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WEBSITE: http://www.robieharris.com/
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 386
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PERSONAL
Born April 3, 1940, in Buffalo, NY; daughter of Norman and Evelyn Heilbrun; married William W. Harris (a lobbyist), September 7, 1968; children: Ben, David.
EDUCATION:Wheaton College, B.A., 1962; Bank Street College of Education, M.A.T., 1970.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Children’s book author. Bank Street College of Education School, New York, NY, former writer and teacher and director of after-school program; Smallwood Drive School, Williamsville, NY, former teacher. Worked in film and television, including as coproducer and director of Child’s Eye View. Designer of parks for children; consultant to Children’s Museum, Boston, MA; speaker at schools and assemblies. Member of advisory board, Boston City Hospital Reach Out & Read program; Lesley University, trustee, 1986-93, corporator, 1993-2009.
AVOCATIONS:Biking, hiking, reading, listening to jazz and rock and roll.
MEMBER:PEN New England (cochair of children’s book caucus), Planned Parenthood Federation of America (board of advocates member), Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.
AWARDS:Outstanding Science Trade Book citation, National Science Teachers Association/Children’s Book Council (CBC), 1977, for Before You Were Three; Children’s Choice selection, International Reading Association (IRA)/CBC, 1981, for I Hate Kisses, IRA/CBC Children’s Choice selection, 1982, for Rosie’s Double Dare; Notable Children’s Book selection, American Library Association (ALA), Reading Magic Award, Parenting magazine, and Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Award, all 1994, all for It’s Perfectly Normal; honorary degree, Lesley University, 2000; Best Children’s Book designation, Bank Street College of Education, 2005, for Sweet Jasmine, Nice Jackson; IRA/CBC Children’s Choice selection, 2005, for Don’t Forget to Come Back!; ALA Notable Children’s Book selection, 2006, for It’s NOT the Stork!, IRA/CBC Children’s Choice selection, and ALA Notable Children’s Book selection, both 2009, both for Maybe a Bear Ate It!; Irma S. and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature, Bank Street College of Education, 2008, for Mail Harry to the Moon!; Best Children’s Books of the Year selection, Bank Street College of Education, and ALA Notable Children’s Book selection, both 2012, and Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award, all for Who Has What?; Mills Tannenbaum Award for Children’s Literacy, Reach out & Read of Greater New York, 2013; Mary Lee Tatum Award, Planned Parenthood Federation, 2013; Parents’ Choice Awards silver honor, 2013, for When Lions Roar; Best Children’s Books of the Year list, Bank Street College of Education, and Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12 selection, National Science Teachers Association/CBC, both 2014, both for What’s In There?
POLITICS: Democrat. RELIGION: Jewish.WRITINGS
Also author of scripts for television programs, including Captain Kangaroo Show, Columbia Broadcast Service, Inc. (CBS).
SIDELIGHTS
As the author of both nonfiction and fiction books, Robie H. Harris deals with the changes and challenges that concern children in a realistic and understanding way. Her first inspiration as an author came in kindergarten, when her teacher had all her students draw pictures and then dictate stories to go with them. The teacher wrote the stories down and, at year’s end, bound each student’s drawings and stories into a book. Harris called hers “Robie’s Stories” and counts its 1946 publication as her first. She continued to work with words through high school, when she edited the school newspaper, and college, when she helped edit the yearbook. She went on to become an elementary school teacher at the Bank Street School for Children in New York City, and she also joined the Bank Street Writers’ Laboratory to write collaboratively for the Captain Kangaroo television show. Soon, she branched into writing children’s books, and with scientific parents—her father was a radiologist and her mother once worked in a biology lab—she found herself often focusing on scientific topics, especially human anatomy.
Noted particularly for their sensitive, honest approach to human sexuality, Harris’s It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health and Who Has What? All about Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies support parents’ efforts to introduce children to the biology of being human. In Who We Are! All about Being the Same and Being Different and other titles in the “Let’s Talk about You and Me” series, Harris helps beginning readers understand the world around them. Also engaging are Harris’s fictional tales, which include Mail Harry to the Moon!, The Day Leo Said I Hate You!, and Turtle and Me, addressing familiar childhood concerns. “What I love to write about are the real and powerful feelings children have and the ways in which they express those strong, legitimate and perfectly normal feelings,” the author stated on her website.
Geared for readers interested in learning about their younger years, Harris’s first published book, Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings, is intended to help middle graders remember and appreciate how much they have learned during their first years of life. The book follows children Tommy and Hillary from the time that they first enter the world until they learn to walk and talk and includes over one hundred black-and-white photographs depicting children at different stages of early development. According to a reviewer in Appraisal, “parents may find this a useful book to share with their children, especially to help explain behavior of a younger brother or sister.”
In her award-winning It’s Perfectly Normal, Harris provides a straightforward, wide-ranging guide to help younger teens understand the various aspects of their own sexuality. The book includes sections on such basic topics as male and female anatomy, physical changes that take place during puberty, and the specifics of sexual intercourse. It also provides a balanced viewpoint on issues like teen parenthood, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, and homosexuality. Harris maintains a lighthearted tone that is augmented by the numerous cartoon-like diagrams created by Emberley. Two tiny cartoon characters—an open-minded, curious bird and a reluctant, embarrassed bee—appear frequently and add amusing commentary to the text.
Emberley includes “a reassuring variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and sexes” of unclothed humans throughout the book, according to Deborah Stevenson in the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, helping to make It’s Perfectly Normal “one of the most unintimidating and informative sex books to come along for this age group.” Writing in School Library Journal, Virginia E. Jeschelnig noted that “what it offers in scope, currency, and a cheerfully engaging format is quite special” and should allow readers to gain “a healthy respect for their bodies and a better understanding of the role that sexuality plays in the human experience.” A reviewer in Horn Book added that Harris’s book will likely “raise eyebrows, produce giggles, and arm younger readers with all the information they need to understand their developing bodies and to stay healthy.”
It’s So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families provides parents with an easy means of broaching the subject of how babies are made to their curious, elementary-aged offspring. Including a discussion of male and female anatomy, the process by which eggs are produced and fertilized, fetal growth, and the birthing process, It’s So Amazing! was “written and illustrated with such thought that a child can hide away and study it” alone, according to New York Times Book Review contributor Colin Harrison. Noting the author’s “nonjudgmental” approach to sensitive issues such as sexual identity, sibling rivalry, and AIDS, a Horn Book contributor dubbed It’s So Amazing! a “thoughtful, intelligent, and most importantly, exuberant celebration of the creation and operation of children and adult bodies.”
With It’s NOT the Stork! A Book about Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends, Harris and Emberley provide basic information about human anatomy and the birth process for those who are just beginning elementary school. This book’s “respectful writing targets children’s natural curiosity without cloaking matters in obfuscating language,” Jennifer Mattson stated in Booklist, and a contributor in Kirkus Reviews similarly noted that the author’s “reassuring text and Emberley’s cheerfully lumpy cartoons hold the reader’s hand through question after question.” In School Library Journal, Martha Topol predicted that It’s NOT the Stork! “will be accessible to its intended audience, comforting in its clarity and directness, and useful to a wide range of readers.”
