Stephen Wilkins Jenkins (March 31, 1952 December 26, 2021) was an American children's book author. He illustrated, wrote, and art-directed over 80 books.

Biography Jenkins was born March 31, 1952, in Hickory, North Carolina, to Alvin and Margaret Jenkins. His father, who was a physics professor and astronomer, did research and taught at various universities, so he spent much of his childhood moving from one city to the next.

He received a bachelor's and master's from the School of Design at North Carolina State University (NCSU). During his time at NCSU, he met his wife, Robin Page. After graduating, the couple moved to New York City, and in 1982, founded their own graphic design firm, Jenkins & Page. In 1994, they moved to Boulder, Colorado.

Jenkins's debut book, Duck’s Breath and Mouse Pie, was published in 1994.

Jenkins died on December 26, 2021, of a splenic artery aneurysm, in Boulder, Colorado.

Awards and honors

Forty-four of Jenkins's books are Junior Library Guild selections.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books included the following books in their lists of the best books of the year: How to Swallow a Pig (2015) and Animals by the Numbers (2016). The Horn Book Magazine has included the following books in their lists of the best children's nonfiction books of the year: The Top of the World (1999), Life on Earth (2002), Invisible Allies (2005), and The Animal Book (2013). +Awards for Jenkins's booksYearTitleAwardResultRef.1998Animal Dads (as illus.)NCTE Orbis Pictus AwardRecommended1999Hottest, Coldest, Highest, DeepestNCTE Orbis Pictus AwardHonor2000NCTE Orbis Pictus AwardHonor2002Animals In FlightNCTE Orbis Pictus AwardRecommended2004What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? (as illus.)Caldecott MedalHonor2005Actual SizeNCTE Orbis Pictus AwardHonor2006Top of the World: Climbing Mount EverestQuick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult ReadersSelection2007Animal Poems (as illus.)Cybils Award for PoetryFinalistLiving ColorCybils Award for Nonfiction Picture BooksFinalist2008Living Color. Animals: tomato frog, scarlet percher dragonfly,deep-sea jellyfish, scarlet ibis, fire shrimp, Giant Vietnamese centipede, stonefish, hooded seal, flame scallop, ʻIʻiwi, white uakari, Red salamander, harvest mite, shield bug, crow, hyacinth macaw, poison dart frog, cleaner wrasse, american robin, blue morpho butterfly, Cobalt blue tarantula, Oedipoda caerulescens, Portuguese man-of-war, blue bird of paradise, blue-tongued skink, Plestiodon elegans, crab spider, Madagascan moon moth, yellow mongoose, trumpetfish, great hornbill, eyelash viper, yellow crazy ant, yellow shore crab, ladybird beetle, American goldfinch, common cuttlefish, leaf insect, green moray eel, three-toed sloth, lesser green broadbill, green anole green tiger beetle, luna moth (caterpillar), giant green anemone, leafy sea dragon, kelp isopod, African chameleon, GaribaldiNCTE Orbis Pictus AwardRecommendedVulture View (as illus.)ALSC Notable Children's BooksSelectionGeisel AwardHonor2009Down, Down, Down- Animals: Portuguese man o' war, albatross, great white shark, flying fish, flying squid, bottlenose dolphin, mackerel, krill, bluefin tuna, sailfish, shearwater, green sea turtle, mola mola, whale shark, manta ray, compass jellyfish, venus girdle, nautilus, oarfish, goblin shark, snipe eel, vampire squid, siphonophore, marine hatchetfish pram bug, pelican eel, deep sea jellyfish, arrow worm, deep-sea shrimp, deepsea lizardfish, hairy angler, stoplight loosejaw, black swallower, fangtooth, sperm whale, giant squid, deep-sea comb jelly, swimming sea cucumber, sea lily, tripod spiderfish, hagfish, vent crab, mussel, giant tube worm, vent octopus, and eelpout.Cybils Award for Nonfiction Picture BooksFinalistSisters and Brothers - Animals: African elephant, Gould's long-eared bat, nine-banded armadillo, New Mexico whiptail lizard, naked mole rat, termite, grizzly bear, spotted hyena, black widow spider, cheetah, peregrine falcon, wild turkey, beaver, nile crocodile, European shrew, great crested grebe, cichlid, cuckoo catfish, common myna, Asian koel, and giant anteater.NCTE Orbis Pictus AwardRecommendedBonesCybils Award for Nonfiction Picture BooksFinalist2011How to Clean a HippopotamusALSC Notable Children's BooksSelection2012Billions of Years, Amazing ChangesALSC Notable Children's BooksSelectionNCTE Orbis Pictus AwardRecommended2013ALSC Notable Children's BooksSelection2014Eat Like a Bear (as illus.)ALSC Notable Children's BooksSelection2015Boston Globe–Horn Book AwardHonorMama Built a Little Nest (as illus.)ALSC Notable Children's BooksSelection2016Woodpecker Wham! (as illus.)ALSC Notable Children's BooksSelection2017Animals by the NumbersALSC Notable Children's BooksSelectionAnimals by the NumbersNCTE Orbis Pictus AwardHonorEye to Eye - Animals: red-crowned Amazon, stick insect (called jumping stick insect), nudibranch, garden snail, nautilus, Atlantic bay scallop, colossal squid, bullfrog, stalk-eyed fly, blue mountain swallowtail butterfly, green pit viper, jumping spider, brownsnout spookfish, tuatara, halibut, panther chameleon, ghost crab, gharial, housecat, hippopotamus, leopard gecko, tarsier, mantis shrimp Eurasian buzzardNCTE Orbis Pictus AwardRecommended

Selected works

As author and illustrator Duck's Breath and Mouse Pie: A Collection of Animal Superstitions (Ticknor & Fields, 1994) Animals in Flight What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? How to Clean a Hippopotamus: A Look at Unusual Animal Partnerships, illustrated by Robin Page (Clarion Books, 2010)

As illustrator only One Nighttime Sea, written by Deborah Lee Rose (Scholastic, 2003) Vulture View, illustrated by April Pulley Sayre (Henry Holt & Company, 2007) Pug and Other Animal Poems, written by Valerie Worth (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013) Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep, written by April Pulley Sayre (Henry Holt & Co., 2016)

References

External links