Ellen Raskin

Ellen Ermingard Raskin (March 13, 1928 - August 8, 1984) was an American writer, illustrator and fashion designer. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up during the Great Depression. She was educated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Primarily a children's author, she received the 1979 Newbery Medal for her 1978 book The Westing Game and a 1975 Newbery Honor for her 1974 book Figgs & Phantoms.

Ms. Raskin was also an accomplished graphic artist. She designed dozens of dust jackets for books for 15 years including the first edition of Madeleine L'Engle's classic A Wrinkle in Time.

Raskin's first marriage ended in divorce. In 1965, she married Dennis Flanagan, editor of Scientific American.

Raskin died at the age of 56 on August 8, 1984 in New York City due to complications from a connective-tissue disease.

Works

Children's picture books

• Nothing Ever Happens on My Block, Atheneum, 1966
• Silly Songs and Sad, Crowell, 1967
• Spectacles, Atheneum, 1968
• Ghost in a Four-Room Apartment, Atheneum, 1969
• And It Rained, Atheneum, 1969
• A & The, or, William T. C. Baumgarten Comes to Town, Atheneum, 1970
• The World's Greatest Freak Show, Atheneum, 1971
• Franklin Stein, Atheneum, 1972
• Moe Q. McClutch, He Smoked Too Much, Parents, 1973
• Who, Said Sue, Said Whoo?, Atheneum, 1973
• Moose, Goose & Little Nobody, Atheneum, 1976
• Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, Atheneum, 1976

Young adult novels

• The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel), Dutton, 1971
• Figgs & Phantoms, Dutton, 1974
• The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues, Dutton, 1975
• The Westing Game, Dutton, 1978

Books illustrated by Raskin

• Happy Christmas: Tales for Boys and Girls, edited by Claire H. Bishop, Ungar, 1956
• A Child's Christmas in Wales, by Dylan Thomas, New Directions, 1959
• Mama, I Wish I Was Snow, Child You'd Be Very Cold, by Ruth Krauss, Atheneum, 1962
• Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, selected by Dwight MacDonald, Crowell, 1965
• We Dickinsons, by Aileen Fisher and Olive Rabe, Atheneum, 1965
• The Jewish Sabbath, by Molly Cone, Crowell, 1966
• Paths of Poetry: Twenty-Five Poets and Their Poems, edited by Louis Untermeyer, Delacorte, 1966
• Songs of Innocence (Volumes 1 & 2), by William Blake, music and illustrations by Ellen Raskin, Doubleday, 1966
• D. H. Lawrence: Poems Selected for Young People, edited by William Cole, Viking, 1967
• Ellen Grae, by Vera and Bill Cleaver, Lippincott, 1967
• Poems of Robert Herrick, edited by Winfield T. Scott, Crowell, 1967
• Probability, by Arthur G. Razzell and K. G. Watts, Doubleday, 1967
• This Is Four: The Idea of a Number, by Arthur G. Razzell and K. G. Watts, Doubleday, 1967
• Books: A Book to Begin On, by Susan Bartlett, Holt, 1968
• Inatuk's Friend, by Suzanne Stark Morrow, Atlantic/Little, 1968
• Lady Ellen Grae, by Vera and Bill Cleaver, Lippincott, 1968
• A Paper Zoo: A Collection of Animal Poems by Modern American Poets, edited by Renee K. Weiss, Macmillan, 1968
• Piping Down the Valleys Wild: Poetry for the Young of All Ages, edited by Nancy Larrick, Delacorte, 1968
• Symmetry, by Arthur G. Razzell and K. G. Watts, Doubleday, 1968
• We Alcotts, by Aileen Fisher and Olive Rabe, Atheneum, 1968
• Circles and Curves, by Arthur G. Razzell and K. G. Watts, Doubleday, 1969
• Come Along!, by Rebecca Caudill, Holt, 1969
• Shrieks at Midnight: Macabre Poems, Eerie and Humorous, edited by Sara and John E. Brewton, Crowell, 1969
• Three and the Shape of Three, by Arthur G. Razzell and K. G. Watts, Doubleday, 1969
• Elidor, by Alan Garner, Walck, 1970
• Goblin Market, by Christine Rosetti, Dutton, 1970