Because of their sensitive subject matter, It’s Perfectly Normal, It’s So Amazing!, and It’s NOT the Stork! each generated a measure of controversy, and some libraries removed these books from the shelves. Harris remarked in a LibrarySparks interview: “I think that in this country there’s a range of opinions about what it is children should know, and I think that many people feel that our children shouldn’t know about some of these things that have to do with sexuality, because, as adults, many of us weren’t talked to about these things.” She added: “What I say to kids when I speak in school is that knowing how your body works, knowing the difference between a male and a female and how those changes take place in puberty, knowing how not to make a baby, knowing how to make a baby at the right time, all of that is information that I think children have a right to know.”
Harris and Emberley have also combined their talents on a host of other books. Happy Birth Day! looks at the first day in the life of a newborn baby girl, and here Harris captures such moments as the baby’s first cry, the cutting of the umbilical cord, and the new mother nursing her child. Praising the collaborators’ work, a contributor in Publishers Weekly stated that “tenderness flows like a current throughout the warmhearted prose,” and Stephanie Zvirin asserted in Booklist that Happy Birth Day! is “full of the universal wonder of new life and the quiet drama of family bonding.”
Hi, New Baby! serves as a sequel of sorts to Happy Birth Day! in its focus on the appearance of a second child in a growing family. Narrated by the father, the book’s text addresses a preschooler, reassuring her that she is far more grown up than the baby and inspiring her confidence enough to rock the new family member to sleep. A Publishers Weekly reviewer termed Hi, New Baby! “a sympathetic, credible approach to a reluctant sibling’s plight,” while in Booklist, GraceAnne A. DeCandido deemed the work “a siblingfest of reassurance and joy.”
In Mail Harry to the Moon!, Harris again looks at sibling rivalry, in this case an older sibling’s frustrations with his infant brother. As baby Harry begins to steal the spotlight from the narrator, the older boy suggests a number of outrageous solutions to his problem, one of which is to send the infant into space. Harris and Emberley’s “considerable talents make this otherwise familiar tale feel fresh and funny—and psychologically true,” asserted a Publishers Weekly critic. The disappearance of a favorite book prompts a youngster to speculate wildly on its whereabouts in Maybe a Bear Ate It! According to School Library Journal reviewer Judith Constantinides, Harris’s text and Emberley’s illustrations for this book “mirror the youngster’s emotions as he conjures up each possible disaster.”
Harris’s collaborations with Emberley include a series called “Growing Up Stories” that is designed to explain child development to younger children. Hello Benny! What It’s Like to Be a Baby follows a baby’s first year as he learns to smile, make noises, roll over, and begin to balance on his tiny feet. In Go! Go! Maria! What It’s Like to Be One a toddler learns to walk, run, and develop her curiosity while keeping other family members on their toes. Another addition to the series, Sweet Jasmine, Nice Jackson: What It’s Like to Be Two—and Be Twins, centers on the growing independence of a pair of African American youngsters.
Reviewing Hello Benny! in Horn Book, Lauren Adams praised it as a work that “will be welcomed for its relaxed style and reliable information.” Calling Go! Go! Maria! a mix of “fun and fact in a lively package,” Booklist reviewer Stephanie Zvirin predicted that the book’s read-aloud appeal would make the learning process “a real family affair.” Sweet Jasmine, Nice Jackson “presents a delightful mix of story, factual text, and endearing artwork,” Joy Fleishacker remarked in appraising the work in School Library Journal.
Who Has What? and What’s in There? All about You before You Were Born are the first two works in Harris’s “Let’s Talk about You and Me” series. Aimed at preschoolers and featuring illustrations by Nadine Bernard Wescott, Who Has What? notes the similarities and differences between male and female anatomy, “matter-of-factly combin[ing] common childhood language … and anatomically correct terms,” according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. In What’s in There? two siblings learn about the miracle of birth when their mother becomes pregnant. Another critic in Kirkus Reviews described Harris’s narrative here as “clear, direct and anatomically correct; an excellent entryway for the many anticipated questions about childbirth.”
Harris and Westcott offer a tribute to diversity in Who’s in My Family? All about Our Families, which features “clearly written, inclusive text and … large, cheerful illustrations,” as Carolyn Phelan observed in Booklist. Readers follow an interracial couple and their children during a visit to the zoo, where they encounter a variety of families that differ in size and composition. “Harris’s upbeat, nonjudgmental prose explains that families can diverge in many ways,” from what they eat to how they look, a Publishers Weekly reviewer stated, and Alison Donnelly, critiquing the volume in School Library Journal, called the narrative “unadorned and economical, but gentle, and perfect for very young children.” A writer in Kirkus Reviews applauded the artwork in Who’s in My Family?, noting that “Westcott’s cartoonlike illustrations echo and extend the text, making a wide range of families visible and accessible to readers.”
The fourth installment in the “Let’s Talk about You and Me” series, What’s So Yummy? All about Eating Well and Feeling Good, was described as “a fine resource for promoting a healthy lifestyle” by School Library Journal critic Joanna K. Fabicon. The work follows young siblings Nellie and Gus as they prepare for a family picnic by visiting—via bicycle and scooter—a community garden, a farmer’s market, and a store to select fruits, vegetables, and other wholesome foods. Once at the park, the children and their parents engage in a variety of activities, from soccer to kite flying, after enjoying their meal, which includes almond butter to account for Nellie’s peanut butter allergy. “Never shaming and always empowering, the book champions healthy choices as key to good living,” a writer observed in Kirkus Reviews.
Harris celebrates human diversity in Who We Are! Here, Gus and Nellie spend the day at a busy amusement park where they take note of the multitude of ways people look and act. Their conversations regarding similarities and differences in skin color, dress, hair texture, and stature, captured in speech bubbles, punctuate Harris’s narrative, which addresses topics such as genetics. Additionally, “readers are invited to consider the pain caused by ‘saying mean things,’ which pushes beyond surface celebration of diversity,” a Kirkus Reviews contributor stated, and Grace Oliff, writing in School Library Journal, predicted that the volume would be “particularly useful as a springboard to antibullying discussions.”
Illustrated by Tony de Luna, Harris’s picture book Don’t Forget to Come Back! provides an honest and straightforward look at a problem common to children. Here little Annie becomes upset when her mother tells her that she is going out for the evening and that Annie will be staying at home with a babysitter. Because she does not want her parents to leave without her, the girl tries every conceivable tactic to disrupt their plans. When her parents cope with her actions patiently and firmly, she finally realizes that staying home with the babysitter will not be so bad after all. Writing in School Library Journal, Joan W. Blos stated that “reading this story aloud together might engender useful discussions” in families where leaving a child with a sitter has become a problem.
Harris addresses a common childhood fear in I Am Not Going to School Today!, about a young boy who takes a big step toward growing up with the help of his favorite toy, a monkey named Hank. Writing in Booklist, Karin Snelson maintained that “children with first-day jitters will take comfort” in Harris’s reassuring picture book.
