Biography
My world is yellow and blue and green. I grew up on the beach. I painted with my father — comic-book illustrator Creig Flessel. We made up stories sitting on the front porch. Birds flew down from the sky and sat on my shoulder. Cats purred. Frogs hopped. I have always lived on islands …a house on Long Island, an apartment on Manhattan Island, a thatch hut on an island in the middle of the South Pacific, and now … I live and work in a little house … on a little island … in a little lake in southern Ontario. Summer and winter …starting at the crack of dawn, I paint every day. Sometimes, I write stories. Sometimes, I sell the stories. Then I paint again … I paint my stories … I paint other people’s stories. Sometimes, I paint paintings for myself … abstract paintings … big … free … Sunshine fills my studio.I am surrounded by water and birds and trees.My world is yellow and blue and green. Eugenie graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1965. Her paintings from Earth Magic and One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference are at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.
Awards
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Mimi’s Village
2013 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Starred Selection, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Winner
2013 - Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street Children's Book Committee, Winner
2013 - Hackmatack's Children's Choice Book Award, BC Young Reader's Choice, Commended
2013 - Red Cedar Award, , Commended
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Kitten’s Summer
2013 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Winner
2012 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Winner
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Kitten’s Winter
2012 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Winner
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Kitten’s Spring
2012 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
2011 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
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Kitten’s Autumn
2013 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Winner
2011 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
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One Hen
2010 - Alberta Children’s Choice Rocky Mountain Book Award, Ontario Library Association, Commended
2010 - Golden Oak Award, Ontario Library Association, Winner
2009 - Best Bet for Children and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
2009 - Best Books for Kids and Teens, African Studies Association, Winner
2009 - Children’s Africana Book Award, International Reading Association, Winner
2009 - Children’s Choices, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
2009 - Norma Fleck Award, International Reading Association, Commended
2009 - Notable Book for a Global Society, USBBY, Winner
2009 - Outstanding International Book, Ontario Library Association, Winner
2009 - Silver Birch Award, , Commended
2008 - Massachusetts Book Award, , Winner
2008 - Skipping Stones Honor Award, , Winner
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Earth Magic
2007 - Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award, Canada Council for the Arts, Short-listed
2007 - Golden Oak Award, , Short-listed
2006 - Governor General’s Literary Award, children’s illustration, , Short-listed
Non-fiction
Mimi’s Village, 2012
One Hen, 2008Picture Books
Earth Magic, 2019
Kitten’s Summer, 2011
Kitten’s Winter, 2011
Kitten’s Spring, 2010
Kitten’s Autumn, 2010