Virginia Burton Lee Illustrator

Virginia Lee Burton Virginia Lee Burton was an illustrator of children's books. She was known mainly for bringing non-living objects to life and for her vivid scratchboard.

Virginia Lee Burton As a young womanAs a child

Virginia Lee Burton *Born on August 30, 1909 in Newton Center, Massachusetts *Mother was English, a poet and a musician *Father was the dearly beloved Dean Burton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology *Virginia had no desire to attend college so she went to art school and continued studying dancing

Virginia Lee Burton Illustrated Books Books Illustrated: The Little House (1942) Caldecott Medal Winner Katy and the Big Snow (1943) Choo Choo (1937) Calico the Wonder Horse or the Saga of Stewy Stinker (1941, reissued in 1997) Maybelle the Cable Car (Originally published in 1952, Reissued in 1997)

Virginia Lee Burton Illustrated Books Choo Choo (1937) The Little House (1942) Caldecott Medal Winner Katy and the Big Snow (1943) Maybelle the Cable Car (Originally published in 1952, Reissued in 1997) Calico the Wonder Horse or the Saga of Stewy Stinker (1941, reissued in 1997)

Virginia Lee Burton Caldecott Medal Winner The Little House (1942) Caldecott Medal Winner The little house stood in the country then slowly moved closer and closer to the city. "This book is full of life and and progression... Virginia Lee Burton tells the story of a little house which touched many of its readers and hearts.” “The Little House was based on our own little house which we moved from the street into a field of daises with apple trees growing around." -Virginia Lee Burton

Virginia Lee Burton Facts: Virginia married her art teacher, George Demetrios They had two sons together Some of her books told about her life, like her book Life Story (1962)

Virginia Lee Burton Virginia’s technique: –Burton stated many times that writing was always the difficult part of creating children's books. Since she needed to be in control over every aspect of the creative process, she not only illustrated she also wrote the text for the majority of the books she illustrated. It is obvious in her books that the illustrations are more essential to the story than the text. She began her creative process by drawing the pictures first, then letting the text build up in relation to the illustrations. –With regard to the creative process, she once commented, "I literally draw my books first and write down the text after... I pin the sketched pages in sequence on the walls of my studio so I can see the books as a whole. Then I make a rough dummy and then the final drawings, and at last when I can put it off no longer, I type out the text and paste it in the dummy."

Virginia Lee Burton Virginia’s technique con’t: –Her texts are particularly effective when read aloud. –Following the cliché that children's books are for children, she used her sons and their friends as guides. She created a routine collaborative process with them for creating her books. By trial and error, Burton would demonstrate her pictures and read drafts of her stories, she continually changed the graphics and texts until the children responded positively.