Book reviewer Mary M. Burns.

For another self-illustrated work, Feathers for Lunch, Ehlert regularly used numerous pieces of paper to create collages that tell the story of a hungry cat at mealtime that chases after a dozen birds. A bell, worn around the cat's neck, alerts the birds of his presence. Ehlert's artwork is accompanied by a rhyming text, a list of the birds that are presented, and printed representations of their calls. In order to create a book that was both educational and attractive, she presents the birds in natural settings with flowers that are harmonious with the birds' actual colors. Since she wanted to make sure that her collages of the birds were the right colors and sizes, she checked them against the skins of birds kept at the Field Museum in Chicago.

Ehlert also wanted to make life-size pictures of the birds for the pages of Feathers for Lunch, but that meant that she also had to make a cat that was life-size. Instead of trying to make such a big book, Ehlert decided to show only parts of the cat on certain pages and to replace him entirely with the "JINGLE JINGLE" of his bell on others. Such practice is routine in Ehlert's books. "If I say something with words, I don't need to describe it with the art, and vice versa." she wrote in Horn Book, later noting: "I really use typography as just another design form, another element of the art."

In Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On Ehlert uses the patterns and shapes of sea creatures in order to teach kids about arithmetic. Holes cut in the pages encourage youngsters to touch the book while they learn about numbers by counting fish. Ehlert also puts black type on blue pages, hoping that children will find the subtle, hidden text. She explained in Horn Book: "I purposely didn't want that design element to be dominant because I already had a dominant theme. So I worked on my layout, and then I stood in front of a full-length mirror to see how close I had to come to the mirror before I could read that second line. I wanted the type to be a surprise to a child discovering it. I try to work on a lot of different levels in every book. Some things are more successful than others." Ehlert's efforts were rewarded by Andrea Barnet, who wrote in the New York Times Book Review that Fish Eyes has "enough novelty to hold a child's interest, and enough complexity to sustain repeated readings."

Other animals are served up by Ehlert in Circus, Nuts to You!, Top Cat, and Waiting for Wings. Hugo the elephant, Fritz the wonder bear, and Samu, the fiercest tiger in the world are just part of the amazing menagerie she presents in Circus, a book which is "a most joyous use of the graphic-art style which Lois Ehlert continues to expand and refine," according to Horn Book critic Margaret A. Bush. With Nuts to You! Ehlert presents a cheeky squirrel who gets braver and braver as it approaches an opening in an apartment window and finally goes inside. Horn Book reviewer Ellen Fader dubbed this an "imaginatively designed book," calling special attention to the title page and verso which were camouflaged to look like tree bark. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly felt that Nuts to You! is a "work of extraordinary visual splendor with an effectively simple, active plot."

In Top Cat Ehlert features a feline who rules the roost until a striped kitten makes an appearance. At first angry and spitting at the youngster, Top Cat finally figures out that the kitten is here to stay and makes the best of the situation by becoming a teacher and mentor to the younger pet. "Children and other feline fans will quickly warm to this spunky story of rivalry and acceptance," wrote a contributor for Publishers Weekly. Reviewing the same title in Booklist, Linda Perkins noted that "Eh-lert's distinctive collages portray a remarkable range of expression and movement and are sure to tickle funny bones."

A butterfly takes center stage in Waiting for Wings, "a marvelous presentation of the butterfly life cycle," according to a reviewer for Horn Book, and one that will "engage children curious about a seemingly magical process." In this 2001 title Ehlert accompanies her usual cut-paper illustrations with simple rhymes in large black letters. "Ehlert again spreads her creative wings to deliver this inventively designed picture book," noted a contributor to Publishers Weekly. Tracing the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the graceful flying insect readers will recognize as a butterfly, Ehlert creates a "beautifully woven blend of information," according to Lisa Gangemi Krapp, writing in School Library Journal, and an "original and vivid introduction," as Booklist reviewer Carolyn Phelan observed.

