About the Author

(1916-1993) Born in New Jersey to a long line of artists, du Bois was accordingly packed off to art school when many other young men his age were joining the Army or Navy, and published his first book at the age of 17. During World War II, he served as a correspondent for Yank. The rest of his life was spent writing and illustrating his own books, as well as illustrating for many other authors. He won the Newberry Medal in 1948 for The Twenty-One Balloons. The book's main character, William Sherman, who set out around the globe with a hot air balloon but was interrupted by a utopia of restaurateurs and the explosion of Krakatoa, is exemplary of du Bois’ characters, who inhabit plot worlds only slightly less zany, peculiar, and hilarious than themselves.

Loganberry Legacy

We currently have a great collection of William Pene du Bois in stock. The Otto books, about a rather large dog, are a staff favorite.

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Selected Bibliography

  • The Twenty-One Balloons
  • Bear party
  • Peter Graves
  • Lion
  • Bear Circus
  • Gentleman Bear
  • The Forbidden Forest
  • The Giant
  • The Great Geppy
  • The Three Policemen, or Young Bottsford of Forbe Island
  • The Horse in the Camel Suit
  • Call Me Bandicoot
  • Mother Goose for Christmas
  • Porko von Popbutton
  • Otto in Texas
  • The Adventures of Otto
  • Otto and the Magic Potatoes
  • Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead
  • The Alligator Case
  • Otto in Africa
  • Otto at Sea
  • The Bears of Koala Park and William Pene Du Bois Present Bear Circus for our Friends the Kangaroos
  • The Three Little Pigs, in verse
  • Little Red Riding Hood
  • Pretty Pretty Peggy Moffitt
  • Squirrel Hotel
  • The Hare and the Tortoise & The tortoise and the Hare