Author, Illustrator. Charlotte Steiner (1898–1981), author and illustrator of children’s books, published more than seventy books between 1939 and 1972 in the USA. She both wrote and illustrated most of them, and she illustrated the texts of other authors. Her books demonstrate remarkable insight into the psyche of the children for whom she created wonderful stories.
Her first Doubleday title, Lulu, published in 1939, consists of exquisite drawings of a young girl, Lulu, sitting on a chair and drawing a picture of a dog. The dog comes to life and becomes her companion, eating a meal with Lulu, going to the pond with her, and catching fish with her. When Lulu does not succeed in catching a fish, she cries and the dog comforts her, and tries to catch a fish in order to console her. It succeeds, and both Lulu and the dog happily walk back home. The only text is on the first page, giving the name of Lulu and her adventures, and on the end page announcing the end of the story. This moving story, told only with simple, repetitive drawings of Lulu, in white overalls with “Lulu” embroidered on the bib, the dog, and simple objects, captures perfectly the egocentric imagination of preschoolers then and always. Knowing her intended audience and creating books that appealed to them is the keystone of her entire opus.
Charlotte Klein was born on November 17, 1898 in Nový Bydžov, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. In 1911, she moved with her parents, Adele and Bernard Klein, and her older brother Ernst, to Vienna. By the age of ten, Charlotte was fluent in Czech, German, English and French. She subsequently studied in Prague, Vienna, and Paris. In 1922 she married Friedrich Steiner, a businessman, in Vienna. For a period of time they lived in Berlin, until Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. Charlotte’s family of origin was Jewish; Friedrich was Protestant. It was for her sake they left Germany, and later Austria.
After living in mid-1930s Vienna, they travelled in the fall of 1938 to Naples, Italy. After obtaining immigration visas in Naples, Charlotte and Friedrich sailed with the ship “Roma” to New York City, arriving on October 7th. Cousins of Charlotte, who lived in Brooklyn, sponsored their immigration passage, according to the list of alien passengers at the port of arrival. In December, 1938, she applied for US citizenship. While working at Brownie’s Blockprints, Inc. in New York City in 1939, she applied for a social security number—the same year she began to write and illustrate children’s books.
In 1944 Charlotte, became a US citizen. By this time Doubleday, Doran & Co., one of the biggest US publishing companies at the time, had already published half a dozen of Charlotte’s children’s books. Charlotte’s career as an author and illustrator of children’s books began at an opportune time as the demand for children’s books, especially picture books, increased dramatically during the 1940’s. Many mothers of young children worked in war industry centers (for example, Rosie the Riveter) during the period, and their children attended nursery schools. With the money they earned, mothers could afford to buy books for their children.
This increased demand for nursery books led Charlotte and her publishers to produce children’s books in special formats: pull-out books, pop-up books, cloth books, accordion books, mail-me books, and toy theater books. For example, she created the toy theater book, Charlotte Steiner’s Story Book Theater (1944), a proscenium, and six booklets, “Little Black Sambo,” “Red Riding Hood,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Snow White,” “The Gingerbread Man,” and “The Three Bears,” each in pictorial wrappers packaged in a box covered with illustrations.
Charlotte branched out into different styles and content in her later books, using rhyme in Let Her Dance (1969), or playing off the intrusion of television into every day life in Timmy Needs a Thinking Cap (1961). Timmy wants to win a live donkey, as advertised in a promotion he sees on television.
Her first Doubleday title, Lulu, published in 1939, consists of exquisite drawings of a young girl, Lulu, sitting on a chair and drawing a picture of a dog. The dog comes to life and becomes her companion, eating a meal with Lulu, going to the pond with her, and catching fish with her. When Lulu does not succeed in catching a fish, she cries and the dog comforts her, and tries to catch a fish in order to console her. It succeeds, and both Lulu and the dog happily walk back home. The only text is on the first page, giving the name of Lulu and her adventures, and on the end page announcing the end of the story. This moving story, told only with simple, repetitive drawings of Lulu, in white overalls with “Lulu” embroidered on the bib, the dog, and simple objects, captures perfectly the egocentric imagination of preschoolers then and always. Knowing her intended audience and creating books that appealed to them is the keystone of her entire opus.
