Since his first picture book, The Ballad of Belle Dorcas, was published in 1990, Pinkney has become well-known for his highly kinetic style of illustration using a scratchboard technique with luma dyes, gouache, and oil paint.

Part of one of the royal families of children's literature, he is married to Andrea Davis Pinkney (currently the publisher at Houghton Mifflin) and is the son of Jerry Pinkney, highly acclaimed illustrator of children's books and himself a recipient of many awards.

His honored books are Duke Ellington: the Piano Prince and the Orchestra (Hyperion, 1999); The Faithful Friend (Simon & Schuster, 1996); In the Time of the Drums (Jump at the Sun, Hyperion, 2000); Sukey and the Mermaid (Four Winds, 1993).

—Vicki Palmquist