Jones, Elizabeth Orton (1910-2005), an American illustrator of children’s books, won the 1945 Caldecott Medal for Prayer for a Child (1944). The medal is awarded annually to the best picture book by an American. Prayer for a Child was written by American author Rachel Field and was one of several books Jones illustrated on religious themes. In the book, Jones created idealized images of small children as they prepare for bedtime. Jones illustrated the book with full-page water colors in pastel tones.
Jones created her major work from the late 1930’s through the mid-1950’s. She collaborated with her mother, Jessie Mae Jones, on several books. They included Small Rain: Verses from the Bible (1943). Jones created striking black-and-white images to illustrate selected Biblical verses. Jones illustrated a number of books by other American authors. They include Scarlet Oak (1938) by Cornelia Meigs, Peddler’s Clock (1943) by Mabel Leigh Hunt, and Prayer for Little Things (1945) by Eleanor Farjeon.
Jones wrote several books that she also illustrated. One of her best-known books is Little Red Riding Hood (1948), the Little Golden Books version of the fairy tale. Twig (1942), which was Jones’s nickname, is a fantasy about a little girl who turns an empty tomato can into a home for fairies. Jones also wrote and illustrated Minnie the Mermaid (1939), Maminka’s Children (1940), Big Susan (1947), and How Far Is It to Bethlehem? (1955).
Jones was born on June 25, 1910, in Highland Park, Illinois. She received a bachelor of philosophy degree from the University of Chicago in 1932 and then studied art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She had a one-person exhibition of her colored etchings of French children at the Smithsonian Institution. She turned to illustrating children’s books with her first work, Ragman of Paris and His Ragamuffins (1937), based upon her experiences in France. Jones died on May 10, 2005.
See also Field, Rachel.
