{{Short description|American writer (1940–2024)}} {{use American English|date=March 2023}} {{use mdy dates|date=March 2023}} {{infobox writer | name = Robie Harris | image = 9.21.14RobieHarrisByLuigiNovi1.jpg | caption = Harris at the 2014 Brooklyn Book Festival | alt = | birth_name = Robie Heilbrun | birth_date = {{birth date|1940|4|3}} | birth_place = Buffalo, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|1|6|1940|4|3}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | nationality = | alma_mater = | occupation = Children's book author | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = {{Plainlist| * ''It's Perfectly Normal'' * ''It's so Amazing'' }} | influences = | spouse = | children = | relatives = Elizabeth Levy (cousin) | website = | signature = }}
'''Robie H. Harris''' ({{nee}} '''Heilbrun'''; April 3, 1940 – January 6, 2024) was an American author. She wrote more than 30 children's books, including the frequently challenged ''It's Perfectly Normal'' (1994) and ''It's So Amazing'' (1999).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ulaby |first=Neda |date=2024-02-08 |title=Robie Harris, who wrote an often-banned book about sexuality for kids, dies at 83 |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/02/08/1230181165/robie-harris-who-wrote-an-often-banned-book-about-sexuality-for-kids-dies-at-83 |work=All Things Considered |publisher=NPR |access-date=2024-04-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-02-07 |title=Robie Harris, whose sex ed books for kids were often banned, dies at 83 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/02/07/robie-harris-banned-books-dead/ |access-date=2024-04-01 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Robie Heilbrun was born in Buffalo, New York on April 3, 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/234/prmID/1502|title= Robie H. Harris|accessdate= November 27, 2009|publisher= PEN American Center|url-status= dead|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110607202904/http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/234/prmID/1502|archivedate= June 7, 2011}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite web |last=Nossiter |first=Adam |date=February 5, 2024 |title=Robie Harris, Often-Banned Children's Author, Is Dead at 83 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/books/robie-harris-dead.html |access-date=February 5, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Her mother worked in a biology laboratory, while her father was a radiologist.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Trimel |first=Suzanne |date=2024-01-19 |title=PEN America Mourns the Death of Children's Book Author Robie Harris, a Champion of Free Expression and the Right to Read |url=https://pen.org/pen-america-mourns-the-death-of-childrens-book-author-robie-harris-a-champion-of-free-expression-and-the-right-to-read/ |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=PEN America |language=en}}</ref> She grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Buffalo.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-10-20 |title=Learning the Facts of Life |url=https://forward.com/news/5928/learning-the-facts-of-life/ |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref> She became interested in writing at a young age, and began writing stories in kindergarten.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Maughan |first=Shannon |date=2024-01-18 |title=Obituary: Robie Harris |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/94121-obituary-robie-harris.html |access-date=2024-04-02 |magazine=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}</ref> In high school, she was an editor of her school's newspaper.<ref name=":0" /> She graduated from Wheaton College, where she served as editor of the school's yearbook, with a bachelor's degree in English in 1962.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Robie H. Harris |url=https://www.candlewick.com/authill.asp?b=Author&m=bio&id=1779&pix=y |accessdate=February 3, 2020 |website=Candlewick Press}}</ref> She went on to graduate from the Bank Street College of Education with a master's in teaching in 1966.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
== Career == After earning her teaching degree in 1966, Harris became an English elementary school teacher at the Bank Street School for Children. While working with children at the school's after-school Head Start program, she headed a project allowing the students to film the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood through their eyes. With the help of filmmaker Philip Courter, the students' footage was compiled into a film, ''Child's Eye View''. In 1968, the film was screened at the Lincoln Center Film Festival.<ref name=":0" />
Harris collaborated with multiple writers through the Bank Street Writers' Laboratory, of which she was a member.<ref name=":0" />
In 1977, Harris released her first book, ''Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings'', which she co-wrote with her friend and cousin Elizabeth Levy. The book was inspired by the birth of her first child, and her nieces' and nephews' reaction to him.<ref name=":0" />
Harris wrote several children's books about childbirth and human sexuality, including ''It's Perfectly Normal'' and ''It's So Amazing'', two of the American Library Association's most-challenged books of the 21st century. Harris continued to update the two books, as well as the third in the trio, ''It's NOT the Stork!'', up until her death.<ref name=":0" />
Harris was a board member of the National Coalition Against Censorship for 20 years.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=NCAC Mourns Robie Harris: Champion for Free Expression |url=https://ncac.org/news/ncac-mourns-robie-harris-champion-for-free-expression |access-date=2024-04-02 |publisher=National Coalition Against Censorship |date=2024-01-19 |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Awards == She won the 2019 Mathical Book Prize for her book ''Crash! Boom! A Math Tale''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mathical Book Prize |url=https://www.mathicalbooks.org/ |access-date=June 7, 2021 |publisher=Mathical Book Prize |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 2020, Harris received the inaugural Mills Tannenbaum Award for Children's Literacy from Reach Out and Read of Greater New York.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2013-05-14 |title=Robie Harris Honored With New Literacy Award |url=https://ncac.org/news/blog/robie-harris-honored-with-new-literacy-award |access-date=2024-04-02 |publisher=National Coalition Against Censorship |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Personal life == Harris lived in New York City beginning in the 1960s, and was roommates with her cousin, novelist Elizabeth Levy, beginning in 1964.<ref name=":0" />