In The Day Leo Said I Hate You! a bored youngster, frustrated by his mother’s efforts to check his rowdy behavior, lashes out verbally, forcing the pair to confront their feelings. “The denouement offers a realistic and loving dialogue that should be required reading in parenting and anger-management classes,” Wendy Lukehart asserted in School Library Journal. A youngster’s ability to handle loud, frightening noises is the focus of Harris’s When Lions Roar, a picture book illustrated by Chris Raschka. “Sensitive children … will recognize themselves in this portrait of a boy taking a break from overwhelming stimuli,” a reviewer in Publishers Weekly maintained.
Harris teamed with illustrator Nicole Hollander for the works in the “Just Being Me” series, which is aimed at preschoolers. In I Love Messes! —first published as Messy Jessie —a little girl enjoys unloading the refrigerator, piling food on the kitchen floor, and creatively mixing the items together. In I’m All Dressed — Hot Henry —a young boy demonstrates his independence by creating his own outfit, with decidedly mixed results. In both cases, the youngster’s parents demonstrate reason, patience, and caring. “The texts and art are playful and cheerful,” Amelia Jenkins commented in School Library Journal, and Mattson predicted that young readers “will simply exult in the silly fun modeled on the pages.”
In Turtle and Me, featuring artwork by Tor Freeman, “Harris attacks a common childhood anxiety with her customary smarts and bracing lack of sentiment,” according to a Kirkus Reviews writer. The story explores the enduring relationship between a little boy and his beloved stuffed toy, Turtle, which has become the youngster’s best friend and source of emotional support. When Turtle suffers irreparable damage during an argument between its owner and a derisive playmate, the boy’s father helps him come to terms with the loss. A critic in Publishers Weekly offered praise for Turtle and Me, calling it “a book of poetic, plainspoken beauty, resonant with deeply felt emotions about attachment, loyalty, and growing up.”
With illustrator Chris Chatteron, Harris has written a pair of conceptual titles: Crash! Boom! A Math Tale and Now What? A Math Tale. In Crash! Boom!, Harris offers “a simply presented look at block play and the mathematics behind it,” Lisa Kropp observed in School Library Journal. The tale focuses on Elephant, a curious-minded creature who constructs a series of wooden towers, each using a different combination of blocks than the ones that stood before (and toppled over with a loud “crash-boom”). “Elephant’s pure joy in exploration and success are sure to be catching,” a contributor predicted in Kirkus Reviews.
Shapes and basic geometry are also at the center of Now What? as an orange, black, and white puppy gets the reader’s help in arranging a set of blocks to make a platform to lie on. A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that the “repetitive text keeps a steady pace and includes exhortations … encouraging reader engagement,” altogether making for “quaint independent learning.”
Harris teamed up with illustrator Natascha Rosenberg for the board book Who? A Celebration of Babies and with Anoosha Syed for Look! Babies Head to Toe. In the former title, pictures of babies with their caretakers accompany simple text asking who is in the picture and then answering the question. A Kirkus Reviews writer appreciated the “diverse cast of characters” and “positive, direct, and charming” tone of Who? In turn, a Children’s Bookwatch reviewer called Look! “an exuberant introduction to the parts of the body and the senses.”
Harris teamed up with illustrator Armando Mariño in 2022 to produce Somewhere. As the story opens, a daughter and her father stroll to the park on a sunny day. Once they arrive at the park, the daughter decides that she would love to go somewhere new, and with a sudden burst of independence, she sets out into the forest away from her father. While exploring the woods, the child uncovers many treasures, including a peso, flowers, feathers, and giant leaves. As she is taking stock of her finds, the girl realizes that her father must be lonely, and he would probably enjoy the treasures she has found too. The daughter runs back to her father where he is waiting with open arms. The two discover that, in fact, there are plenty of new places they can go together. “The story sensitively portrays a parent who understands the fine balance between a child’s need for independence and the need for supportive reassurance,” wrote a critic in Kirkus Reviews. Writing in School Library Journal, Olivia Gorecke concluded that Somewhere is “brimming with respect for curiosity and independence, this is a welcome addition to most collections.”
Harris, noted a contributor on the Bank Street College of Education website, “believes children have a right to the information they seek and a right to have their feelings validated through the books they read.” The writer added, “She knows not every book is for every child, but believes every child deserves answers to their questions. For [Harris], the questions, concerns, information, and feelings children have and wonder about day in and day out turn into books.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Appraisal, spring, 1978, review of Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings.
Booklist, May 1, 1996, Stephanie Zvirin, author interview, p. 1495, and review of Happy Birth Day!, p. 1502; January 1, 2000, Amy Brandt, review of It’s So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families, p. 912; October 1, 2000, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Hi, New Baby!, p. 345; September 1, 2001, Ilene Cooper, review of Goodbye, Mousie, p. 114; October 15, 2002, Ilene Cooper, review of Hello Benny! What It’s Like to Be a Baby, p. 3407; August, 2003, Karin Snelson, review of I Am Not Going to School Today!, p. 1992; September 15, 2003, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Go! Go! Maria! What It’s Like to Be One, p. 245; March 1, 2004, Gillian Engberg, review of Don’t Forget to Come Back!, p. 1195; October 1, 2004, Diane Foote, review of Sweet Jasmine, Nice Jackson: What It’s Like to Be Two—and Be Twins, p. 334; November 15, 2005, Jennifer Mattson, reviews of I Love Messes! and I’m All Dressed!, both p. 51; June 1, 2006, Jennifer Mattson, review of It’s NOT the Stork! A Book about Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends, p. 74; December 15, 2007, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Maybe a Bear Ate It!, p. 46; September 1, 2008, Daniel Kraus, review of The Day Leo Said I Hate You!, p. 102; September 1, 2011, Daniel Kraus, review of Who Has What? All about Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies, p. 103; November 1, 2012, Carolyn Phelan, review of Who’s in My Family? All about Our Families, p. 51; July 1, 2014, Carolyn Phelan, review of What’s So Yummy? All about Eating Well and Feeling Good, p. 62; January 1, 2016, Amina Chaudhri, review of Who We Are! All about Being the Same and Being Different, p. 68; April 15, 2018, Lolly Gepson, review of Crash! Boom! A Math Tale, p. 53.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, October, 1994, Deborah Stevenson, “The Big Picture,” p. 35.
Children’s Bookwatch, December, 2019, review of Look! Babies Head to Toe.
Horn Book, March, 1995, review of It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health, p. 214; January, 2000, review of It’s So Amazing!, p. 98; November-December, 2002, Lauren Adams, review of Hello Benny!, p. 776; November-December, 2003, Christine M. Hepperman, review of Go! Go! Maria!, p. 765; September-October, 2004, Lauren Adams, review of Sweet Jasmine, Nice Jackson, p. 568; September-October, 2006, Christine M. Hepperman, review of It’s NOT the Stork!, p. 605; November-December, 2011, Christine M. Hepperman, review of Who Has What?, p. 123.
Journal of Youth Services in Libraries, fall, 1997, review of It’s Perfectly Normal, p. 77.
Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 1987, reviews of Hot Henry and Messy Jessie, both p. 1674; November 1, 1999, review of It’s So Amazing!, p. 1742; September 15, 2002, review of Hello Benny!, p. 1391; June 15, 2003, review of I Am Not Going to School Today!, p. 859; July 1, 2004, review of Sweet Jasmine, Nice Jackson, p. 630; July 15, 2006, review of It’s NOT the Stork!, p. 722; December 1, 2007, review of Maybe a Bear Ate It!; May 1, 2008, review of Mail Harry to the Moon! July 15, 2011, review of Who Has What?; August 15, 2012, review of Who’s in My Family?; August 1, 2013, review of When Lions Roar; August 15, 2013, review of What’s in There? All about You before You Were Born; July 15, 2014, review of What’s So Yummy?; February 15, 2015, review of Turtle and Me; January 1, 2016, review of Who We Are!; March 1, 2018, review of Crash! Boom!; July 1, 2018, review of Who? A Celebration of Babies; April 1, 2019, review of Now What? A Math Tale; December 1, 2021, review of Somewhere.
LibrarySparks, May-June, 2006, author interview.
New York Times Book Review, March 30, 1997, Samuel Shem, review of Happy Birth Day!, p. 18; November 21, 1999, Colin Harrison, review of It’s So Amazing!, p. 26; May 11, 2008, Sarah Ellis, review of Mail Harry to the Moon!, p. 23.
Observer (London, England), August 9, 1998, Kate Kellaway, review of Happy Birth Day!, p. 98.
Publishers Weekly, June 17, 1996, review of Happy Birth Day!; September 18, 2000, review of Hi, New Baby!, p. 110; July 30, 2001, review of Goodbye, Mousie, p. 83; July 15, 2002, review of Hello Benny!, p. 72; May 26, 2003, review of I Am Not Going to School Today!, p. 69; September 1, 2003, review of Go! Go! Maria!, p. 91; February 2, 2004, review of Don’t Forget to Come Back!, p. 75; April 28, 2008, review of Mail Harry to the Moon!, p. 137; July 25, 2011, review of Who Has What?, p. 49; August 13, 2012, review of Who’s in My Family?, p. 64; August 19, 2013, review of When Lions Roar, p. 64; February 9, 2015, review of Turtle and Me, p. 65; August 27, 2018, review of Who?, p. 116.
School Library Journal, December, 1978, Joan W. Blos, review of Don’t Forget to Come Back!, p. 44; December, 1994, Virginia E. Jeschelnig, review of It’s Perfectly Normal, p. 123; February, 2000, Katie O’Dell, review of It’s So Amazing!, p. 112; November, 2000, Martha Topol, review of Hi, New Baby!, p. 122; September, 2001, Joy Fleishacker, review of Goodbye, Mousie, p. 190; September, 2002, Martha Topol, review of Hello Benny!, p. 193; May, 2003, John Peters, review of It’s Perfectly Normal, p. 102; July, 2003, Joyce Adams Burner, reviews of It’s So Amazing! and It’s Perfectly Normal, both p. 78, and Joy Fleishacker, review of I Am Not Going to School Today!, p. 98; March, 2004, Lauralyn Persson, review of Don’t Forget to Come Back!, and Jane Barrer, review of Go! Go! Maria!, both p. 170; September, 2004, Joy Fleishacker, review of Sweet Jasmine, Nice Jackson, p. 161; January, 2006, Amelia Jenkins, reviews of I Love Messes! and I’m All Dressed, both p. 97; September, 2006, Martha Topol, review of It’s NOT the Stork!, p. 193; January, 2008, Judith Constantinides, review of Maybe a Bear Ate It!, p. 88; June, 2008, Jayne Damron, review of Mail Harry to the Moon!, p. 104; August, 2008, Wendy Lukehart, review of The Day Leo Said I Hate You!, p. 92; October, 2011, Maggie Chase, review of Who Has What?, p. 126; September, 2012, Alison Donnelly, review of Who’s in My Family?, p. 130; September, 2013, Maryann H. Owen, review of When Lions Roar, p. 122, and Roxanne Burg, review of What’s in There?, p. 176; July, 2014, Joanna K. Fabicon, review of What’s So Yummy?, p. 118; April, 2015, Julie Roach, review of Turtle and Me, p. 128; March, 2016, Grace Oliff, review of Who We Are!, p. 167; April, 2018, Lisa Kropp, review of Crash! Boom!, p. 100; November, 2021, Olivia Gorecke, review of Somewhere, p. 60.
ONLINE
Bank Street College of Education website, https://www.bankstreet.edu/ (April 22, 2015), “Robie Harris Tackles Sensitive Issues in Appropriate Ways.”
Celebrate Picture Books, https://celebratepicturebooks.com/ (August 28, 2019), author interview.
Cooperative Children’s Book Center website, http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ (October 17, 2000), Tana Elias, “The Perfectly Amazing Robie Harris.”
PEN American Center website, http://www.pen.org/ (October 15, 2012), “Robie Harris on the Banning of Her Books.”
Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (September 18, 2014), Shannon Maughan, “It’s Perfectly Normal Turns 20.”
Robie H. Harris website, http://robieharris.com (June 1, 2022).*
My Story
Kids and adults always ask me, “When did you publish your first book?” “In kindergarten,” I answer. And they all look quite surprised.
In my kindergarten class, the first thing we did every morning was to draw a picture and tell our teacher a story about our drawing. Each day, our teacher would write down our story. At the end of the year, each student’s stories and drawings were compiled into a book. I named that book — my first book — ROBIE’S STORIES. It was “published” in June 1946.
From second grade on, the first thing we did every morning was to write — anything — for 15 minutes. Our teacher told us not to worry about spelling. We could fix that later. Once a week, we would read aloud what we had wrote and our classmates would tell us what did and didn’t work. The next day we would revise our writing-until we got it “right.”
I still write numerous drafts — maybe more than 30 or even 40 or more for each book — so many I lose track of just how many! I still read what I write out loud to myself at the end of each day, so I can hear the parts that work and the parts that don’t work. The next day, I work on the parts that didn’t work. To this day, almost every day, I still almost always start writing first thing in the morning — a habit I first learned in kindergarten.
My dear friend and first cousin, Elizabeth A. Levy, is a talented and prolific children’s book author. She and I attended the same elementary school. Liz and I are each other’s first readers and toughest critics — a practice we both learned from our remarkable elementary school teachers. My husband and kids, my sister-in-law Robyn, and dear friend Debbie are also early readers of my drafts — and they are tough critics, too!
I never planned to be a children’s book author. It just happened. But I always liked making books. I was editor of my high school newspaper and college yearbook. After graduate school, I became an elementary school teacher at the Bank Street School for Children in New York City and taught children how to write.
