Awards
Nominated for, and winner of, many awards such as:
Benjamin Franklin Award
Society of School Librarians International Book Award
Children’s Book Council – Outstanding Trade Book, Field of Social Studies
Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year
International Reading Association—Children’s Book Council, Teacher’s Choice Award
Nominated as a Notable Book by American Library Association
Top Ten Animal Books, Booklist
American Bookseller, Pick of the Lists
CBC Science and Nature Book Award
NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children, Best Children’s Book of the Year
Texas Bluebonnet Award, Masterlist
Bibliography
Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights
Baby Whale’s Journey
A Caribou Journey
Disappearing Lake: Nature’s Magic in Denali National Park
The Eyes of Gray Wolf
Gone Again Ptarmigan
The Great Serum Race: Blazing the Iditarod Trail
Honey Paw and Lightfoot
Jon Van Zyle’s Alaskan Sketchbook
Jon Van Zyle’s Iditarod Memories
Kayuktuk
Lewis & Papa: Adventure on the Santa Fe Trail
A Polar Bear Journey
Raven and River
River of Life
Sled Dogs Run
A Woolly Mammoth Journ
Books C.B. has written and illustrated:
American West Designs
Jon Van Zyle
“Breakfast Serials is a creatively novel means of exposing young and old readers to the magic of words and the art that help us see those words. In today’s world of diminishing arts curriculum in the schools, Breakfast Serials is needed more than ever.”
Biography
Jon Van Zyle lives near Eagle River, Alaska, with his wife, Jona, also an artist, and a number of Siberian Huskies, which they raise and train. Dogs play a large part in their lives.
Art is Jon’s life, and Alaska has been his inspiration. Having twice completed the 1,049 miles of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race between Anchorage and Nome ('76 and '79), Jon Van Zyle has seen more of Alaska than most could even hope to. From this experience he has created the yearly Iditarod poster series commemorating the race. In 1979 he was made official Iditarod artist, a title he still holds today. In 2004 Jon was inducted into the Iditarod Hall of Fame.
Jon’s acrylic paintings go beyond the race, however, and encompass much of Alaska’s beauty. Dog teams, landscapes, wildlife, and Alaskan faces from native to newcomer portray an intimacy with the land and its people. Jon even touches on history with studies of Alaskan pioneers and native traditions and lore, all of which record the Alaskan spirit. In addition he has gained a reputation, through his art, as a storyteller.
Jon's art career has spanned more than three decades. Extremely prolific, he produces between seventy and eighty paintings a year for one-man exhibitions in the United States as well as Europe. Illustrating at least two children's books (and general audience books) a year since 1993 has earned him a multigenerational reputation as well as many awards. His limited edition prints, lithographs, and posters sell out regularly, with more than 300 editions in the last twenty-five years. Annually, thirty prints are created for children’s books and forty to fifty are requested by galleries and museum exhibitions.
A book of Jon’s art and life, The Best of Alaska: The Art of Jon Van Zyle, was published in 1990 and reprinted through 1995. In 1998 Jon Van Zyle's Alaskan Sketchbook was published.
Iditarod Memories, a book celebrating his twenty-five years of official Iditarod posters, was published in 2001. A public television video of Jon’s art career and family life was produced in 1991. The same year, Lenox Collections began producing collector plates, porcelain mugs, and music boxes. A variety of other gift products, including Alōska Shirts, are produced by various firms for the national and international markets.
To learn more about Jon, you can visit his website at www.JonVanZyle.com
Serials
Bella Bella is an evocative sea-kayaking adventure set in the beautiful—but potentially dangerous—wilderness off the central coast of British Columbia.
Spanish translation available.