For the illustrations in Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf and Snowballs, among other titles, Ehlert constructs her characteristic collages not only out of layered colored paper, but also from found objects such as ribbons, seeds, bottle caps, twigs, and pieces of string and clothing. "Only an artist as gifted as Ehlert could take so well-worn a topic as building a snowman and make it as fresh as—well, new-fallen snow," remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer regarding Snowballs. The same critic dubbed the book a "joyful and inventive book." In Cuckoo, Ehlert retells a folktale about the evolution of the vain cuckoo. "Sombreros off to this innovative artist for yet another eye-catching work," wrote a contributor for Publishers Weekly. Carolyn Phelan, reviewing Cuckoo in Booklist, called the book an "exhilarating adaptation" with "arresting artwork, some of [Ehlert's] best to date."

Ehlert finds inspiration in native and folk cultures for her illustrations in several of her books. For the bilingual Moon Rope: A Peruvian Folktale she draws on designs in ancient Peruvian textiles, jewelry, ceramics, and even architecture, while Mole's Hill: A Woodland Tale gains inspiration from the beadwork designs of Native Americans. In Moon Rope, a retelling of a Peruvian folk tale, Fox talks Mole into climbing on a braided grass rope with him—a rope he has hooked to the moon. As Fox climbs, he keeps his eyes upward, but timid Mole keeps looking back to the Earth until he falls, thus explaining his preference for life in solitary tunnels. A critic for Kirkus Reviews felt that Moon Rope "may be [Ehlert's] handsomest book yet," and appraised the work as "altogether outstanding."

Mole's Hill, a Seneca Indian tale, is a "whimsical story of overcoming the might of an adversary through inge-nuity" according to a reviewer for Publishers Weekly. The same reviewer also applauded Ehlert's illustrations, in which she "achieves dazzling effects with simple geometric shapes and strong, pure hues." Fox and Mole are at it once again in this story, in which Fox is so frustrated at having to walk around Mole's hill that he sends Raccoon and Skunk to tell her to move out. However, Mole uses her cleverness to defeat Fox, enlarging the hill and planting seeds to create such a pretty spot that Fox cannot bring himself to destroy it. In a Horn Book review, Margaret A. Bush also praised Ehlert's illustrations in Mole's Hill, which depict the flowers and trees of Wisconsin woodlands "as primitive abstractions in folk art style." Bush concluded that the book is "vivid and spare … a feast for the eye."

In Market Day: A Story Told with Folk Art, Ehlert's celebration of Latin America's rural markets, she follows a peasant family's day at market. Her story is accompanied by illustrations reflecting the traditional and folk art of Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, and Mexico, as well as from farther afield. Shirley Lewis, reviewing Market Day in Teacher Librarian, noted that Ehlert's artwork "blazes through this handsome tour."

With Hands Ehlert celebrates such crafts as gardening and art through the use of photo-collage. The easy text is told from the point of view of a child who watches his father creating things in his workshop and his mother sewing wonderful creations. Booklist contributor Stephanie Zvirin felt that Hands "is full of lovely surprises," a "thoughtfully designed book, wonderful for lap sharing." A tribute to Ehlert's own parents, both of whom enjoyed working with their hands and who encouraged Ehlert in her art career, Hands grew out of an earlier project "to create a portrait of someone without using photographs" of that person, as the author/illustrator told Connie Goddard in a Publishers Weekly interview. Instead of portraits, Ehlert uses mementos such as pigskin work gloves, screws, and a folding ruler to call up the sense of that person. Approaching the realm of the toy book, Hands employs die-cut pages, including one with the image of a tin box with screwdrivers inside. More tools of the trade pop up throughout this innovative book. A Publishers Weekly critic noted that Ehlert "works visual magic" in this "inventive effort that deserves nothing less than a big hand."

