People like Charlotte Zolotow

Charlotte Zolotow (born Charlotte Gertrude Shapiro; June 26, 1915 – November 19, 2013) was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher of many books for children. She wrote about 70 picture book texts.

The writers she edited include Paul Fleischman, Paul Zindel, Mary Rodgers, Robert Lipsyte, and Francesca Lia Block.

Charlotte Shapiro was born in Norfolk, Virginia. She studied writing with Helen C. White at the University of Wisconsin Madison from 1933 to 1936 and then moved to New York City, where she started at Harper & Bros as secretary to the children's books editor Ursula Nordstrom. She was married to Maurice Zolotow from 1938 until their divorce in 1969. Their daughter Ellen is writer Crescent Dragonwagon and their son is poker tournament champion Steve Zolotow. She lived in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where she died, aged 98.