Amy Krouse Rosenthal


Amy Krouse Rosenthal was an American author of both adult and children's books, a short film maker, and radio show host. She is best known for her memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, her children's picture books, and the film project The Beckoning of Lovely. She was a prolific writer, publishing more than 30 children's books between 2005 and her death in 2017. She is the only author to have three children's books make the Best Children's Books for Family Literacy list in the same year. She was a contributor to Chicago's NPR affiliate WBEZ, and to the TED conference.

Books

Amy Krouse Rosenthal wrote for both adults and children. Rosenthal had several books on the New York Times bestseller list: I Wish You More, Uni the Unicorn, Plant a Kiss, Exclamation Mark, , and Duck! Rabbit!. Duck! Rabbit! was read at the White House during the 2010 Easter Egg Roll. She was selected as the 2015 author for 'The Global Read Aloud', an eight-week program for classrooms around the world to engage with each other by reading the same books.
Her alphabetized memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life was named one of Amazon's top ten memoirs of the decade.
Her follow-up, Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, was published by Dutton Penguin Random House on August 9, 2016. It is the first book to include an interactive text-messaging component.
Along with her adult and children's work, Rosenthal had a keepsake journal line including Encyclopedia of Me: My Life from A to Z and The Belly Book: A Nine-Month Journal for You and Your Growing Belly.

Films

Rosenthal made short films using her iPhone or Flip camera. Some invite further interaction from viewers, some are social experiments, and some build upon each other to become something else entirely. Her films include 17 Things I Made, Today is a Gift, ATM: Always Trust Magic, The Kindness Thought Bubble, The Money Tree and The Beckoning of Lovely.
She held 'Beckoning of Lovely' events at the bean in Chicago's Millennium Park on August 8, 2008, September 9, 2009, October 10, 2010, and November 11, 2011.
Chicago Magazine described The Beckoning of Lovely'':

Other work

Rosenthal was a frequent contributor to TED. In 2011, 2012, and 2015, she was brought on as an "experiential designer", creating ideas and experiences implemented at the annual TEDActive conference. Additionally, she has given talks at TEDxSanDiego 2011 and at TEDxSMU 2012; she gave her first and most well-known TED talk, 'Notes on Life', at TEDxWaterloo in 2010.
Her essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, Hallmark Magazine, Parenting, , and McSweeney's. Her website, whoisamy.com, was named one of the best official author websites, alongside Barbara Kingsolver and Stephen King.

Personal life

Rosenthal, a graduate of Tufts University, lived in Chicago. She had three children: Justin, Miles and Paris.
On March 3, 2017, at the age of 51, she announced that she was terminally ill with ovarian cancer, by way of a New York Times "Modern Love" essay. The essay was in the form of a dating profile for her husband Jason, to help him remarry after her death. She died ten days later at her home in Chicago.

Children's books