A few years later, I worked with two veteran and talented children’s book authors, Irma Black and Bill Hooks, at the Bank Street Writer’s Laboratory. Five mornings a week, sitting together with pencil, paper and a toy piano, we wrote a song and the five-minute opening segment for ABC’s Captain Kangaroo show. Here I learned to spend the morning writing and the rest of the day rewriting, and to work with others to create something better than anything I could create by myself. Collaboration became a habit and I have worked with and continue to work with extraordinarily talented illustrators — Armando, Mariño, Michael Emberley, Molly Bang, Chris Raschka, Nadine Bernard Wescott, Patrick Benson, Tor Freeman, Jan Ormerod, Harry Bliss, and Nicole Hollander — so that hopefully my text and their art become seamless.
I grew up in a home where all the neighborhood children played and hung out. The home my children grew up in was that way as well. My mother adored and respected children. I too love and respect children — from babies to adolescents — and find them refreshingly honest and always fascinating. Perhaps that’s why children, and only a few animals, are the characters in my books. The BIRD and BEE characters I created are really the voices of children.
I love to write about powerful emotions children have and how they express those legitimate and perfectly normal feelings. So, it’s no surprise that my picture books explore the inner life of children and deal with topics such as: love, joy, attachment, independence, fear, sibling rivalry, and even anger and hate. I love to write about everyday moments, those ‘Ah ha!’ moments when a child is puzzled or is confused by something and asks questions such as: How are babies made?” I also love creating board book for infants and toddlers who are all so amazing and lead me to so many board book ideas.
My father was a radiologist, my mother worked in a biology laboratory before I was born, and my brother was a neurosurgeon. I am quite sure their love of science influenced me greatly and is probably why my nonfiction books explore such subjects as: infancy, early childhood development, gender, families, puberty, reproduction, cells, genetics, viruses, nutrition, health, and sexual health.
My family — being a wife and mom, and a grandmother — also influences my writing. My husband’s work, and the work of my two grown children and their spouses’, centers on children and families. I learn from my entire family, including my wonderful teenage grandchildren, who often consult on my books. They have weaved themselves into my current books in small and big ways. And I can’t wait to see the ways they will weave themselves into my future books!
Your Top 10 Questions
1. Why do you write the kinds of books you do?
I write about what grabs me emotionally and what fascinates me — the same kinds of things that I think children wonder about — topics such as: attachment, love, joy, anger, fear, separation, loss, growing up, gender, and healthy sexuality. These are difficult subjects, but they are the stuff of life I find intriguing. These are topics adult literature deals with, so why not children’s literature?
That’s why in my picture books I try to tell a good story, and through the telling of a story I try to help young children understand that the strong and powerful feelings they have are perfectly normal and perfectly healthy.I’m also interested in figuring out how to get information to children and teens that can help them to stay physically and emotionally healthy. A good story or a picture book and nonfiction book, if done well and with honesty, can strike a responsive chord in children and hopefully interest them as well as help them better understand themselves and the world they live in.
2. Do any of the books you write come from your own childhood?
I’m quite sure a lot in my books comes from my own childhood, but the books also come from being a mother and a grandmother. And they also come from my adult life and the world I see around me and the daily observations and experiences I have. All of this feeds into my writing.
3. Is writing easy for you? Do you feel lonely being a writer?
No. I find writing very hard to do, and I feel it’s especially hard to do well. I’m never completely satisfied with what I’ve done. But I love the challenge of figuring out how to make a book work for a child.
Lonely? Yes and no. At times it feels lonely because you write alone and have to figure out how to make a book work on your own. That’s a writer’s responsibility. But I talk with family, friends and my editors endlessly, and I consult with experts quite often about my work, asking questions and asking their opinions, although I don’t always listen to everything everyone tells me. This talking and consulting makes me feel part of a community, and all are generous with their wisdom, time and expertise.
4. Why don’t you illustrate your own books?
I can’t draw for beans! Never could and probably never will. And besides, I get to work with such extraordinary illustrators who have new ideas that make my writing and my books better!
5. Do you try to write without expressing your own opinions?
Yes and no. All of my books contain my values. It’s almost impossible, at least for me, to write anything that does not reflect my beliefs. I try not to preach, but rather to tell a story or to give accurate and honest information.
6. How do you feel when someone disagrees with something you have written?
I would never expect everyone to agree with everything I write or say in my books. However, in a democracy, everyone has the right to express his or her thoughts and opinions. If someone disagrees with me or with what I’ve written, or does not want to read any book I have written, that’s fine with me, and I respect that person’s right to do so.
I feel that in a democracy every individual should have the right to choose and the freedom to read what he or she wants to read — and for me as a writer, and for all writers, to write what we choose to write.
7. How do you make sure the information for your nonfiction books is accurate and up-to-date?
First, I talk to every expert I can to make sure my information and my science is as up-to-date and as accurate as possible. Then, I ask them to read what I have written. But sometimes the experts disagree. Science is not always perfect and scientists do not always agree. That’s when as a writer I need to make a judgment on which piece of information to include or whether to include two points of view and say in the text… “scientists disagree…” or “people may disagree.”
8. When you begin writing a picture book, do you know what the ending will be?
When I start, I know what the book will be about, but I rarely know what the ending will be. And I usually have no idea what the progression of my picture books will be until I write the opening pages. It’s one of the great pleasures of writing fiction. Often, where the book goes and the ending surprises me.
9. You’re a grown-up, so how can you write about things that happened to you a long time ago?
The things I write about — attachment, separation, loss and growing up — are issues that all begin in childhood, even in infancy, and are with us throughout our lives. I do try my hardest, though, to write from a “child’s-eye view” or to write with the mandate “What’s in the best interests of the child?” That means being honest in your writing — portraying children’s — even young children’s — real emotions.
Some of the things I write about happened to me in childhood. Others happened to people I know or have read about. Since I find infancy, childhood and adolescence so fascinating, that fascination helps me to write about babies, children and teens. And some things, in my fiction, I make up.
10. How long does it take to complete one of your books?
This is a hard question to answer. I’m a slow writer, and it takes me a long time, sometimes even two or three years from the first time an idea pops into my brain until a book is completed. IT’S PERFECTLY NORMAL took almost five years from start to finish. Some of the picture books I write, such as I AM NOT GOING TO SCHOOL TODAY!, took about a year.
Robie Harris, who wrote an often-banned book about sexuality for kids, dies at 83
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Robie Harris' book about sexuality for kids called It's Perfectly Normal was often banned, but has sold more than a million copies. Harris died last month at 83 years old.
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ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The author of one of the most banned books in America has died. Here's Robie Harris on NPR in 2014.
ROBIE HARRIS: To me, it wasn't controversial. It's what every child has a right to know.
SHAPIRO: Harris wrote children's books that explained sexuality and puberty in simple, non-judgmental terms. Her best-known book, "It's Perfectly Normal," sold more than a million copies. It came out 30 years ago, has gone through several editions and been banned from many schools and libraries. NPR's Neda Ulaby has our remembrance.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Robie Harris was a mild-mannered children's author who knew "It's Perfectly Normal" would become perfectly notorious.
HARRIS: I was warned by several people not to do this book, that it would ruin my career. But I really didn't care.
ULABY: Harris came from a family that loved science. She grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., where her dad was a radiologist. Her mom had worked in a biology lab, and her brother became a surgeon. Harris studied to be a teacher before writing books for kids - more than 30 of them.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Reading) Some families eat bacon, eggs...
