Lois Jane Ehlert (November 9, 1934 – May 25, 2021) was an American author and illustrator of children's books, most having to do with nature. Ehlert won the Caldecott Honor for Color Zoo in 1990. Some of her other popular works included Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Cuckoo/Cucú: A Mexican Folktale/Un cuento folklórico Mexicano and Leaf Man. She lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the time of her death in 2021. Early life Ehlert was born Lois Jane Ehlert on November 9, 1934 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, to Gladys (nee Grace) and Harry Ehlert. She was the eldest of three children. Her mother was a seamstress who taught her how to sew at eight years old. Her mother also shared fabric scraps with her, which gave her an exposure to art early on. Her father was a trucker and blue-collar worker who also worked as a gas-station attendant, dairy worker and a maintenance man. Ehlert grew up painting and sculpting. Her father had a basement workshop and always had art supplies available, just not the traditional supplies, but materials such as scrap lumber and nails. Even in her early years, she always erased her drawings and was never satisfied. Her favorite art technique was and remained till her death to be cutting and pasting. This method is called collage—the process of cutting out pieces of paper, fabric, or objects and gluing them to a backing. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a degree in English and psychology. She then went to the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on a scholarship for a certificate in advertising design. Career Ehlert started her career as a freelance illustrator and a graphic designer. She also worked as an apprentice in an art studio, while working the evenings on her own art work. Amongst her first credited books as an illustrator was I Like Orange (1961) by Patricia Martin Zens, the author of The Gingerbread Man. Her first book as an author and illustrator was Growing Vegetable Soup (1987). The book was a garden-to-table guide for small children exposing the lifecycle of activities from planting seeds to steaming the vegetables in the kitchen. Ehlert had her own book creation approach. She began with a “dummy book” made from pencil drawings. Then, she assessed to determine the subject matter of the new book. Once she had a topic, she did background research to learn