Ann Grifalconi, Whose Children’s Books Bridged Cultures, Dies at 90

Her books, notably “The Village of Round and Square Houses,” set in Central Africa, introduced young readers to stories from different cultures. Ann Grifalconi, who drew on different cultures to write and illustrate dozens of well-regarded children’s books, notably the award-winning “The Village of Round and Square Houses,” set in Central Africa, died on Feb. 19 in Manhattan. She was 90.

Her niece, Mia Grifalconi, said the cause was complications of advanced dementia. Ms. Grifalconi, who was white, often based her books on the traditions and experiences of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, especially Africans and African-Americans. She said a trip to a remote hamlet in Cameroon had inspired her to write and illustrate “The Village of Round and Square Houses” (1986), which recounts a local folk tale describing how women there came to live in round houses and men in square ones after a volcanic eruption.

“It was not until I was almost full-grown and left my village that I found our village was like no other,” the book begins, gently leading her young readers to examine their own perspectives on the world. Critics lauded the way that Ms. Grifalconi’s writing, packed with telling details of life in the village, made a faraway place relatable to her readers. “It takes a very gifted writer to surmount cultural and geographical barriers for young readers — but author/artist Ann Grifalconi has that special talent,” Arielle North wrote in The St.

Louis Post-Dispatch. “In her stunning new picture book about a real village in Central Africa, she manages to hold her readers close while telling them a tale totally beyond their ken. ” Reviewers also praised her luminous illustrations, which, Susan Stark wrote in a review in The Detroit News, “feature soft-edged, warmly literal drawings of figures in dramatically composed and colored landscapes. ” “Her palette,” Ms.

Stark added, “which makes liberal use of brilliant colors like violet and orange, underscores the powerful spiritual undercurrent of the narrative. ” “Village” won a coveted Caldecott Honor in 1987. Ms.

“Grifalconi set two more books in the same African village: “Darkness and the Butterfly” (1987) and “Osa’s Pride” (1990).”