ULABY: You can see people on YouTube reading from Harris' kids' books. This one is called "Who's In My Family?" It shows different families around the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Reading) Some eat pita bread, hummus, cucumbers and olives. Yum.
ULABY: That book was banned in Singapore for showing families with same-sex parents. When it came to approaching sex and sexuality, Harris, who had studied child development, was upfront and careful. She ran everything she wrote past teachers, pediatricians, psychologists, parents and kids. Her book "It's Perfectly Normal" shows naked people in cheerful cartoons. Everyone is ordinary-looking and happy. But public response was not always positive.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN AMANCHUKWU: I'll read some of this for you.
ULABY: A pastor named John Amanchukwu brandished a copy of "It's Perfectly Normal" last year at a school board meeting in Asheville, N.C. He found it overly graphic and objected to its representation of LGBTQ people. In a scene that's played out in other school board meetings nationally, he demanded its removal from public schools and libraries. But that's exactly where Robie Harris believed her books belonged. She told NPR in 2014 they should not even be cordoned off in special sections.
HARRIS: No child's going to go up to a librarian and say, you know, I'm going through puberty and seem to have some pubic hairs, and maybe you could recommend something to me. So if a book is in a special section of a library, maybe the kids who need it the most are not going to get it.
ULABY: Early in her career, Harris had worked with underserved kids as a Head Start teacher. She cared deeply about the children who needed information the most. Robie Harris died last month in Manhattan. She was 83 years old. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.
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PEN AMERICA MOURNS THE DEATH OF CHILDREN’S BOOK AUTHOR ROBIE HARRIS, A CHAMPION OF FREE EXPRESSION AND THE RIGHT TO READ
January 19, 2024
Robie Harris, left, with PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel at the 2023 PEN America Literary Gala, NYC
By Suzanne Trimel
(NEW YORK)— PEN America is mourning the death of Robie Harris, the prolific author who specialized in nonfiction books for children that explored their inner lives, guided their awakening to topics from emotions and sexuality to health and relationships, and exposed them to wide-ranging topics, from science to engineering. A former elementary school teacher, Harris was a longtime supporter of PEN America and the cause of free expression and served over many years on its Children’s and Young Adult Books Committee.
Harris, who wrote more than 30 books for children, died on Jan. 6 at age 83 in New York City. With rising banning of books in public schools, including her own titles, she inspired many through her unflinching defense of the right to read for all ages and rallied authors to the cause of standing against this censorship.
PEN America shares its sorrow over Harris’ death with her family and many friends in the writing community.
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said: “Robie was utterly fearless. She believed very strongly that children had the right to know about their own bodies, sexuality and puberty and as a former teacher of young children took it upon herself to make that happen. Her books were totally matter-of-fact in educating kids on these subjects and she was undaunted by the frequent challenges and bans against her well-praised books. Robie was indefatigable, going on at full steam well into her 80s and we will deeply miss her engagement and dedicated contribution to our work.”
Krystyna Poray Goddu and Paul Zelinsky, co-chairs of the Children’s and Young Adult Books Committee, said: “Robie was a calm and sage source of guidance for our committee. She stood against censorship with tact and firmness, serving as a model to all of us. And while she is known best for her groundbreaking children’s books about human sexuality—and for speaking out against book banning—she also wrote many outstanding books for young people on other subjects. Her grasp of the inner lives of young children was unequaled and she always addressed them with the honesty they deserve. Her death leaves a huge gap. We will miss Robie deeply, her humor and her wisdom.”
Harris’ subject interest was broad, including books that exposed children to engineering, architecture, nutrition, math, death, and genetics.
Her most famous book, It’s Perfectly Normal (illustrated by Michael Emberley), guided preadolescent children on the topic of puberty, their changing bodies, sexuality, and sexual health. It was translated into 27 languages and sold one million copies.
It was praised for normalizing questions about the topic and offering positive messages and accurate information about sexuality and bodily changes. Published in 1994, it was updated numerous times including a 25th anniversary edition. While the title won praise from physicians, child development specialists, and educators for its accuracy, reliability and for offering children clear guidance on the topic, the book was frequently banned and removed from school and public libraries in the United States with critics citing its unvarnished accuracy and visual representation of the subject and questioning its age-appropriateness.
The book was listed by the American Literature Association as a Notable Children’s Book in 1995 and by The New York Times and School Library Journal among its Best Books.
Addressing the censorship of the book, Harris had shared the story of a criminal case in Delaware involving the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl by her father. It’s Perfectly Normal was raised by the judge who presided in the case as the spark that led to the father’s prosecution and conviction. After checking the book out of a library, the girl showed her mother the chapter on sexual abuse and said, “This is me.” The judge in the case said: “There were heroes in this case. One was the child, and the other was the book.” Harris wrote that the girl’s mother was also a hero for listening to her daughter, and that the librarian who ordered the book and kept it stocked on shelves also made the prosecution possible.
The banning of her book led to her inclusion in a 2021 collection, You Can’t Say That! Writers for Young People Talk About Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell by literary critic Leonard S. Marcus. The book is a collection of interviews of popular children’s and young adult writers about their experiences with book censorship.
Harris was an ardent supporter of PEN America’s work to document and defend against the current rise of book banning in public schools nationwide.
Jonathan Friedman, director of PEN America’s Free Expression and Education program, said: “Robie was an avid advocate for young people, insisting that all children deserve to see themselves reflected in the books they read. Her unflinching stance in the face of efforts to ban her books has been an inspiration to many, including me. Her powerful legacy will be felt not just among family, friends, or scores of young readers, but among the authors and advocates carrying the fight against book censorship forward today.”
Harris’ works also included It’s So Amazing! The title answered children’s curiosity about reproduction and the birth process– how babies begin, what makes a baby male or female, how babies are born.
She was a hero to many in the LGBTQ community for her unapologetic inclusion of LGBTQ parents and sexuality in her books for children, and for her courageous refusal to be shut down by the opponents of free speech.
She was also a great supporter of diversity in publishing children’s books and wrote in a 2016 essay that she spent a great deal of time making sure that It’s Perfectly Normal reflected diverse readers as to “what each person in this book might say, look like, or wear; or who would be which race and/or ethnicity; or how gender, age, or disabilities might play into the text and the art; and who would have what body shape, skin color, hair, or eye shape; or what might various members of a family or a group of kids say, be like, or look like.”
Born into a family of scientists (her father was a radiologist, her mother worked in a biology laboratory and her brother was a neurosurgeon), Harris was educated at the Bank Street School of Education and became an elementary school teacher at its laboratory school, where she taught writing. Harris’ cousin, Elizabeth Levy, was also the author of numerous books for children.
She wrote that her background in teaching and her fascination with children’s curiosity, inspired her pursuit of writing, which she had loved from childhood. “I love to write about powerful emotions children have and how they express those legitimate and perfectly normal feelings. So, it’s no surprise that my picture books explore the inner life of children and deal with topics such as: love, joy, attachment, independence, fear, sibling rivalry, and even anger and hate. I love to write about everyday moments, those ‘Ah ha!’ moments when a child is puzzled or is confused by something and asks questions such as: How are babies made?”
