Life
De Jong was born in the village of Wierum, of the province of Friesland, in the Netherlands. The family emigrated to the United States in 1914. Meindert attended Dutch Calvinist secondary schools and Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and entered the University of Chicago, but left without graduating.
He held various jobs during the Great Depression, and it was at the suggestion of a local librarian that he began writing children's books. His first book The Big Goose and the Little White Duck was published in 1938. He wrote several more books before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II serving in China.
After the war he resumed writing, and for several years resided in Mexico. He returned for a time to Michigan. After settling in North Carolina, he returned to Michigan for the final years of his life.
Six of De Jong's books were illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
Read more about this topic: Meindert DeJong
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“When they [the American soldiers] came, they found fit comrades for their courage and their devotion.... Joining hands with them, the men of America gave the greatest of all gifts, the gift of life and the gift of spirit.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“Death is the end of life; ah, why
Should life all labor be?”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)