She married William W. Harris, whom she met during an interview on her ''Child's Eye View'' film project.<ref name=":0" /> The couple had two sons.<ref name="nyt" /><ref name=":0" />
She died in a hospital in Manhattan, on January 6, 2024, at the age of 83.<ref name="nyt" />
== Publications == * {{Cite book |last1=Harris|first1=Robie |last2=Levy |first2=Elizabeth |year=1977 |title=Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings |publisher=Delacorte}} * {{Cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Robie |year=1978 |title=Don't Forget to Come Back! |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfkKnwEACAAJ |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-7636-1782-0 }} * {{Cite book |last1=Harris|first1=Robie |year=1981 |title=I Hate Kisses |publisher=Knopf}} * {{Cite book|last1=Harris|first1=Robie |year=1994 |title=It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, and Sexual Health |publisher=Candlewick}} * {{Cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Robie H. |last2=Emberley |first2=Michael |year=1996 |title=Happy Birth Day! |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L3GYl9creKkC |publisher=Candlewick Press |isbn=978-0-7636-0974-0 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last1=Harris|first1=Robie |title=It's So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Brith, Babies, and Families|publisher=Candlewick|year=1999}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie H. |title=Goodbye Mousie |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UqS2NwAACAAJ |publisher=Turtleback |isbn=978-1-4177-4039-0 |language=en}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=2005-04-05 |title=Parents are encouraged to discuss death |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B51NAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22robie+harris%22&pg=PA16&article_id=2975,3827177 |work=The Bryan Times |pages=6 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=2024-04-01}}</ref> * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie H. |date=2005 |title=I'm So Mad! |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5k1mmAEACAAJ |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-10939-0 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie H. |date=2005 |title=I Love Messes! |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPj1mAEACAAJ |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-10946-8 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last1=Harris|first1=Robie |year=2006 |title=It's NOT the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends |publisher=Candlewick}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie |year=2011 |title=Turtle and Me |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lgr_oAEACAAJ |publisher=little bee books |isbn=978-1-4998-0046-3 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie H. |date=2012-09-11 |title=Who's in My Family?: All About Our Families |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CojF7uZROQC |publisher=Candlewick Press |isbn=978-0-7636-3631-9 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie H. |date=2013-09-24 |title=What's in There?: All About You Before You Were Born |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ef4PAQAAQBAJ |publisher=Candlewick Press |isbn=978-0-7636-3630-2 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie |date=2014-09-23 |title=What's So Yummy?: All About Eating Well and Feeling Good |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7ZvDwAAQBAJ |publisher=Candlewick Press |isbn=978-0-7636-3632-6 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie H. |date=2016 |title=Who We Are!: All About Being the Same and Being Different |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mQ8ojwEACAAJ |publisher=Walker Books and Subsidiaries |isbn=978-1-4063-6739-3 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie H. |date=2018-05-08 |title=CRASH! BOOM! A Math Tale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bJDDwAAQBAJ |publisher=Candlewick Press |isbn=978-0-7636-7827-2 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie H. |date=2018-06-05 |title=Who?: A Celebration of Babies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cs1FDwAAQBAJ |publisher=Abrams |isbn=978-1-68335-270-9 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robie H. |date=2019-08-27 |title=Look!: Babies Head to Toe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6xOJDwAAQBAJ |publisher=Abrams |isbn=978-1-68335-355-3 |language=en}}
== See also == * {{Portal-inline|Children's literature}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * Interview in ''You Can't Say That! Writers for Young People Talk About Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell'' ([https://www.google.com/books/edition/You_Can_t_Say_That/3mC1EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq&printsec=frontcover pp. 17–40]). Candlewick, 2021. A young adult nonfiction book about book censorship, edited by young adult author and literary critic Leonard S. Marcus. {{ISBN|9780763690366}}.
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Robie}} Category:1940 births Category:2024 deaths Category:20th-century American Jews Category:20th-century American women writers Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American women writers Category:American children's writers Category:American Reform Jews Category:American women children's writers Category:Bank Street College of Education alumni Category:Jewish American children's writers Category:Jewish American women writers Category:Wheaton College (Massachusetts) alumni Category:Writers from Buffalo, New York Category:20th-century American writers Category:21st-century American writers