Ed Aite Young was born on November 28, 1931, in Tianjin (also known as Tientsin), China. The birth information is from Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, Volume 6 (1993). When Young was naturalized on March 28, 1966, his middle name was recorded on a number of naturalization documents.
Young’s parents were Qua-ling Young (1891–19971) and Yuen Tang (or Sai Yun Tang, 1904–2008). A family tree at Ancestry.com, said Young’s family moved in 1934 from Tianjin to Shanghai. In 1949 the Communist takeover of Shanghai caused the family to move to Hong Kong.
On November 24, 1951, four days before his 20th birthday, Young (line 12) was aboard the steamship President Cleveland when it departed from Hong Kong. He arrived at the port of San Francisco, California on December 11, 1951.
The family tree said he spent several weeks with the family of Z.P. Tang.
Young’s education began at City College of San Francisco in 1952. He transferred to the University of Illinois where he studied architecture from 1952 to 1954. At Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California, Young earned a Bachelor of Professional Arts in 1957. Later that year he moved to New York City. Young did graduate study at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, from 1958 to 1959. He was an instructor in visual communication at Pratt from 1960 to 1966.
From 1957 to 1962, Young was an illustrator and designer at the Mel Richman Studio in Manhattan. He left the studio to pursue freelance work. Young illustrated Janice M. Udry’s The Mean Mouse and Other Mean Stories (“The Mean Party”, “The Mean Rabbit”, “The Mean Dwarf”, “The Mean Blackbird”, “The Mean Horse”, “The Mean Mouse”, “The Mean Tiger”, “The Mean Dragon”, “The Mean Troll”, “The Mean Giant”, “The Mean Witch”) which was published by Harper in 1962. The Mean Mouse was recognized by the American Institute of Graphics Arts.
In Chinatown, Young studied tai chi with Cheng Man-ch’ing in 1961.
In 1962, Young and Mary McLaughlin obtained, in Manhattan, marriage license number 5962. The family tree said the marriage date was on April 7. They divorced in 1969. Young and Natasha Gorky were married in Westminster, London in June 1971 according to the family tree. In 1985 Young married Filomena Tuosto (1952–2007).
Young used the pseudonym Yang Zhr Cheng on the 1988 book, China’s Long March: 6,000 Miles of Danger. (Maps drawn by Jeanyee Wong.)
Young won the 1990 Caldecott Medal for Lon Po Po. Art from the book appeared on the 1991 Caldecott Calendar cover, artist page and month of July.
Young passed away on September 29, 2023, at his home in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
Further Reading and Viewing
Library of Congress, Ed Young video
The New York Times obituary
Publishers Weekly obituary
Jane Yolen
Pictures by Ed Young
Putnam, 1967
Kermit Krueger
Pictures by Ed Young
World Publishing Company, 1969
Mel Evans
Watercolors by Ed Young
Doubleday, 1969
Diane Wolkstein
Illustrated by Ed Young
Doubleday, 1972
Feenie Ziner
Illustrated by Ed Young
Doubleday, 1977
Diane Wolkstein
Illustrated by Ed Young
Thomas Y. Crowell, 1977
Ed Young with Hilary Beckett
Illustrated by Ed Young
Collins + World, 1978
Ed Young
Collins, 1978
Pictures by Ed Young
Doubleday, 1979
Diane Wolkstein
Illustrated by Ed Young
Thomas Y. Crowell, 1979
Ed Young
Collins + World, 1980
Priscilla Jaquith
Drawings by Ed Young
Philomel Books, 1981
Ai-Ling Louie
Illustrated by Ed Young
Philomel Books, 1982
Jean Fritz
Illustrations by Ed Young
Putnam, 1983
Ed Young
Harper & Row, 1984
Margaret Leaf
Illustrated by Ed Young
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1987
James Howe
Illustrated by Ed Young
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987
Tony Johnston
Illustrated by Ed Young
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1987
Calligraphy by Jeanyee Wong
Howard Norman
Art by Ed Young
Joy Street Books, 1987
Robert Frost
Illustrated by Ed Young
Henry Holt, 1988
Nancy Larrick
Drawings by Ed Young
Philomel Books, 1988
Jean Fritz
Illustrated by Yang Zhr Cheng [Ed Young]
Maps by Jeanyee Wong
Putnam, 1988
Phyllis Root
Art by Ed Young
Henry Holt, 1988
Ruth Yaffe Radin
Illustrated by Ed Young
Macmillan, 1989
Ed Young
Philomel Books, 1989
Illustrated by Ed Young
Simon and Schuster, 1989
Lafcadio Hearn, Margaret Hodges
Illustrated by Ed Young
Calligraphy by Jeanyee Wong
Little, Brown, 1989
Richard Lewis
Art by Ed Young
Atheneum, 1991
Nancy White Carlstrom
Illustrated by Ed Young
Philomel Books, 1991
Audrey Osofsky
Illustrated by Ed Young
Orchard Books, 1992
Barbara Savadge Horton
Illustrated by Ed Young
Knopf, 1992
Mary Calhoun
Art by Ed Young
Morrow Junior Books, 1992
Laura Krauss Melmed
Illustrated by Ed Young
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1993
Adapted and illustrated by Ed Young
HarperCollins, 1993
Ed Young
Philomel Books, 1993
Eleanor Coerr
Illustrated by Ed Young
Putnam, 1993
Ed Young
Philomel Books, 1994
Ed Young
Henry Holt, 1995
Ed Young
Philomel Books, 1995
Penny Pollock
Illustrated by Ed Young
Little, Brown, 1995
Art by Ed Young
Laura Geringer Book, 1997
Ed Young
Silver Whistle, 1997
Ed Young
Harcourt Brace, 1998
Tony Johnston
Illustrated by Ed Young
Sierra Club Books for Children, 2000
Ed Young
HarperCollins Publishers, 2001
Ed Young
Puffin Books, 2002
Ed Young
Philomel Books, 2002
Ed Young
Philomel Books, 2004
Ed Young
Atheneum Books, 2004
Andrea Cheng
Drawings by Ed Young
Lee & Low Books, 2005
Ed Young
Philomel Books, 2006
Dennis Haseley
Illustrated by Ed Young
Roaring Brook Press, 2008
Brenda Z. Guiberson
Illustrated by Ed Young
Henry Holt, 2010
Ed Young
Little, Brown and Co., 2011
Ashley Ramsden
Illustrations by Ed Young
Roaring Brook Press, 2011
Barbara DaCosta
Art by Ed Young
Little, Brown, 2012
Ed Young
Little, Brown and Company, 2015
Ed Young
Philomel Books, 2016
(Next post on Wednesday: Yook Yee Wong in The Young Companion 良友)
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