Robie Harris

Robie Heilbrun was born in Buffalo, New York on April 3, 1940.^[3][4] Her mother worked in a biology laboratory, while her father was a radiologist.^[5] She grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Buffalo.^[6] She became interested in writing at a young age, and began writing stories in kindergarten.^[7] In high school, she was an editor of her school's newspaper.^[7] She graduated from Wheaton College, where she served as editor of the school's yearbook, with a bachelor's degree in English in 1962.^[7][8] She went on to graduate from the Bank Street College of Education with a master's in teaching in 1966.^[7][8]

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.^[7]

Harris collaborated with multiple writers through the Bank Street Writers' Laboratory, of which she was a member.^[7]

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.^[7]

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.^[7]

Harris was a board member of the National Coalition Against Censorship for 20 years.^[9]

She won the 2019 Mathical Book Prize for her book Crash! Boom! A Math Tale.^[10]

In 2020, Harris received the inaugural Mills Tannenbaum Award for Children's Literacy from Reach Out and Read of Greater New York.^[11]

Harris lived in New York City beginning in the 1960s, and was roommates with her cousin, novelist Elizabeth Levy, beginning in 1964.^[7]

She married William W. Harris, whom she met during an interview on her Child's Eye View film project.^[7] The couple had two sons.^[4][7]

She died in a hospital in Manhattan, on January 6, 2024, at the age of 83.^[4]

• Harris, Robie; Levy, Elizabeth (1977). Before You Were Three: How You Began to Walk, Talk, Explore, and Have Feelings. Delacorte.
• Harris, Robie (1978). Don't Forget to Come Back!. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-7636-1782-0.
• Harris, Robie (1981). I Hate Kisses. Knopf.
• Harris, Robie (1994). It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, and Sexual Health. Candlewick.
• Harris, Robie H.; Emberley, Michael (1996). Happy Birth Day!. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-0974-0.
• Harris, Robie (1999). It's So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Brith, Babies, and Families. Candlewick.
• Harris, Robie H. (2004). Goodbye Mousie. Turtleback. ISBN 978-1-4177-4039-0.^[12]
• Harris, Robie H. (2005). I'm So Mad!. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-10939-0.
• Harris, Robie H. (2005). I Love Messes!. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-10946-8.
• Harris, Robie (2006). It's NOT the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends. Candlewick.
• Harris, Robie (2011). Turtle and Me. little bee books. ISBN 978-1-4998-0046-3.
• Harris, Robie H. (September 11, 2012). Who's in My Family?: All About Our Families. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-3631-9.
• Harris, Robie H. (September 24, 2013). What's in There?: All About You Before You Were Born. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-3630-2.
• Harris, Robie (September 23, 2014). What's So Yummy?: All About Eating Well and Feeling Good. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-3632-6.
• Harris, Robie H. (2016). Who We Are!: All About Being the Same and Being Different. Walker Books and Subsidiaries. ISBN 978-1-4063-6739-3.
• Harris, Robie H. (May 8, 2018). CRASH! BOOM! A Math Tale. Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-7827-2.
• Harris, Robie H. (June 5, 2018). Who?: A Celebration of Babies. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-68335-270-9.
• Harris, Robie H. (August 27, 2019). Look!: Babies Head to Toe. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-68335-355-3.

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