Author of holes biography of donald crews

American illustrator and writer (born 1938)

Donald Crews (born August 30, 1938) is an American illustrator and writer of children's picture books.

In 2015, the American Library Association (ALA) honored him with the Children's Literature Legacy Award, recognizing his lasting contribution to children's literature.^[1]

His works Freight Train (1978) and Truck (1980) were Caldecott Honor recipients.^[2]

Early life

Donald Crews was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1938.^[3] His mother worked as a seamstress, and his father worked at the railroad and several other odd jobs.

Raised in Newark, Crews spent summers at his grandparents' home in rural Cottondale, Florida, with his mother and three siblings.^[3] These summers were inspiration for the autobiographical books Bigmama's (1991) and Shortcut (1992).^[4]

Encouraged by a high school teacher, Crews pursued art as a career.^[3] He attended Cooper Union in