Arnold Lobel

Arnold Lobel (1933-1987) was an American author and illustrator of children's books, best known for the Frog and Toad stories. He was born in Los Angeles on 22 May 1933 and died in New York City on 4 December 1987.

He studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and in 1955 married Anita Kempler, whom he had met at art school; Wikidata records her as Anita Lobel. Wikidata records his association with the publisher Harper from 1961. His four Frog and Toad books, published by Harper & Row, are Frog and Toad Are Friends (1970), Frog and Toad Together (1972), Frog and Toad All Year (1976) and Days with Frog and Toad (1979). Frog and Toad Are Friends was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1971, Frog and Toad Together received a Newbery Honor in 1973, and Frog and Toad All Year won a Christopher Award in 1977. Hildilid's Night earned him a second Caldecott Honor in 1972, and his collection of original animal fables, Fables, won the Caldecott Medal in 1981. The characters have since been adapted as a Broadway musical, A Year with Frog and Toad (2003), and an animated series (2023).

For collectors, the Frog and Toad first editions from Harper & Row are the core of any Lobel collection, with Frog and Toad Are Friends (1970) the earliest and an award winner. Fables, the book that won him the 1981 Caldecott Medal, is the other key title.