Charlotte Klein was born on November 17, 1898 in Nový Bydžov, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. In 1911, she moved with her parents, Adele and Bernard Klein, and her older brother Ernst, to Vienna. By the age of ten, Charlotte was fluent in Czech, German, English and French. She subsequently studied in Prague, Vienna, and Paris. In 1922 she married Friedrich Steiner, a businessman, in Vienna. For a period of time they lived in Berlin, until Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. Charlotte’s family of origin was Jewish; Friedrich was Protestant. It was for her sake they left Germany, and later Austria.
After living in mid-1930s Vienna, they travelled in the fall of 1938 to Naples, Italy. After obtaining immigration visas in Naples, Charlotte and Friedrich sailed with the ship “Roma” to New York City, arriving on October 7th. Cousins of Charlotte, who lived in Brooklyn, sponsored their immigration passage, according to the list of alien passengers at the port of arrival. In December, 1938, she applied for US citizenship. While working at Brownie’s Blockprints, Inc. in New York City in 1939, she applied for a social security number—the same year she began to write and illustrate children’s books.
In 1944 Charlotte, became a US citizen. By this time Doubleday, Doran & Co., one of the biggest US publishing companies at the time, had already published half a dozen of Charlotte’s children’s books. Charlotte’s career as an author and illustrator of children’s books began at an opportune time as the demand for children’s books, especially picture books, increased dramatically during the 1940’s. Many mothers of young children worked in war industry centers (for example, Rosie the Riveter) during the period, and their children attended nursery schools. With the money they earned, mothers could afford to buy books for their children.
This increased demand for nursery books led Charlotte and her publishers to produce children’s books in special formats: pull-out books, pop-up books, cloth books, accordion books, mail-me books, and toy theater books. For example, she created the toy theater book, Charlotte Steiner’s Story Book Theater (1944), a proscenium, and six booklets, “Little Black Sambo,” “Red Riding Hood,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Snow White,” “The Gingerbread Man,” and “The Three Bears,” each in pictorial wrappers packaged in a box covered with illustrations.
Charlotte branched out into different styles and content in her later books, using rhyme in Let Her Dance (1969), or playing off the intrusion of television into every day life in Timmy Needs a Thinking Cap (1961). Timmy wants to win a live donkey, as advertised in a promotion he sees on television.
Author, Illustrator. Charlotte Steiner (1898–1981), author and illustrator of children’s books, published more than seventy books between 1939 and 1972 in the USA. She both wrote and illustrated most of them, and she illustrated the texts of other authors. Her books demonstrate remarkable insight into the psyche of the children for whom she created wonderful stories.
Her first Doubleday title, Lulu, published in 1939, consists of exquisite drawings of a young girl, Lulu, sitting on a chair and drawing a picture of a dog. The dog comes to life and becomes her companion, eating a meal with Lulu, going to the pond with her, and catching fish with her. When Lulu does not succeed in catching a fish, she cries and the dog comforts her, and tries to catch a fish in order to console her. It succeeds, and both Lulu and the dog happily walk back home. The only text is on the first page, giving the name of Lulu and her adventures, and on the end page announcing the end of the story. This moving story, told only with simple, repetitive drawings of Lulu, in white overalls with “Lulu” embroidered on the bib, the dog, and simple objects, captures perfectly the egocentric imagination of preschoolers then and always. Knowing her intended audience and creating books that appealed to them is the keystone of her entire opus.
Charlotte Klein was born on November 17, 1898 in Nový Bydžov, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. In 1911, she moved with her parents, Adele and Bernard Klein, and her older brother Ernst, to Vienna. By the age of ten, Charlotte was fluent in Czech, German, English and French. She subsequently studied in Prague, Vienna, and Paris. In 1922 she married Friedrich Steiner, a businessman, in Vienna. For a period of time they lived in Berlin, until Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. Charlotte’s family of origin was Jewish; Friedrich was Protestant. It was for her sake they left Germany, and later Austria.
After living in mid-1930s Vienna, they travelled in the fall of 1938 to Naples, Italy. After obtaining immigration visas in Naples, Charlotte and Friedrich sailed with the ship “Roma” to New York City, arriving on October 7th. Cousins of Charlotte, who lived in Brooklyn, sponsored their immigration passage, according to the list of alien passengers at the port of arrival. In December, 1938, she applied for US citizenship. While working at Brownie’s Blockprints, Inc. in New York City in 1939, she applied for a social security number—the same year she began to write and illustrate children’s books.
