Norton Juster

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox writer Norton Juster (June 2, 1929 – March 8, 2021) was an American academic, architect, and writer. He was best known as an author of children's books, notably for The Phantom Tollbooth (1961) and The Dot and the Line (1963).

Early life

Juster was born in Brooklyn on June 2, 1929.<ref name="WP obit">Template:Cite news</ref> Both his parents were Jewish and immigrated to the United States.<ref name="Guardian obit">Template:Cite news</ref> His father, Samuel Juster, was born in Romania and became an architect through a correspondence course. His mother, Minnie Silberman, was of Polish Jewish descent.<ref name=Annotated>Template:Cite book</ref> His brother, Howard, became an architect as well. Juster studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> obtaining a bachelor's degree in 1952. He went on to study city planning at the University of Liverpool.<ref name="WP obit"/>

Career

Juster enlisted in the Civil Engineer Corps of the United States Navy in 1954, and rose to the rank of lieutenant junior grade. During one tour, to combat boredom, he began to write and illustrate a story for children, but the commanding officer later reprimanded him for it.<ref name=Annotated/>Template:Rp Still, Juster also finished an unpublished satirical fairy tale called "The Passing of Irving".<ref name=Annotated/>Template:Rp Later posted in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, again to combat boredom, he made up a non-existent military publication called the Naval News Service as a scheme to request interviews with attractive women.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It worked so amazingly well that a neighbor asked to come along as his assistant. His next scheme was to make the "Garibaldi Society" (inspired by a statue in Washington Square Park), whose raison d'être was to reject anyone who applied for membership, designing an impressive logo, application, and rejection letter. It was at this time he met Jules Feiffer while taking out the trash.<ref name=Annotated/>Template:Rp

Approximately six months after meeting Feiffer, Juster received his discharge from the Navy, and worked for a Manhattan architectural firm. He also did some part-time teaching and undertook other jobs. Juster, Feiffer, and another friend rented an apartment on State Street. Juster also resorted to pulling pranks occasionally on Feiffer.<ref name=Annotated/>Template:Rp Juster's children's novel, The Phantom Tollbooth, was published in 1961, with Feiffer doing the drawings.<ref name="WP obit"/><ref name="NYT obit">Template:Cite news</ref> This was followed by The Dot and the Line (1963), which became a standard book in classrooms around the country.<ref name="Guardian obit"/> Juster went on to author Alberic the Wise and Other Journeys (1965), Stark Naked: A Paranomastic Odyssey (1969), Otter Nonsense (1982), and As Silly as Knees, as Busy as Bees (1998), among other works.<ref name="WP obit"/> He also published A Woman's Place: Yesterday's Women in Rural America in 1996 for an adult audience, based on his personal experience of residing on a farm in Massachusetts.<ref name="WP obit"/>

Although Juster enjoyed writing, his architectural career remained his primary emphasis. He served as a professor of architecture and environmental design at Hampshire College from 1970 to 1992, when he retired.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He also co-founded a small architectural firm, Juster Pope Associates, in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts,<ref name=AP>Template:Cite news</ref> in 1970. The firm was renamed Juster Pope Frazier after Jack Frazier joined the firm in 1978.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Later life

Juster lived in Massachusetts during his later years.<ref name="NYT obit"/> His wife, Jeanne, died in October 2018 after 54 years of marriage.<ref name="WP obit"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although he retired from architecture, he continued to write for many years. His book The Hello, Goodbye Window, published May 15, 2005, won the Caldecott Medal for Chris Raschka's illustration in 2006.<ref name="WP obit"/> The sequel, Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie, was published in 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Two years later, he teamed up again with Feiffer for The Odious Ogre.<ref name="WP obit"/><ref name=AP/>

Juster died on March 8, 2021, at his home in Northampton, Massachusetts. He was 91, and suffered from complications of a stroke prior to his death.<ref name="NYT obit"/><ref name=Tor>Template:Cite web</ref>

Books

Other media

Both The Phantom Tollbooth and The Dot and the Line were adapted into films by animator Chuck Jones.<ref name="WP obit"/><ref name=Blistein>Template:Cite news</ref> The latter film received the 1966 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Phantom Tollbooth was also adapted into a musical by Norton Juster and Sheldon Harnick, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and music composed by Arnold Black.<ref>The Phantom Tollbooth Nov 16th – Dec 16th, 2007, Kennedy Center. (Retrieved November 28, 2007)</ref>

There have been musical settings of "A Colorful Symphony" from The Phantom Tollbooth for narrator and orchestra and of The Dot and the Line for narrator and chamber ensemble by composer Robert Xavier Rodriguez.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

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