Ruth Krauss
Ruth Krauss, born on July 25, 1911, in Baltimore, Maryland, was an influential American author primarily recognized for her contributions to children's literature. Educated at notable institutions such as the Peabody Institute for Music and Columbia University, she demonstrated a passion for the arts and writing from a young age. Krauss's literary career began unexpectedly when a miscommunication with a mentor led her to publish her first story, "A Good Man and His Good Wife," which became a children's classic. Throughout her career, she authored numerous children's poetry and plays, often collaborating with her husband, illustrator Crockett Johnson, to create works that integrated text and visuals seamlessly.
Krauss was known for her thoughtful approach to language and representation, challenging gender stereotypes in her stories, such as in "A Hole Is to Dig," where she encouraged illustrations that allowed for fluid interpretations of gender. In addition to her children's books, she also wrote poetry for adults, showcasing her versatility as a writer. Ruth Krauss passed away on July 14, 1993, leaving behind a legacy that continues to influence children's literature and advocacy for nuanced representation.
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Ruth Krauss
Writer
- Born: July 25, 1911
- Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland
- Died: July 14, 1993
- Place of death: Westport, Connecticut
Biography
Ruth Ida Krauss was born on July 25, 1911, in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were Julius Leopold Krauss and Blanche Krauss, née Rosenfeld. From an early age, she showed a wide variety of interests, ranging from the arts to the social sciences, and began writing stories of her own when she ran out of books to read.
She attended the Peabody Institute for Music, the New School for Social Research, Columbia University and the Maryland Institute of Art. She also graduated from the Parsons School of Fine and Applied Arts. In 1940, she married Crockett Johnson, a children’s book illustrator, who would subsequently die in July 11, 1975. She became a prolific author of children’s poetry and plays, and of books for children.
Her writing career began almost by accident, as a result of a miscommunication with a mentor in her sociological studies at Columbia. Frustrated by having her materials go astray and thus being rejected by her advisor, she instead wrote her work up as a story and sent it to Harper, who bought it. It became A Good Man and His Good Wife, which would go on to become a children’s classic.
Success was appealing, and Krauss soon was sending more materials to Harper, who continued to publish her work. After her marriage, she and her husband collaborated on a number of works, being able to mesh story and art far more closely than the typical method of the publisher hiring an illustrator could ever produce. Although she attained her reputation as a writer of children’s stories, she also produced some volumes of poetry for adults.
Throughout her career, Krauss strove against thoughtless stereotyping, partiuclarly in regard to gender. For instance, in A Hole Is to Dig, she had the illustrator rework a picture of a girl pushing a baby buggy full of kittens so her dress became a pair of pants, creating a figure that could be interpreted as either a little girl or a little boy. However, she never bent over backward to avoid language derided by others as sexist, but always sought to be specific in her language and avoid unthinking use of generic terms, even if it meant a somewhat less graceful construction than might have been attained otherwise. She died on July 14, 1993.