In 1944 Charlotte, became a US citizen. By this time Doubleday, Doran & Co., one of the biggest US publishing companies at the time, had already published half a dozen of Charlotte’s children’s books. Charlotte’s career as an author and illustrator of children’s books began at an opportune time as the demand for children’s books, especially picture books, increased dramatically during the 1940’s. Many mothers of young children worked in war industry centers (for example, Rosie the Riveter) during the period, and their children attended nursery schools. With the money they earned, mothers could afford to buy books for their children.
This increased demand for nursery books led Charlotte and her publishers to produce children’s books in special formats: pull-out books, pop-up books, cloth books, accordion books, mail-me books, and toy theater books. For example, she created the toy theater book, Charlotte Steiner’s Story Book Theater (1944), a proscenium, and six booklets, “Little Black Sambo,” “Red Riding Hood,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Snow White,” “The Gingerbread Man,” and “The Three Bears,” each in pictorial wrappers packaged in a box covered with illustrations.
Charlotte branched out into different styles and content in her later books, using rhyme in Let Her Dance (1969), or playing off the intrusion of television into every day life in Timmy Needs a Thinking Cap (1961). Timmy wants to win a live donkey, as advertised in a promotion he sees on television.
Her first Doubleday title, Lulu, published in 1939, consists of exquisite drawings of a young girl, Lulu, sitting on a chair and drawing a picture of a dog. The dog comes to life and becomes her companion, eating a meal with Lulu, going to the pond with her, and catching fish with her. When Lulu does not succeed in catching a fish, she cries and the dog comforts her, and tries to catch a fish in order to console her. It succeeds, and both Lulu and the dog happily walk back home. The only text is on the first page, giving the name of Lulu and her adventures, and on the end page announcing the end of the story. This moving story, told only with simple, repetitive drawings of Lulu, in white overalls with “Lulu” embroidered on the bib, the dog, and simple objects, captures perfectly the egocentric imagination of preschoolers then and always. Knowing her intended audience and creating books that appealed to them is the keystone of her entire opus.
Charlotte Klein was born on November 17, 1898 in Nový Bydžov, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. In 1911, she moved with her parents, Adele and Bernard Klein, and her older brother Ernst, to Vienna. By the age of ten, Charlotte was fluent in Czech, German, English and French. She subsequently studied in Prague, Vienna, and Paris. In 1922 she married Friedrich Steiner, a businessman, in Vienna. For a period of time they lived in Berlin, until Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. Charlotte’s family of origin was Jewish; Friedrich was Protestant. It was for her sake they left Germany, and later Austria.
After living in mid-1930s Vienna, they travelled in the fall of 1938 to Naples, Italy. After obtaining immigration visas in Naples, Charlotte and Friedrich sailed with the ship “Roma” to New York City, arriving on October 7th. Cousins of Charlotte, who lived in Brooklyn, sponsored their immigration passage, according to the list of alien passengers at the port of arrival. In December, 1938, she applied for US citizenship. While working at Brownie’s Blockprints, Inc. in New York City in 1939, she applied for a social security number—the same year she began to write and illustrate children’s books.
In 1944 Charlotte, became a US citizen. By this time Doubleday, Doran & Co., one of the biggest US publishing companies at the time, had already published half a dozen of Charlotte’s children’s books. Charlotte’s career as an author and illustrator of children’s books began at an opportune time as the demand for children’s books, especially picture books, increased dramatically during the 1940’s. Many mothers of young children worked in war industry centers (for example, Rosie the Riveter) during the period, and their children attended nursery schools. With the money they earned, mothers could afford to buy books for their children.
This increased demand for nursery books led Charlotte and her publishers to produce children’s books in special formats: pull-out books, pop-up books, cloth books, accordion books, mail-me books, and toy theater books. For example, she created the toy theater book, Charlotte Steiner’s Story Book Theater (1944), a proscenium, and six booklets, “Little Black Sambo,” “Red Riding Hood,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Snow White,” “The Gingerbread Man,” and “The Three Bears,” each in pictorial wrappers packaged in a box covered with illustrations.
Charlotte branched out into different styles and content in her later books, using rhyme in Let Her Dance (1969), or playing off the intrusion of television into every day life in Timmy Needs a Thinking Cap (1961). Timmy wants to win a live donkey, as advertised in a promotion he sees on television.
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