Arnold Spilka

Who is Arnold Spilka?

Arnold Spilka was a children's illustrator, author and poet.

Spilka studied at the Art Students League where he studied drawing with Rico Lebrun, and sculpture with John Hovannes. He illustrated many books for other authors, including Robert Froman, John Lawson, Beman Lord, and Ann McGovern. He is the author of A Rumbudgin of Nonsense which is a well-known collection of 20th century children's verse. He also wrote and illustrated "A Lion I Can Do Without", "And the Frog Went Blah" and "Bumples, Fumdidlers, and Jellybeans".

Among his poems are Don’t Tell Me That I Talk Too Much and Flowers are a Silly Bunch, which starts by listing aspects of nature, but turns out to be a poem about liking the city.

Some of his papers and original drawings have been donated to the University of Minnesota Library, for their children's literature research collections.