Born August 28, 1904 in Geneva, Switzerland
Died June 30, 1980 in Morristown, New Jersey
Roger Duvoisin (see
booklist) is one of those individuals who just happened to fall into the field of illustrating and writing children's books and yet proved to be not only very good at it but also quite influential and enduringly popular. He was born in Switzerland, August 28th, 1904 into a family with a strong orientation towards the arts. His father was an architect and his godmother was a famous enamel painter. While Duvoisin showed early interest in the arts, there was some energetic familial discussion as to his education.
As Duvoisin related in
The Junior Book of Authors:
Like most children, I loved to draw. Galloping horses were my favorite subject. But I labored in vain trying to draw the hoofs; they always looked like oversized shoes. Fortunately an uncle of mine had a special talent for drawing horses and I looked forward to his visit with great expectation as I always made him fill sheets of paper with magnificent horses, prancing on their elegant hoofs.
Trees were also my despair. They have so many leaves that I lost hope of drawing them all. I was sad when I looked at my trees whose leaves hung from the branches like Christmas tree ornaments. But I got help there too. My godmother, who was a well-known painter of enamels, said she knew a trick that would help me and she showed it to me. After that my trees were really bad.
Thus I scribbled so many strange things and used up so much white paper that my godmother declared she could see my future very clearly. I would be a painter of enamels. My mother concurred. But my father shook his head. He thought I would make a better chemist. He was alone against two – so he compromised. I would be an artist but not a painter of enamels; a mural painter and a stage designer. That was closer to his own profession. So, when I became of age, I entered art school.
Graduating from art school Roger Duvoisin first turned his hand to murals, posters and designing stage scenery and sets for the theater. Next he became the manager of a French pottery plant. It was in this time, in 1925, that he married Louise Fatio. Next he was recruited into designing textiles which took him to Lyons and Paris in France. In 1927, he was recruited by an American textile firm in New York to come and work for them. He made a commitment to relocate for a minimum of four years and he and Fatio moved to New York.
This commitment became somewhat moot though, with the onset of the Great Depression. The firm for which he worked went bankrupt in 1931. He found himself, at the height of the Great Depression with a wife and two young sons, in a foreign land, and with no job. However, he loved it in America and had no desire to return to Europe (he became a citizen in 1938). Casting around for what to do next, he decided to publish a book that he had written and illustrated for his son.
A Little Boy Was Drawing was published in 1932.
While his first effort did not make much of an impact, he was headed in the right direction. His next book,
Donkey, Donkey (1933) was a big hit and has been in print ever since. With the success of
Donkey, Donkey, Duvoisin was off and running. Over the next nearly fifty years, he wrote and illustrated about forty of his own books, illustrated a further one hundred and forty books by other authors, and worked for the New Yorker magazine doing a number of covers for them in the forties and fifties.
Duvoisin's work has a number of characteristics. One theme is the role that animal protagonists play in many if not most of Duvoisin's work. He loved animals and in 1939 he purchased a farm in New Jersey from whence he could work in New York but spend as much time as he wanted close to nature and animals. Petunia (the goose), Veronica (the hippo), and the Happy Lion are three of the animal characters for which he is most famous but there are also ducks, crocodiles (as in Crocus the . . .), whales, roosters and others. He often would write a story about an animal and then find that he had another story and then another to tell until he had fallen accidentally into a series. Duvoisin had a lot of happy accidents.
Duvoisin was a big collaborator. While he wrote plenty of his own books, he also had long productive relationships with other authors. The Happy Lion series (ultimately eleven books in the series of sixteen books on which they worked together) was a collaboration with his wife Louise Fatio as the author. Other authors with whom he worked were Alvin R. Tresselt, (nineteen books), Mary Calhoun (five books), Charlotte Zolotow (four books), Kathleen Morrow Elliott (three books), and Adelaide Holl (three books). As Duvoisin told Lee Bennett Hopkins, "There are problems and great pleasures in collaborating. Louise has a sensitive eye. Her criticism is very valuable but sometimes difficult to accept, especially when she tells me that I should do particular illustrations over again. She is usually right, though!"
All of Duvoisin's books are characterized by straightforward language and stories, but are always told with a good dose of gentle humor. Nothing slapstick, just straightforward funny. A mark of a great artist, perhaps, is his ability to make you like his work even if it is in a style which doesn't usually appeal to you. I am, in general, not enthusiastic about clunky cartoonish illustrations. I never think of Duvoisin's work as cartoonish and yet technically I suppose it is. Take a look at
Donkey, Donkey. Yes, it is a cartoon like rendition of a donkey. Read it though, and you can't help but take to Donkey. He is dissatisfied with his appearance and decides it is because of his ears. He admires the appearance of his barnyard friends. He logically starts trying out their "ear styles." He points his ears down like a dog, then forward like a pig, then straight to the side like a lamb. I don't know which reader laughs more, the child or the parent. It is not that you enjoy the text despite the illustrations; despite the style, somehow it works and reinforces the text. And like all the great works of children's literature, there is a good moral buried under the story and not obtrusive at all: Be Yourself.
