Ets, Marie Hall (1893-1984), an American author and illustrator of children’s books, won the 1960 Caldecott Medal for Nine Days to Christmas (1959). The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the best picture book by an American. Ets illustrated the book and co-wrote it with a Mexican friend, Aurora Labastida. Nine Days to Christmas is set in a Mexican village and tells about a girl named Ceci who looks forward to her first Christmas party.
During her childhood, Ets spent many summers in northern Wisconsin. Her memories of the wild animals she saw inspired many of her books. She won praise for her charming and sympathetic descriptions of children and nature. Ets wrote as well as illustrated most of her books. They include In the Forest (1944), Oley, the Sea Monster (1947), Mr. T. W. Anthony Woo (1951), Play with Me (1955), Gilberto and the Wind (1963), Automobiles for Mice (1964), Elephant in a Well (1972), and Jay Bird (1974). Ets created many illustrations with an unusual method that resembled the Asian art of batik.
Marie Hall was born on Dec. 16, 1893, in North Greenfield (now part of Milwaukee), Wisconsin. She studied art at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art in 1912 and 1913 and received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1924. She married Harold Norris Ets, a physician, in 1930. After spending several years as a social worker, Marie Hall Ets began her career as an author and illustrator in 1935 with the publication of Mister Penny. She died on Jan. 17, 1984.
