We were saddened to hear about the death last week of legendary children's book author and illustrator Vera B. Williams. It's a loss to our field; she was, truly, unique. Her groundbreaking picture books celebrated children and family and communities — all kinds of children, all kinds of families, and all kinds of communities. Both A Chair for My Mother and "More More More," Said the Baby were Caldecott honor books (in 1983 and 1991, respectively), and they stand out among their fellows for their contemporary, unglossy settings, their sense of inclusiveness, and the forefronting of the loving relationships they portray.

Williams was also a two-time Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner — for A Chair for My Mother in 1983 and Scooter in 1994 — and was a three-time BGHB Honor Award recipient (for Cherries and Cherry Pits in 1987; Stringbean’s Trip to the Shining Sea, written by Williams and co-illustrated with daughter Jennifer Williams in 1988; and Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart in 2002). Again — who can forget Bidemmi's face shining out of the exuberantly colorful pages of Cherries and Cherry Pits; or the unforgettable sisters (unforgettable in both the poetry and the pictures) in Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart, one of the first children's books to portray a family coping with the absence of a parent in prison.

In 2001 she wrote about "Childhood, Stories, and Politics" for The Horn Book Magazine. Here are a few salient quotes from that brief but important contribution: "I began to create my books just at a period when children's books were becoming somewhat more open and more accurate about the range of family life in America, about color and class and ethnicity, about what girl characters could do and be." And, "it is of solemn import to tell stories that involve us in the energies, talents, and great-heartedness of children and other not-so-powerful people."

In 1992 she did a series of lovely covers for us. As with so much of her work it's an image that looks reality right in the eye, messy laundry basket and breast-fed baby and all, and filled with love, closeness, and "not-so-powerful people." Click here to read Horn Book Magazine reviews of select books by Williams.

And when it came time for Horn Bookers to talk about their favorites, Ms. Williams got even more love:

My favorite BGHB winner, reviewer edition: Robin Smith's choice

The ones that got away: Leonard and I choose Vera B.