In addition to his own work and collaborations with other authors, Duvoisin created a library of wonderfully illustrated classics such as
Mother Goose, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, A Child's Garden of Verses, Chanticleer, and The Night Before Christmas, none of which, regrettably, are in print today. Duvoisin also had a penchant for stories from overseas, including folktales. In fact, one of the attractive features of Duvoisin's oeuvre is just how eclectic it is. He produced so much that it doesn't feel unfocused, fragmented and distracted, but you can see all sorts of his interests showing up.
The final characteristic that I would point out, and as was mentioned in relation to
Donkey, Donkey, Duvoisin's books all have a certain joie-de-vivre to them. In part this is a function of his boisterous, strong illustrations, partly it is the prevalence of humor and partly that there is a certain down-to-earth pragmatism that is very appealing to children. I think, though, a big element is that underneath all the stories there is always some positive point, some life lesson, some example that it is worthwhile for a child to absorb while they are enjoying the story. As an example, the first
Petunia story, tells the tale of a silly goose who acquires a book. She is in awe of the intelligence of people that she sees with books and is confident that her acquisition of a book now makes her wise. On that basis, she sets out dispensing advice to all her friends, advice that is as all ill-thought through as it could possibly be and with calamitous (but humorous) consequences for her friends. By the end of the story, you know that it is not enough to
have a book, you have to
read it too.
Fortunately, in recent years, a number of Duvoisin's books have been brought back into print. After a long life, with nearly two hundred books to his name, and with numerous awards, Duvoisin passed away in New Jersey on June 30th, 1980.
I hope you enjoy these books by Duvoisin as much as your child will.
Picture Books
Roger Duvoisin's Bibliography
A Little Boy Was Drawing written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1932
Donkey-Donkey: The Troubles of a Silly Little Donkey written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1933
All Aboard! written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1935
Mother Goose written by William Rose Benet and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1936
The Pied Piper of Hamelin written by Robert Browning and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1936
Riema, Little Brown Girl of Java written by Kathleen Morrow Elliott and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1937
And There Was America written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1938
Soomoon, Boy of Bali written by Kathleen Morrow Elliott and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1938
The Feast of Lamps written by Charlet Root and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1938
Jo-yo's Idea written by Kathleen Morrow Elliott and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1939
Rhamon, a Boy of Kashmir written by Heluiz Washburne and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1939
Tales of the Pampas written by W.H. Hudson and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1939
Language Arts for Modern Youth written by Anonymous and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1939
Military French written by Anonymous and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1939
The Dog Cantbark written by Marjorie Fischer and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1940
Petits Contes Vrais written by Mary Riley and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1940
The Christmas Cake in Search of Its Owner written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1941
The Three Sneezes, and Other Swiss Tales written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1941
They Put Out to Sea: The Story of the Map written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1943
At Our House written by John G. McCullough and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1943
Jumpy, the Kangaroo written by Janet Howard and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1944
A Child's Garden of Verses written by Robert Louis Stevenson and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1944
Fair, Fantastic Paris written by Harold Ettlinger and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1944
The Christmas Book of Legends and Stories written by Elva Smith and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1944
The Christmas Whale written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1945
The Happy Time written by Robert Fontaine and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1945
I won't, Said the King; or, The Purple Flannel Underwear written by Mildred Jordan and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1945
Virgin With Butterflies written by Tom Powers and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1945
Bhimsa, the Dancing Bear written by Christine Weston and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1945
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1946
At Daddy's Office written by Robert Jay Misch and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1946
Daddies, What They Do All Day written by Helen Walker Puner and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1946
The Successful Secretary written by Margaret Pratt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1946
Chanticleer, the Real Story of This Famous Rooster written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1947
Moustachio written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1947
White Snow, Bright Snow written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1947
The Four Corners of the World written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1948
Christmas Pony written by William Norman Hall and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1948
The Steam Shovel That Wouldn't Eat Dirt written by Walter Retan and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1948
Johnny Maple-Leaf written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1948
Sun Up written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1949
Vavache, the Cow Who Painted Pictures written by Frederic Attwood and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1950
Petunia written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1950
The Christmas Forest written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1950
Hi, Mr. Robin! written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1950
Follow the Wind written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1950
Dozens of Cousins written by Mabel Watts and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1950
Love and Dishes written by Niccolo de Quattrociocchi and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1950
Petunia and the Song written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1951
Anna, the Horse written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1951
Autumn Harvest written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1951
The Camel Who Took a Walk written by Jack Tworkov and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1951
Farm Wanted written by Hilles Helen and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1951
The Talking Cat and Other Stories of French Canada written by Natalie Savage Carlson and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1952
A for the Ark written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1952
Petunia's Christmas written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1952
Amahl and the Night Visitors written by Gian Carlo Menotti and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1952
Busby and Co. written by Coggins Herbert and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1952
Chef's Holiday written by Jones Idwal and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1952
Petunia Takes a Trip written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1953
Follow the Road written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1953
Tell Me, Little Boy written by Doris Van Liew Foster and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1953
Easter Treat written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1954
The Happy Lion written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1954
I Saw the Sea Come In written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1954
The Night Before Christmas written by Clement C. Moore and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1954
Sophocles the Hyena written by James Moran and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1954
Flash of Washington Square written by Margaret Pratt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1954
Two Lonely Ducks: A Counting Book written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1955
One Thousand Christmas Beards written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1955
