Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Rosenthal speaking at the TEDx Waterloo conference, February 25, 2010
Born (1965-04-29)April 29, 1965
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died March 13, 2017(2017-03-13) (aged 51)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation Author, filmmaker
Alma mater Tufts University
Genre Children's literature
Spouse Jason Brian Rosenthal
Children 3
Website
whoisamy.com

Amy Krouse Rosenthal (April 29, 1965 – March 13, 2017) was an American author of both adult and children's books, a short film maker, and radio show host.[1] She is best known for her memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, her children's picture books, and the film project The Beckoning of Lovely.[2][3][4][5][6] She was a prolific writer, publishing more than 30 children's books between 2005 and her death in 2017.[3][4] She is the only author to have three children's books make the Best Children's Books for Family Literacy list in the same year.[7] She was a contributor to Chicago's NPR affiliate WBEZ, and to the TED conference.[8][9]

Books

Amy Krouse Rosenthal wrote for both adults and children. The New York Times has called her books "terrific".[3][10][11]

Her books radiate fun the way tulips radiate spring: they are elegant and spirit-lifting. Among her gifts is an ability to take what in other hands could have been a thin premise — a piglet who hates being messy, in the case of Little Oink; a young spoon who wishes he were a fork, or a knife, or chopsticks, in Spoon — and wring all kinds of sly, nifty variations out of it. ... Better yet, her jokes sing with specificity and an understanding of children.
— Bruce Handy,[3]

Rosenthal had several books on the New York Times bestseller list: I Wish You More, Uni the Unicorn, Plant a Kiss, Exclamation Mark, Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons, and Duck! Rabbit!.[10][12] Duck! Rabbit! was read at the White House during the 2010 Easter Egg Roll.[13] She was selected as the 2015 author for 'The Global Read Aloud',[14] an eight-week program for classrooms around the world to engage with each other by reading the same books.[15]

Her alphabetized memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life (published in 2005) is her most successful book for adults. It was named one of Amazon's top ten memoirs of the decade. In 2010, National Public Radio's Morning Edition spoke about Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life:

[T]here's no way I'm going to confuse Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life with any other memoir anytime soon. I had forgotten, until I reread it recently, what a delight it was to spend time with this self-described "ordinary" person, learning her quirks and hangups, her likes and dislikes, her everyday (and not) adventures (including the inspired way she attempted to get out of paying a parking ticket — you'll love it, trust me), all arranged, encyclopedia-style, from A ("Amy," "Anxious, Things That Make Me,", "Ayn Rand") to Y ("You"), with appropriate cross-references and clever drawings to supplement the text.
— Nancy Pearl[16]

Her follow-up Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal was published by Dutton Penguin Random House on August 9, 2016. It is the first book to include an interactive text-messaging component.

Textbook, Rosenthal says, is not a prequel or a sequel but "hopefully an equal" to Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. Her writing often celebrates the serendipitous moment, the smallness of our world, the misheard sentence that was better than the real one—always in praise of the flashes of magic in our mundane lives. It’s as beautiful, thrilling, brief, sad, and quotidian as a sunset.
— Claire Zulkey, Fast Company[17]

Along with her adult and children's work, Rosenthal has a keepsake journal line (ten titles in all) including Encyclopedia of Me: My Life from A to Z and The Belly Book: A Nine-Month Journal for You and Your Growing Belly.[18]

Films

Rosenthal made short films using her iPhone or Flip camera. Some invite further interaction from viewers, some are social experiments, and some build upon each other to become something else entirely. Her films include 17 Things I Made",[19] Today is a Gift,[20] ATM: Always Trust Magic",[21] The Kindness Thought Bubble",[22] The Money Tree[23] and The Beckoning of Lovely.[24][11][25]

She held 'Beckoning of Lovely'[26] events at the bean in Chicago's Millennium Park on August 8, 2008,[24] September 9, 2009,[27] October 10, 2010,[28] and November 11, 2011.[29][30]

Chicago Magazine described The Beckoning of Lovely:

Rosenthal's masterpiece, unfolding over the past two years, began with a YouTube video called 17 Things I Made. In it, she invited viewers to meet her on August 8, 2008 (8/8/08), at 8:08 p.m. in Millennium Park to make an 18th thing together. That thing was a party. She expected a group of maybe 30, but roughly 400 curious people showed up, surprised to find themselves singing, dancing, blowing bubbles, and giving flowers to strangers. One couple met and fell in love. "I wish there was a word less obvious than 'magical' to describe that night," Rosenthal says. "It was meaningful to everyone in some way."
— Jeff Ruby[6]

Other work

Rosenthal was a frequent contributor to TED. In 2011, 2012, and 2015, she was brought on as an "experiential designer", creating ideas and experiences implemented at the annual TEDActive conference. Additionally, she has given talks at TEDxSanDiego 2011 and at TEDxSMU 2012; she gave her first and most well-known TED talk, 'Notes on Life', at TEDxWaterloo (Canada) in 2010.[31]

