Author and illustrator Vera B. Williams, best known for her Caldecott Honor books A Chair for My Mother (Greenwillow, 1981) and "More More More," Said the Baby: Three Love Stories (Greenwillow, 1990), died on Friday, October 16 at age 88.

Photo by Susan Kuklin

Born in Hollywood, CA, in 1927 to immigrant parents, Williams grew up in the Bronx, NY, where she and her family moved when she was still a child. She demonstrated a passion for art from a young age. When she was nine, one of her paintings was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1949, Williams obtained a BA from Black Mountain College, in North Carolina. She made her first foray into publishing when she illustrated Remy Charlip and Lilian Moore’s Hooray for Me! (Parents’ Magazine Pr., 1975). Williams’s output reflected her working class roots, and through her vibrant, naive artwork style, she often addressed difficult yet deeply relevant themes. With her picture book A Chair for My Mother, she introduced the character Rosa, a young Hispanic girl whose mother carefully saves the tips she’s earned from waitressing so that they can buy a new easy chair. Williams followed up the acclaimed book with two outings with Rosa: Something Special for Me (1983) and Music, Music for Everyone! (1984, both Greenwillow). Similarly, with Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart: The Story of Amber and Essie Told Here in Poems and Pictures (Greenwillow, 2001), a mix of poetry and black-and-white drawings that SLJ described as “a poignant testament to what it means to have a sister,” Williams painted a portrait of two young girls whose father is in jail and whose mother must work long hours to provide for the family. “As an artist and writer, her work was infused with warmth and humanity, and she was an outspoken voice for children whose voices are not always heard,” said children’s book author and friend Susanna Reich. “Vera knew who she was—artist, writer, pleasure-seeker, passionate human being,” said author and photographer Susan Kuklin, who captured the image of Williams used on the jacket cover of Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart. Though the shoot took them from Kuklin’s garden to the Hudson River, the two ended up at the front door of Williams’s Greenwich Village apartment, where Kuklin achieved the shot she was looking for. “Because she knew herself so clearly, photographing her was an organic, deeply personal experience.” Poet Lee Bennett Hopkins, who lived a block away from Williams’s apartment, described the author as “fun, feisty, [and] filled with energy.” The two met often, and Hopkins interviewed Williams at Lincoln Center in 1993, when her novel Scooter, the story of a girl whose parents have just divorced, was released. Hopkins recalled Williams autographing a copy of the book for him: “It is a pleasure to sign this for another kid from a rent-dodging poor family. We were 'poor,’ right—not ‘inner-city’ or [some] other fancy term, but we did love." Activism and social justice were also crucial aspects of Williams’s life. She was committed to antiwar and environmental causes and spent a month in a federal penitentiary after being arrested at a demonstration for peace at the Pentagon in 1981. She was active in PEN America, an organization devoted to safeguarding freedom of expression. Author Elizabeth Levy, who was Williams’s cochair of PEN Children’s Book Committee, said, “She brought to our committee sterling belief in children’s right to read. In her own books and in even in her life, she felt very protective of the words and pictures she was sharing with children.”

Vera B. Williams, Chris Rascka, Susanna Reich, and Paul Zelinsky at a PEN Childen’s Book Party, in her apartment 2011.

Williams brought, too, a sense of whimsy and playfulness to her work. Many who knew her through PEN remember fondly the Children’s Book Committee potluck parties she helped organize; Levy echoed one of her sayings, “Potluck parties are proof that anarchy works.” “When she walked into a meeting,” Reich added, “the room would hum with a higher energy and spirits would lift, knowing that her sense of humor would soon have us in stitches, while at the same time her insightful comments would help us see the world in a new way.” “Vera was one of the most principled and socially aware person I knew,” said Ava Weiss, former art director at Greenwillow. “She knew exactly what she wanted, and from the day when she lost all the finished art for a whole book on the subway to the day when she was jailed for protesting, working on her books was an adventure for all of us at Greenwillow.” Those who worked with her affirmed her passion and devotion to her craft. Susan Hirschman, founder of HarperCollins’s Greenwillow imprint and former publisher, praised Williams’s commitment to her work and her readers, while Virginia Duncan, current Greenwillow publisher, spoke of the late author’s enthusiasm, energy, and work. Despite her illness, Williams continued to work, even beginning a collaboration last summer with author and illustrator Chris Raschka. Their book, Home at Last, will be released in fall 2016. The two spent met several times at Williams’s home in Narrowsburg, NY, where they spent hours drawing together. “Vera said, ‘Making a book is exciting, and excitement is what keeps you living,’” Raschka told SLJ. “She really showed us all how to work and live. She was a fantastic spirit in the world of picture books.”