The Happy Lion in Africa written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1955
Little Red Nose written by Miriam Schlein and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1955
Wake Up, Farm! written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1955
One Step, Two… written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1955
Ride with the Sun written by Harold Courlander and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1955
Trillium Hill written by E.L. Marsh and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1955
Bennie, the Bear Who Grew Too Fast written by Ferrin Beatrice and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1956
The House of Four Seasons written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1956
Tigers Don't Bite written by Jack Tworkov and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1956
Christmas on the Mayflower written by Wilma Pitchford Hays and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1956
The Sweet Pattotie Doll written by Mary Calhoun and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1957
The Happy Lion Roars written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1957
A Doll for Marie written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1957
Wake Up, City! written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1957
Not a Little Monkey written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1957
Does Poppy Live Here? written by Gregor Arthur and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1957
Wait Till Sunday written by Susan Dorritt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1957
Wobble the Witch Cat written by Mary Calhoun and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1958
Petunia, Beware! written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1958
The Frog in the Well written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1958
Winkie's World written by William Norman Hall and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1958
The Little Church on the Big Rock written by Allen Hazel and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1958
Houn' Dog written by Mary Calhoun and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1959
The Three-cornered Hat written by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1959
The Three Happy Lions written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1959
Favorite Fairy Tales Told in France written by Virginia Haviland and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1959
A Fish Is Not a Pet written by May Natalie Tabak and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1959
The Pointed Brush written by Martin Patricia Miles and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1959
The Three-Cornered Hat written by de Alarcón Pedro Antonio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1959
Please Pass the Grass! written by Leone Adelson and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1960
Day and Night written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1960
Angelique written by Janice and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1960
Timothy Robbins Climbs the Mountain written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1960
In My Garden written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1960
The Children Come Running written by Elizabeth Coatsworth and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1960
The Nine Lives of Homer C. Cat written by Mary Calhoun and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1961
Veronica written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1961
The Happy Hunter written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1961
The Happy Lion's Quest written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1961
The Wishing Well in the Woods written by Priscilla Friedrich and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1961
The Miller, His Sons, and Their Donkey written by Aesopus and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1962
The Hungry Leprechaun written by Mary Calhoun and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1962
Our Veronica Goes to Petunia's Farm written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1962
Under the Trees and through the Grass written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1962
Lisette written by Adelaide Holl and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1962
Spring Snow written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1963
Lonely Veronica written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1963
The April Umbrella written by Priscilla Friedrich and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1963
The Lamb and the Child written by Dean Frye and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1963
Veronica's Smile written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1964
Red Bantam written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1964
The Happy Lion and the Bear written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1964
The Poodle Who Barked at People written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1964
Teddy written by Grete Janus Hertz and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1964
Petunia, I Love You written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1965
Days of Sunshine, Days of Rain written by Dean Frye and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1965
The Rain Puddle written by Adelaide Holl and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1965
Hide and Seek Fog written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1965
Nubber Bear written by William Lipkind and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1966
Around the Corner written by Jean B. Showalter and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1966
The Missing Milkman written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1967
The Happy Lion's Vacation written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1967
Poems from France written by William Jay Smith and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1967
The World in the Candy Egg written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1967
The Old Bullfrog written by Berniece Freschet and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1968
The Remarkable Egg written by Adelaide Holl and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1968
Nubber Bear written by TBD and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1968
Earth and Sky written by Mona Dayton and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1969
What Is Right for Tulip written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1969
It's Time Now! written by Alvin Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1969
The Beaver Pond written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1970
The Owl Book edited written by Shaw Richard and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1970
Veronica and the Birthday Present written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1971
The Happy Lion's Treasure written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1971
The Crocodile in the Tree written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1972
The Web in the Grass written by Berniece Freschet and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1972
Jasmine written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1973
Hector Penguin written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1973
The Happy Lion's Rabbits written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1973
See What I Am written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1974
Marc and Pixie, and the Walls in Mrs. Jones's Garden written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1975
Petunia's Treasure written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1975
Periwinkle written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1976
Which Is the Best Place? written by Mirra Ginsburg and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1976
What Ever Happened to the Baxter Place? written by Pat Ross and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1976
Heinz Hobnail and the Great Shoe Hunt written by Anne Duvoisin and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1976
Crocus written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1977
Hector and Christina written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1977
Mr. and Mrs. Button's Wonderful Watchdogs written by Janice and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1978
What Did You Leave Behind? written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1978
Snowy and Woody written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1979
The Happy Lioness written by Louise Fatio and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1980
The Importance of Crocus written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1980
Petunia the Silly Goose Stories written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1987
Autumn harvest written by Alvin R. Tresselt and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1990