Ehlert links many of her favorite things together via abstract imagery to create the artwork for In My World. Her "precise, die-cut figures … create stunning visuals that tell a story and make sense on both sides of the page," described Kay Weisman in Booklist. The picture book superimposes familiar shapes, such as birds, fish, and butterflies, die-cut over designs in Ehlert's signature bright colors. According to Joanna Rudge Long in Horn Book, "the vibrant colors and lively three-dimensional effects may well inspire children … to experiment with overlaying patterns and colors."

In an interview on the Harcourt Publishers Web site, Ehlert explained why In My World contains so many images from nature. "I'm continually amazed by the diversity and order of the natural world," she wrote. "I write and illustrate stories about common things that most people encounter in their daily lives. I'm espe-cially drawn to color." Later in the interview, she talked about the design for the title. "In My World was designed for a young person, a child that might not yet know how to read. The book can be read visually as well as verbally—two different experiences intertwined in a 'first' book."

Pie in the Sky also contains elements of the natural world. The narrator does not quite believe it when Dad calls the tree in the backyard a "pie tree." But in watching the tree over the seasons, the narrator observes all the animals that live in it, as well as the large cherries the tree bears in the summer. "Throughout, an economy of words and the narrator's chipper tone keep Ehlert's vision on track," wrote a critic for Publishers Weekly. According to Carolyn Phelan in Booklist, Ehlert's "main text [is] short and well suited to reading aloud." School Library Journal contributor Corrina Austin wrote that "each spread is an amazing work of art on its own," and concluded: "Children will clamor for Pie in the Sky. As Horn Book reviewer Susan P. Bloom quipped, "In luscious primary colors, collagist Ehlert struts her stuff."

"Whenever I see a beautiful leaf, I have to pick it up. I can't help myself; it's something I've done all my life," Ehlert explained in an interview for the Harcourt Publisher Web site. That habit became the inspiration for Leaf Man, an "eye-popping book," according to Ilene Cooper in Booklist. The story traces the paths blowing leaves can take while being windborne in the fall, and Ehlert's illustrations are comprised of leaf collages. "When I began thinking about making Leaf Man, I carried a plastic bag with me, picking up treasures wherever I went," Ehlert explained, noting that she collected leaves from such diverse spots as Kansas City, Ithaca, New York, and Washington, DC, as well as in her own neighborhood. "Ehlert combines vivid collage artwork, effulgent colors, and an inventive design to create an eye-catching picture book," wrote Joy Fleishhacker in School Library Journal. A Publishers Weekly critic commented that "Ehlert sparks her foliage flight of fancy with her snazzy leaf collages," while a Kirkus Reviews contributor deemed the book "excellent to read aloud and to look at many times over." As Horn Book reviewer Joanna Rudge Long commented, "both craft and visualization are sure to inspire emulation."

Although Ehlert wants children to learn from her books, she does not think of herself as an educator. As she admitted in Horn Book, "it's like being a grandmother in a way—setting down something that might, if I'm lucky, be remembered after I'm gone. And also to communicate what I think is important. Look for those birds! Plant a garden or a tree! They are very homely, ordinary subjects—yet spiritual." Such concerns have made Ehlert one of the key illustrators of her generation. "There is a sense of adventure, fun, and experimentation in all of Ehlert's books that inspires and encourages readers to try their own artistic experiments," concluded a St. James Guide to Children's Writers essayist in a critical assessment of the author/illustrator's work. "Yet, her books are infused with an artistry and design, and a careful attention to detail that makes them much more complex that they at first appear."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Authors of Books for Young People, 3rd edition, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1990.

Children's Book Illustration and Design, edited by Julie Cummins, Library of Applied Design (New York, NY), 1992.

Children's Books and Their Creators, edited by Anita Sil-vey, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1995.

Children's Literature Review, Volume 28, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1992.

Cummings, Pat, Talking with Artists, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1991.

Ehlert, Lois, Under My Nose, photographs by Carlo Ontal, Richard C. Owen (Katonah, NY), 1996.

