Robie Harris (néeHeilbrun; April 3, 1940 – January 6, 2024) was an American author. She wrote more than 30 children's books, including the frequently challenged It's Perfectly Normal (1994) and It's so Amazing (1999).[1][2]
Robie Heilbrun was born in Buffalo, New York on April 3, 1940.[3][4] Her mother worked in a biology laboratory, while her father was a radiologist.[5] She grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Buffalo.[6] She became interested in writing at a young age, and began writing stories in kindergarten.[7] In high school, she was an editor of her school's newspaper.[7] She graduated from Wheaton College, where she served as editor of the school's yearbook, with a bachelor's degree in English in 1962.[7][8] She went on to graduate from the Bank Street College of Education with a master's in teaching in 1966.[7][8]
Careeredit
After earning her teaching degree in 1966, Harris became an English elementary school teacher at the Bank Street School for Children. While working with children at the school's after-school Head Start program, she headed a project allowing the students to film the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood through their eyes. With the help of filmmaker Philip Courter, the students' footage was compiled into a film, Child’s Eye View. In 1968, the film was screened at the Lincoln Center Film Festival.[7]
Harris collaborated with multiple writers through the Bank Street Writers’ Laboratory, of which she was a member.[7]
In 1977, Harris released her first book, Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings, which she co-wrote with her friend and cousin Elizabeth Levy. The book was inspired by the birth of her first child, and her nieces' and nephews' reaction to him.[7]
Harris wrote several children's books about childbirth and human sexuality, including It's Perfectly Normal and It's so Amazing, two of the American Library Association's most-challenged books of the 21st century. Harris continued to update the two books, as well as the third in the trio, It's NOT the Stork!, up until her death.[7]
Harris, Robie H. (2004). Goodbye Mousie. Turtleback. ISBN 978-1-4177-4039-0.[12]
Harris, Robie H. (2005). I'm So Mad!. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-10939-0.
Harris, Robie H. (2005). I Love Messes!. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-10946-8.
Harris, Robie (2006). It's NOT the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends. Candlewick.
Harris, Robie (2011). Turtle and Me. little bee books. ISBN 978-1-4998-0046-3.
Harris, Robie H. (September 11, 2012). Who's in My Family?: All about Our Families. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-3631-9.
Harris, Robie H. (September 24, 2013). What's in There?: All about You Before You Were Born. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-3630-2.
Harris, Robie (September 23, 2014). What's So Yummy?: All About Eating Well and Feeling Good. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-3632-6.
Harris, Robie H. (2016). Who We Are!: All about Being the Same and Being Different. Walker Books and Subsidiaries. ISBN 978-1-4063-6739-3.
Harris, Robie H. (May 8, 2018). CRASH! BOOM! A Math Tale. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-7827-2.
Harris, Robie H. (June 5, 2018). Who?: A Celebration of Babies. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-68335-270-9.
Harris, Robie H. (August 27, 2019). Look!: Babies Head to Toe. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-68335-355-3.
Referencesedit
^Ulaby, Neda (February 8, 2024). "Robie Harris, who wrote an often-banned book about sexuality for kids, dies at 83". NPR. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
^"Robie Harris, whose sex ed books for kids were often banned, dies at 83". The Washington Post. February 7, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
^"Robie H. Harris". PEN American Center. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
^ abcNossiter, Adam (February 5, 2024). "Robie Harris, Often-Banned Children's Author, Is Dead at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
^Trimel, Suzanne (January 19, 2024). "PEN America Mourns the Death of Children's Book Author Robie Harris, a Champion of Free Expression and the Right to Read". PEN America. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
^"Learning the Facts of Life". The Forward. October 20, 2006. Retrieved April 2, 2024.