1996Mouse Books
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
Lilly loves all sorts of things. She loves school, she loves dressing up, she even grows to love her stinky baby…
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The official website of the Caldecott Medalist
KevinHenkes
writer, illustrator & storyteller
From Lilly’s purple plastic purse to a kitten’s first full moon — come inside a world of mice with big feelings, quiet seasons, and stories that stay with you long after the last page.
Caldecott Medalist
Children’s Literature Legacy Award, 2020
Newbery & Geisel Honors
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1 Once upon a time…
A writer who draws,
an illustrator who writes.
Kevin Henkes has been praised both as a writer and as an illustrator and is the recipient of the Children’s Literature Legacy Award for his lasting contribution to literature for children. He received the Caldecott Medal for Kitten’s First Full Moon; Caldecott Honors for Waiting and Owen; two Newbery Honors, one for Olive’s Ocean and one for The Year of Billy Miller; and Geisel Honors for Waiting and Penny and Her Marble. His other books include The World and Everything in It; A House; A Parade of Elephants; Chrysanthemum; and the beloved Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse.
— and he lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin.
Books since 1981Caldecott Medal & Honors2020 Legacy AwardFrom Madison, Wisconsin
Kevin Henkes
Madison, Wisconsin
“I love my job.”
✎ in the studio
The story shelf
Start anywhere, read everything
Beloved books, page after page
Twelve favorites to begin with — from Lilly to Kitten, Billy to Penny. Every jacket opens a room in the house of Kevin Henkes’s imagination.
Meet the cast
Small mice, big personalities
Everyone in the mouse family
Lilly is exuberant, Wemberly worries, Owen is centered, Sheila Rae is brave — nine characters with ninety-nine feelings, drawn with ink, paint and love.
The library, by chapters
Where will you begin?
Three shelves, a whole world
Picture books for lap-time, mouse books for first readers, and short novels for the chapter-book years — each shelf holds stories in a slightly different key.
A shelf of honors
Long ago & recently
Quiet books, loudly celebrated
From a Caldecott Medal for Kitten’s First Full Moon to the 2020 Children’s Literature Legacy Award — the honors, arranged like a museum timeline.
Caldecott Medal
Kitten’s First Full Moon
Caldecott Honors
Owen · Waiting
Newbery Honors
Olive’s Ocean · The Year of Billy Miller
Geisel Honors
Waiting · Penny and Her Marble
2020 Children’s Literature Legacy Award
For lasting contribution to children’s literature
- 2020Children’s Literature Legacy Award
Children’s Literature Legacy AwardKevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes is the winner of the 2020 Children’s Literature Legacy Award honoring an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a significant and lasting contribution to literature for children.
- 2016Caldecott Medal & Honors
Caldecott Honor & Geisel HonorWaiting
Five animal friends sit patiently on a windowsill and wait — for the moon, for the rain, for the wind, and for something wonderful. Kevin Henkes received Caldecott and Geisel Honors for this quiet masterpiece.
- 2014Newbery Honors
Newbery HonorThe Year of Billy Miller
Billy Miller’s second-grade year — a funny, generous portrait of family, school, and growing up. A 2014 Newbery Honor book.
- 2014Geisel Honors
Geisel HonorPenny and Her Marble
Penny found a marble as blue and perfect as the sky — but the marble does not belong to her. A 2014 Geisel Honor winner.
- 2005Caldecott Medal & Honors
Caldecott MedalKitten’s First Full Moon
Kitten sees her first full moon and thinks it is a bowl of milk in the sky. Does she get it? Well, no . . . and yes. What a night!
- 2004Newbery Honors
Newbery HonorOlive’s Ocean
Martha didn’t know Olive — not really. But when Olive is killed in a hit-and-run accident and her mother gives Martha a page from Olive’s journal, a brilliant, touching coming-of-age summer begins.
- 1994Caldecott Medal & Honors
Caldecott HonorOwen
Owen’s fuzzy yellow blanket goes everywhere with him — upstairs, downstairs, in-between. Everywhere! Whatever can be done before school begins?
Winner of the 2020 Children’s Literature Legacy Award
Children’s Literature Legacy Award honoring an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a significant and lasting contribution to literature for children.
Announcement by the ALA
For the grown-ups in the room
Teachers, librarians & parents
Stories that keep going after the last page
Teaching guides, author-study kits, coloring sheets, discussion questions and (yes) mouse recipes — free, printable, and made for sharing.
Watch & listen
Storytime, any time
Read aloud with Kevin himself
Twenty-five minutes of Kevin Henkes reading his own picture books — and more videos from inside the studio where the mice are made.
Read Aloud
25 Minutes of Kevin Henkes
A read aloud storytime with five of Kevin Henkes’s best picture books.
Fresh from the publisher
The newest pages
Latest arrivals
Straight from the bibliography — what’s new in the world of Kevin Henkes.
Photo: Michelle Corpora
The person behind the pen
“Most of all, I love sitting alone in a quiet room drawing and painting and writing. I love my job.”
— Kevin Henkes
Raised in Racine, Wisconsin, he decided in high school to make children’s books — and has been writing and illustrating them ever since. His first picture book, All Alone, appeared in 1981; his newest stories are still finding their readers today.
the end… of the beginning
Step into the world ofKevin Henkes
Somewhere in a quiet room in Madison, Wisconsin, a story is being written. Until it arrives, there are shelves of adventures waiting for you.