Byrd Baylor

Byrd Baylor Schweitzer (born 1924) is an American novelist, essayist, and author of picture books for children. Four of her books have achieved Caldecott Honor status.

Background

Byrd Baylor was born on 28 March 1924 in San Antonio, Texas.^[1] She is related to Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, the namesake of Baylor University, and to Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Her first name, Byrd, is taken from her mother's maiden name.^[2]

Baylor attended the University of Arizona.^[1]

Writing

Baylor's work presents images of the Southwest and an intense connection between the land and the Native American people.^[1] Her prose illustrates vividly the value of simplicity, the natural world, and the balance of life within it.^[3]

Personal

Baylor currently lives in Arivaca, Arizona, in an adobe house that does not have electricity, but with three manual typewriters.^[4]

Caldecott Honors

Baylor was awarded Caldecott Honors for her books When Clay Sings (1973) with illustrator Tom Bahti, and The Desert is Theirs (1976), Hawk, I'm Your Brother (1977), and The Way to Start a Day (1979) with illustrator Peter Parnall.^[5]

Bibliography

• Amigo (1963)
• Before You Came This Way (1969)
• Coyote Cry (1972)
• When Clay Sings (1972)
• Sometimes I Dance Mountains (1973)
• Everybody Needs a Rock (1974)
• The Desert is Theirs (1975)
• Hawk, I’m Your Brother (1976)
• Yes Is Better than No (1977; with illustrations by Leonard Chana, 1990)
• The Way to Start a Day (1978)
• The Other Way to Listen (1978)
• Your Own Best Secret Place (1979)
• If You Are a Hunter of Fossils (1980)
• Desert Voices (1981)
• I'm In Charge of Celebrations (1986)
• The Table Where Rich People Sit (1994)

Notes