Alona Frankel was born in 1937 in Kraków, Poland, and spent her childhood during the Holocaust in the Lvov ghetto, then in hiding; first alone, later with her parents. After immigrating to Israel with her family in 1949, Frankel studied art at the Avni Institute. She began illustrating children's books at the age of 30. In 1975, she published the first of over 40 children's books that she both wrote and illustrated, in addition to illustrating dozens of books by other authors. Her books, translated into 12 languages, have become bestsellers. She lectures on illustration at several institutions, and her work has been featured at exhibitions and fairs in Israel and abroad. Frankel has won numerous prizes, including an Hans Cristian Andersen Honor Citation and multiple Parent's Choice awards. Girl, her first book for adults, was awarded the Sapir Prize for Literature and Yad Va'Shem's Buchman award. She was married to the late artist Zygmunt Frankel ], and their sons are Ari, and Michael.
FOR ALL AGES Frankel started writing when her son Michael was a baby, creating a book for him about toilet training, titled Sir ha-Sirim. The Hebrew-language original was published in 1975 and became an instant best seller. Frankel gained international popularity and recognition when its English translation, Once Upon a Potty, appeared in 1980 for boys – Joshua – and girls – Prudence. These books and their video editions have sold over 5,000,000 copies in the United States alone. They were listed as No. 1 and No. 3 in Publisher Weekly's all-time best-selling Hardcover Childcare charts. Alona Frankel has written and illustrated several dozen children's books, many of which have been translated into English and other languages. A detailed catalog can be seen here: http://www.alonafrankel.com/catalog/. Her books have been published by Harper Collins, Firefly Books, Publications International, and many others. FOR ADULTS Following the Hebrew publication of Girl, its translation into Polish and excellent reviews, comparing it favorably to Anne Frank and Primo Levi writings, Alona published two more volumes in her autobiographical memoir, Teen and Woman. Indiana University Press will publish Girl in English in Fall 2016.