Robie Harris, Often-Banned Children’s Author, Is Dead at 83
Her children’s books on matters of sex and sexuality — notably “It’s Perfectly Normal” — became fodder for the culture wars.
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Robie Harris, with short gray hair and glasses, wearing a white and black patterned scarf over a black sweater and smiling.
Robie Harris in 2018. Her most famous book, “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, and Sexual Health” (1994), with its explicit illustrations, was pulled from library shelves all over the country.Credit...Michele Cardamone
Adam Nossiter
By Adam Nossiter
Published Feb. 5, 2024
Updated Feb. 6, 2024
Robie Harris, a children’s book author and former teacher whose writing about sexuality made her among the most banned authors in America, died on Jan. 6 in Manhattan. She was 83.
Her death, in a hospital, was confirmed by her sons David and Ben Harris.
Ms. Harris’s most well-known book, “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, and Sexual Health” (1994), with its explicit illustrations, has been pulled from library shelves all over the country and has regularly made the American Library Association’s list of Frequently Challenged Children’s Books.
The book has been fought over from Virginia to Idaho, with detractors calling it pornography and supporters saying it is merely a frank and honest guide to sexuality for children and teenagers. It is geared for children 10 and up.
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Updated several times, “It’s Perfectly Normal” has sold more than a million copies and been translated into 27 languages, according to PEN America. The writer and pediatrician Dr. Perri Klass called it a “classic” in The New York Times in 2017. Suzanne Nossel, the chief executive officer of PEN America, said in a statement that Ms. Harris’s books “were totally matter-of-fact in educating kids on these subjects.”
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“It’s Perfectly Normal” has been pulled from library shelves all over the country, and has regularly made the American Library Association’s list of Frequently Challenged Children’s Books since its publication.Credit...Candlewick Press
Those books still raise hackles. In Elkhart County, Ind., a year ago, the board of county commissioners declared at a meeting that “It’s Perfectly Normal” “depicts and describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.” A parent, Rhonda Miller, rose to say that Indiana’s schools and libraries “have become the distribution point for the pornography industry.”
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In Provo, Utah; Clover Park, Wash.; and Chester County, Pa., religious groups fought to keep it out of libraries in 1998. In Polk County, Fla., in 2022, a parents group submitted the book to the school district for review, claiming it was one of 16 books that were “age inappropriate” and that “hypersexualize children.” There were many other such complaints.
Ms. Harris confronted the hostility without rancor. “I think that in this country there’s a range of opinions about what children should know,” she told an interviewer for LibrarySparks magazine in 2006, “and I think that many people feel that our children shouldn’t know about some of these things that have to do with sexuality, because, as adults, many of us weren’t talked to about these things.”
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A shelf of banned books at the Portland Public Library in 2007, including "It's Perfectly Normal."Credit...John Patriquin/Portland Press Herald, via Getty Images
Even some who praised her have wondered if she had pushed too far in “It’s Perfectly Normal.”
“Is this too much? Harris wisely allows that it might be,” Jill Lepore wrote in The New Yorker in 2010, about an explicit part of the book. In Slate, Aymann Ismail wrote, “On virtually every page I stopped to examine, I was confronted with detailed drawings of genitals.”
But Ms. Harris told the interviewer: “Our kids already know about 99.9 percent of this stuff. What concerned me is that they have a lot of misinformation, no matter how much they tell us, and I wanted them to get accurate information.”
Ms. Harris wrote more than 30 children’s books, including Don’t Forget to Come Back (1978); I Hate Kisses (1981); “It’s So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families” (1999); and “It’s NOT the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends” (2006).
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An illustration by Michael Emberly from “It’s Perfectly Normal.”Credit...Michael Emberly/Candlewick Press
But it was “It’s Perfectly Normal,” with its illustrations by Michael Emberly, that drew the most attention. Ms. Harris explained to LibrarySparks that her publisher had asked for a children’s book about H.I.V. and AIDS, and that she responded by saying she would write a book on “healthy sexuality” that included both.
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For her research she spoke with pediatricians and “anybody who had to do with the health and well-being of kids,” she said. She “read everything I could” and talked to dozens of people. “I wanted the book to be comprehensive,” she said, “and I wanted it to be a place where kids, preteens and teens could go and find the answer to almost every question that they might ask.”
That quality is evident in a film she made with her students in 1967 as a teacher at the Bank Street School for Children in New York City. In the film, “A Child’s Eye View,” she listens carefully to her students, questioning them gently and respectfully. “One of the things we did all the time was to observe the children, and have meetings and talk about the children’s behavior,” she told LibrarySparks.
Ms. Harris was born Robie Heilbrun on April 3, 1940, in Buffalo to Norman and Evelyn (Levy) Heilbrun. Her father was a radiologist. She graduated from Wheaton College in Massachusetts in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in English, moved to New York City and earned a master’s in teaching in 1966 from the Bank Street College of Education. Her first book, “Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings” (1977), was co-written with her cousin Elizabeth Levy.
In addition to her sons, Ms. Harris, who lived in Manhattan, is survived by her husband, William Harris, and four grandchildren.
Her son David recalled that for a children’s math book called “Crash! Boom!,” which is centered on toy building blocks, his mother, then in her 70s, dropped to the floor to see for herself how a castle she had built also fell apart.
“She dealt with kids’ emotions,” David said. “The thing about her was, it was always children, first.”
A correction was made on Feb. 6, 2024: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this obituary misidentified the college from which Ms. Harris graduated in 1962. It was Wheaton College in Massachusetts, not the college of the same name in Illinois. Because of another editing error, the earlier version also misstated the title that Suzanne Nossel holds with PEN America. She is the organization’s chief executive officer, not its executive director.
When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com.Learn more
Adam Nossiter has been bureau chief in Kabul, Paris, West Africa and New Orleans, and is now a Domestic Correspondent on the Obituaries desk. More about Adam Nossiter
Obituary: Robie Harris
By Shannon Maughan | Jan 18, 2024
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© Michele Cardamone
Robie Harris.
Children’s author, educator, and free speech champion Robie Harris, best known for her stories about young children’s powerful emotions and her frequently challenged and banned books on human sexuality, including It’s Perfectly Normal, died in New York City on January 6. She was 83.
Robie H. Harris was born April 3, 1940 in Buffalo, N.Y., to Norman and Evelyn Heilbrun. She caught the writing bug early on, and in an anecdote she shared on her website, Harris said that she often told people she published her first book when she was in kindergarten. It was there that her teacher encouraged students to draw a picture each morning and tell the teacher a story about it. Each students’ works were then compiled in a book. “I named the book—my first book—Robie’s Stories. It was ‘published’ in June 1946,” Harris wrote.
