The Twenty-One Balloons

William Sherman Pène du Bois (1916-1993) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books, born in Nutley, New Jersey to a family of artists including his father Guy Pène du Bois, a noted painter and critic. NY Times Obituary. He gained fame for his Newbery Medal-winning novel The Twenty-One Balloons (1947) and received two Caldecott Honors for Bear Party (1951) and Lion (1956), while also serving as art editor for The Paris Review. Read more →