Her essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, Hallmark Magazine, Parenting, O: The Oprah Magazine, and McSweeney's. Her website, whoisamy.com, was named one of the best official author websites, alongside Barbara Kingsolver and Stephen King.[32]

Personal

Rosenthal, a graduate of Tufts University, lived in Chicago.[33] [10] She had three children: Justin, Miles and Paris.[4]

On March 3, 2017, at the age of 51, she announced that she was terminally ill with ovarian cancer, by way of a New York Times "Modern Love" essay. The essay was in the form of a dating profile for her husband Jason, to help him remarry after her death.[34][35] She died ten days later.[35][36][37]

Children's books

Adult books

Journal line

See also

References

  1. ↑ Italie, Hillel. "Amy Krouse Rosenthal, best-selling author, dead at age 51". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  2. ↑ "Youth library programs offered in Evesham", South Jersey Local News, March 10, 2011; accessed March 29, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bruce Handy, "Children's Books: Happy to Be Me ... or Me!" The New York Times, May 8, 2009; accessed March 29, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 Sally Lodge, (May 21, 2009) "Q & A with Amy Krouse Rosenthal", Publishers Weekly,accessed March 20, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Amy Krouse Rosenthal" at HarperCollins Publishers, accessed May 16, 2011.
  6. 1 2 "Amy Krouse Rosenthal Readies 'Beckoning of Lovely' Project", Chicago Magazine, November 2010; accessed May 16, 2011.
  7. ↑ "The Pennsylvania Center for the Book presents the 2010 A Baker's Dozen: The Best Children's Books for Family Literacy," Pennsylvania State University, 2010, accessed March 30, 2011.
  8. ↑ Mission Amy KR blog, WBEZ Archived May 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.; accessed May 16, 2011.
  9. ↑ "TEDActive 2011: Projects: Public Heart", Ted Conferences website, May 9, 2011, accessed May 16, 2011.
  10. 1 2 3
  11. 1 2 Bridget Kinsella (May 17, 2010) "Amy Krouse Rosenthal: Putting All Her Books Under a Yellow Umbrella", Publishers Weekly, accessed March 30, 2011.
  12. ↑ Best Sellers, The New York Times, June 14, 2009, accessed May 16, 2011.
  13. ↑ DJ Lance reads Duck!Rabbit! White House website, April 5, 2010, accessed May 16, 2011.
  14. ↑ "One Book to Connect the World". Global Read Aloud. 2015-10-23. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  15. ↑ "Books for 2015". Global Read Aloud. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  16. ↑ "Happy Holidays, Voyeurs: Nancy Pearl Picks Memoirs: NPR" South Jersey Local News, December 3, 2010, accessed May 16, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Ditch Your Book Club: This AI-Powered Memoir Wants To Chat With You". Fast Company. 2016-09-01. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  18. ↑ "The Belly Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal", Random House, Inc website, accessed May 16, 2011.
  19. ↑ "17 things i made". YouTube. 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  20. ↑ "Today is a Gift". YouTube. 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  21. ↑ "Mission Amy KR presents..."Always Trust Magic"". YouTube. 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  22. ↑ "Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Thought Bubble: Kindness". YouTube. 2010-04-16. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  23. ↑ "Amy KR presents..."The Money Tree"". YouTube. 2010-09-02. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  24. 1 2 "The Beckoning of Lovely 8/08/08". YouTube. 2008-09-01. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  25. ↑ "Amy Krouse Rosenthal". Whoisamy.com. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  26. ↑ "Amy Krouse Rosenthal". Whoisamy.com. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  27. ↑ "The Beckoning of Lovely 9/09/09". YouTube. 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  28. ↑ "The Beckoning of Lovely 10/10/10". YouTube. 2010-12-05. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  29. ↑ "The Beckoning of Lovely 11/11/11". YouTube. 2012-01-11. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  30. ↑ "Amy Krouse Rosenthal". Whoisamy.com. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  31. ↑ "TEDxWaterloo - Amy Krouse Rosenthal - 7 Notes on Life". YouTube. 2010-03-22. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  32. ↑ "Best Official Author Sites". Thegoodwebguide.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  33. ↑ "Funny Girl". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  34. ↑ Krouse Rosenthal, Amy. "You May Want to Marry My Husband". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  35. 1 2 "Milestones: Died: Amy Krouse Rosenthal". Time. March 27, 2017. p. 15.
  36. ↑ "Children's book author Amy Krouse Rosenthal dead at 51". Cbc.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
  37. ↑ Amy Krouse Rosenthal Obituary The New York Times, March 13, 2017; accessed March 13, 2017.
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