Harris kept her writing habit throughout her school years, serving as editor of her high school newspaper as well as editor of her college yearbook at Wheaton College. She graduated in 1962 with a B.A. in English and soon after moved to New York City where she initially found a job writing reports for the United Nations. She knew she wanted to pursue a teaching degree and a friend told her about Bank Street College of Education. In 1966, Harris earned her M.A.T. degree from Bank Street and became an elementary teacher at the Bank Street School for Children, where she taught writing and later directed after-school programs in the school’s new Head Start program.
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While working with the kids after school, Harris developed an idea to have them learn more about their Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood by filming themselves exploring it. She funded the project with grant money, which enabled her to get a Super 8 camera for each kid and work with filmmaker Philip Courter. The result was a film called Child’s Eye View, which was selected for the Lincoln Center Film Festival in 1968. When William W. Harris, then working on film and communications at Fordham University, interviewed Robie about the project, they hit it off, and the couple wed later that year. The Harrises were married for 56 years and raised two sons.
As a member of the Bank Street Writers’ Laboratory, Harris collaborated on projects with other writers, including experienced children’s book authors Irma Black and Bill Hooks. Together the trio landed a gig writing an original song and a five-minute opening segment for The Captain Kangaroo Show each week.
Harris’s first book was also a collaborative effort: she co-authored the nonfiction book Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings (Delacorte, 1977) with children’s author Elizabeth Levy, a close friend and her first cousin. In an interview with Leonard S. Marcus for the book You Can’t Say That!, (Candlewick, 2021) Harris explained that the book was inspired by the birth of her first child. She noted her own amazement at her son, and how her young nieces and nephews asked her endless question about the baby.
Harris stepped into the publishing ring solo with picture books Don’t Forget to Come Back (Knopf, 1978) and I Hate Kisses (Knopf, 1981). Several years later she embarked on an extensive new project while she was living in Boston—the work that would become her groundbreaking title It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, and Sexual Health (Candlewick, 1994). She did a copious amount of research consulting with doctors, nurses, psychologists, and scientists, and enlisted artist Michael Emberley—whom she knew a bit—to illustrate. Harris wanted to have a complete manuscript before submitting it to publishers, she told PW in a 2014 article celebrating the book’s 20th anniversary, because “it’s complicated and complex, and it’s loaded material for many people.” After Harris sent the project out to several houses, editor Amy Ehrlich at newly established Candlewick Press made an offer just two two weeks after receiving it.
It’s Perfectly Normal was later joined by It’s So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Brith, Babies, and Families (Candlewick, 1999) and It’s NOT the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends (Candlewick, 2006) to form what the publisher calls the Family Library. In addition to selling millions of copies, these titles have ranked among the most frequently challenged and banned books in the country according to the American Library Association. In an essay on this topic for PEN America, Harris wrote: “I write books for children because in some small way I hope that they will find the words I write useful, reassuring, interesting, and at times humorous and also in some small way help them to stay emotionally and/or physically healthy by giving honest, accurate, up-to-date, and age-appropriate information.” Similarly, she told Marcus, “This to me is the bottom line on freedom of expression. As a reader, you have the right to speak out for or against whatever you read. As a writer, I have the right to write whatever I want to write—and I am just not going to stop.”
She did not stop and worked diligently on periodic updates to the Family Library. The latest fully updated edition of It’s So Amazing was released earlier this month.
Levy remembered Harris with these words: “Robie and I were first cousins, born in Buffalo two years apart. When I moved to New York City in 1964, Robie and I were roommates, so I can almost literally say that for nearly 80 years, I always knew where she was, and most days, I talked to her. She was my north star. We were each other’s first readers and most trusted voices about our books. Robie had a plumb line into kids’ feelings, and a fearlessness about their strong emotions. Her honesty, humor, and fierceness persisted until the day she died.”
Hilary Van Dusen, senior executive editor at Candlewick, and Harris’s longtime editor, paid tribute: “I had the privilege of being Robie’s editor for the past 17 years, and of all the experiences we shared, I treasure and will miss most our extensive, expansive, and often unpredictable phone conversations. Ostensibly about a book, a call with Robie would range from family news to the news of reproductive rights across the country, from explicit sexual functions—we often joked that we hoped no one was looking at our search histories—to the mundane—but important!—content of an index, from body parts to the escapades of Bird and Bee. By the end of a conversation, I would be somewhat exhausted—she was hard to keep up with—but mostly in awe of a woman with such enormous dedication to giving kids the information they need to be safe and healthy. While I am at peace in knowing that the legacy of her books will live on for a long time to come, I will dearly miss our conversations.”
Fellow children’s book creator Susan Kulkin said: “During our 50-year friendship, Robie and I reviewed each other’s manuscripts and book designs, sat on panels, and went on school visits together. I quickly learned that Robie’s belief that children deserve truth was steadfast and absolute. When my book Beyond Magenta was attacked, Robie was the go-to person to guide me through the emotional and political minefield of challenged and banned books. Thank you, Robie, for your many trail markers. You are perfectly amazing.”
Perri Klass, professor of journalism and pediatrics at NYU and national medical director for Reach Out and Read, offered these words: “Robie treated her readers with the greatest respect, but she was also a born storyteller who knew the value of humor, and even silliness, especially around serious subjects. This is the woman who quite literally ‘wrote the book’ when it comes to discussions of bodies and sexual health; she honored everyone’s need for developmentally appropriate and accurate information.”
And Emberley, her frequent collaborator, shared this remembrance: “Working with Robie was like being in the relentless embrace of perfection. To hell with time or money or previous engagements. We used to joke, working for endless hours at her kitchen table in Cambridge, that we’d probably end up making 50 cents an hour on the book [It’s Perfectly Normal]. But I was in all the way, and so was she. After years of close collaboration, we finished each other’s sentences, our DNA actually became entwined. We laughed, we argued, we plotted, we struggled to get things right.
She was smart and sensitive, kind, and generous beyond reckoning. She was a complicated human being in the best sense, and she had one of the best attributes you can say about a human being—she was memorable.”
It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, Gender, and Families. By Robie H. Harris. Illus. by Michael Emberley. Jan. 2024. 88p. Candlewick, $24.99 (9781536207231). Gr. 2-5. 612.6.
It is truly amazing to realize that It's So Amazing!, the award-winning, straight-talking answer to where babies come from, first appeared 25 years ago. This newest edition retains its factual focus, charming illustrations, and reassuring tone. There's also a lot of new material. Many sentences now include qualifiers (many, most) to reflect wider physical and developmental diversity. An explanation of how menstrual cups work has been added to the section about periods. Specific gender references have been swapped out for gender-neutral language. Added illustrations in the chapter explaining physical sex feature diverse couples, and the text avoids mentions of male, female, or gender in general in deference to an added chapter, "What's Gender?" (labels, terms and definitions, acceptance). Additional material explains terms like pansexual and LGBTQ+, while an entirely new page addresses bullying and boundaries, and the section on HIV and AIDS also mentions the HPV vaccine. This updated, no-nonsense guide consistently celebrates diversity and inclusion and is ready to be shared with new generations of kids.--Kathleen McBroom
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McBroom, Kathleen. "It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, Gender, and Families." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 9-10, 1 Jan. 2024, p. 52. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A780973468/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=feae6c2d. Accessed 4 May 2024.