Glen Rounds was born April 4, 1906 near Wall, South Dakota. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute from 1926-1927, and later studied at the Art Student's League in New York City from 1930-1931. Early in his life, Glen Rounds worked as a cowboy, baker, sign painter, and textile designer before writing and illustrating his book, Ol' Paul, the Mighty Logger, in 1936. Throughout his long and prolific career, Glen Rounds has illustrated dozens of books; many of them written by him as well. He is noted for his "trademark" brush line drawings, and his illustrations are also praised by critics for their detail and "folk-style" sense of humor. He has illustrated and "expanded on" a number of American tall tales, and these works and other authors' he illustrated have a folksy and humorous style that can be readily appreciated by young readers. Glen Rounds has written a number of books that draw on his childhood growing up on the Plains and his work experiences in the West. His "Whitey" books are "adventure-filled" western stories that tell of young Whitey's life on a ranch. Glen Rounds' "Mr. Yowder" stories about the wandering sign painter also draw on his own experiences. Glen Rounds has written and illustrated several non-fiction works that deal with the history wildlife of the Plains region. He later moved to North Carolina, and this region's wildlife and ecology have served as the backdrop of several works including Swamp Life and others that demonstrate his interest in flora and fauna, and like his other non-fiction works are cited for their accuracy and appeal to all ages. Glen Rounds continues to write and illustrate children's books, and in 1980 received the Kerlan Award for his contribution to children's literature.
From the guide to the Glen Rounds Papers, 1936-1996, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections [clrc])
