Virginia Lee Burton: Life Story
Life Story was the last picture book Jinnee produced, one she worked on for eight years. Published in 1962, it was set within the framework of a theater and portrayed the sweeping arc of evolution and history. Beginning with the birth of the sun, it brilliantly chronicles the evolution through the primordial ocean, the dinosaurs, the ice age, and up to present day.
The book was met with critical acclaim and a party was held at the Boston Museum of Science. The studies below were displayed in storefronts along Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Artwork by Virginia Lee Burton
“If the page is well drawn and finely designed, the child reader will acquire a sense of good design which will lead to an appreciation of beauty and the development of good taste.”
— Virginia Lee Burton