St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 1992, p. 423; March 1, 1993, p. 1226; March 15, 1994, pp. 1366-1367; December 1, 1994, p. 675; December 1, 1995, p. 640; September 1, 1996, p. 121; April 1, 1997, Carolyn Phelan, review of Cuckoo: A Mexican Folktale, p. 1330; November 15, 1997, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Hands, p. 558; May 15, 1998, p. 1633; August, 1998, Linda Perkins, review of Top Cat, p. 2014; July, 2000, p. 2048; March 2, 2001, Carolyn Phelan, review of Waiting for Wings, p. 1276; December 1, 2001, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Waiting for Wings, p. 658; May 1, 2002, Kay Weis-man, review of In My World, p. 1520; February 15, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Pie in the Sky, p. 1062; June 1, 2005, Ilene Cooper, review of Leaf Man, p. 1796.

Horn Book, May-June, 1989; July-August, 1989; January-February, 1991, Mary M. Burns, review of Color Farm, p. 55; November-December, 1991, Lois Ehlert, "The Artist at Work: Card Tables and Collage," p. 695; March-April, 1992, Margaret A. Bush, review of Circus, p. 189; November-December, 1992, pp. 732-733; May-June, 1993, Ellen Fader, review of Nuts to You!, p. 315; July-August, 1994, Margaret A. Bush, review of Mole's Hill: A Woodland Tale, p. 461; January-February, 1996, pp. 61-62; September-October, 1996, p. 613; September-October, 1997, pp. 556-557; March-April, 2001, review of Waiting for Wings, p. 346; July-August, 2002, Joanna Rudge Long, review of In My World, p. 446; July-August, Susan P. Bloom, review of Pie in the Sky, p. 436; September-October, 2005, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Leaf Man, p. 563.

Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI), March 7, 2003, Edie Boatman, "Getting Personal with Lois Ehlert."

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 1991, review of Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, p. 1019; September 1, 1992, review of Moon Rope: A Peruvian Folktale, p. 1128; February 15, 2004, review of Pie in the Sky, p. 176; September 1, 2004, review of Hands, p. 864; August 1, 2005, review of Leaf Man, p. 847.

New York Times Book Review, May 20, 1990, Andrea Bar-net, review of Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On, p. 40; October 25, 1992, p. 28; September 17, 2000, p. 33.

People, November 28, 1994, p. 35.

Publishers Weekly, October 13, 1989; February 12, 1992, Connie Goddard, "Alive with Color: An Interview with Lois Ehlert," pp. 18-19; August 17, 1992, review of Moon Rope, p. 499; February 15, 1993, review of Nuts to You!, pp. 372-373; February 21, 1994, review of Mole's Hill, p. 252; October 16, 1995, review of Snowballs, p. 60; January 20, 1997, review of Cuckoo, p. 401; June 30, 1997, review of Hands, p. 76; August 3, 1998, review of Top Cat, p. 84; October 18, 1999, p. 86; September 4, 2000, p. 110; April 2, 2001, review of Waiting for Wings, p. 63; February 18, 2002, review of In My World, p. 94; March 29, 2004, review of Pie in the Sky, p. 61; July 11, 2005, review of Leaf Man, p. 91.

School Library Journal, November, 1991, p. 94; April, 1992, pp. 90-91; October, 1992, p. 102; April, 1993, p. 96; May, 1994, p. 92; November, 1994, p. 461; November, 1995, p. 65; December, 1996, pp. 112, 116; March, 1997, p. 174; December, 1997, p. 88; September, 1998, p. 184; July, 2000, p. 71; April, 2001, Lisa Gangemi Krapp, review of Waiting for Wings, p. 129; May, 2002, Rachel Fox, review of In My World, p. 112; February, 2003, Lee Bock, review of Mole's Hill, p. 96; April, 2004, Corrina Austin, review of Pie in the Sky, p. 109; November, 2005, Joy Fleishhacker, review of Leaf Man, p. 89.

Teacher Librarian, January, 1999, p. 42; June, 2000, Shirley Lewis, review of Market Day: A Story Told with Folk Art, p. 50.