Amy Krouse Rosenthal, children’s author who wrote ‘You May Want to Marry My Husband’ essay, dies at 51

Reporting from Chicago —  Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the popular author, filmmaker and public speaker who wrote the heart-wrenching column “You May Want to Marry My Husband” as she battled ovarian cancer, died Monday at 51.

Rosenthal was a prolific creator described on her website as “a person who likes to make things.” That description includes children’s books and “grown-up books,” salads, short films, “connections with the universe,” “something out of nothing” and “wishes.”

Rosenthal’s at-times whimsical work received numerous accolades.

She wrote more than 30 children’s books, including “Little Pea,” “Uni the Unicorn,” “I Wish You More,” “Exclamation Mark,” “Spoon,” “Chopsticks,” “Duck! Rabbit!,” “Yes Day,” “The OK Book,” “The Wonder Book,” “Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons,” “Plant a Kiss” and “Wumbers,” according to her website.

Amazon named her “Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life” a top 10 memoir of the decade.

Rosenthal’s longtime agent, Amy Rennert, confirmed her death to the Associated Press.

Rosenthal touched people around the world earlier this month with an essay about her husband. Knowing that her time was limited, Rosenthal used the “Modern Love” column in the New York Times to memorialize her marriage and offer her husband, Jason, an opportunity to find a new love.

In the essay, which went viral, Rosenthal recalled their first encounter — a blind date organized by a friend who thought they’d be perfect for each other.

They were.

“I want more time with Jason. I want more time with my children. I want more time sipping martinis at the Green Mill Jazz Club on Thursday nights,” Rosenthal wrote, referencing the legendary Chicago night spot. “But that is not going to happen. I probably have only a few days left being a person on this planet. So why I am doing this?

“I am wrapping this up on Valentine’s Day, and the most genuine, non-vase-oriented gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins.”

Rosenthal was a Tufts University graduate who worked in advertising for several years before she had what she called a “McEpiphany”: She was with her kids at McDonald’s when she promised herself that she would leave advertising and become a writer.

She more than kept her word; starting in the late 1990s, she regularly published at least a book a year, and sometimes three or four. Amy Rennert, her longtime literary agent, said Monday that Rosenthal had completed seven more picture books before her death, including a collaboration with her daughter, Paris, called “Dear Girl.”

Rosenthal loved experimenting with different media, and blending the virtual and physical worlds. One of her favorite projects began with a YouTube video, “17 Things I Made,” featuring everything from books she had written to her three children to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. At the end of the video, she welcomed fans to join her at Chicago’s Millennium Park, on Aug. 8, 2008, at 8:08 p.m. The goal was to make a “cool” 18th thing.

Hundreds turned out to “make” things — a grand entrance, a new friend, a splash, something pretty.

“I tend to believe whatever you decide to look for you will find, whatever you beckon will eventually beckon you,” she said during a 2012 TED talk.

Nili Yelin, a Chicago area children’s storyteller known as the “Storybook Mom,” said she’d known Rosenthal for more than a decade.

Yelin said “Little Pea” is her all-time favorite children’s picture book and when she was introduced to Rosenthal, “I recited the entire book to Amy and I said, ‘We’re either going to be good friends or you’re going to think I’m crazy.’ ”

They became friends.

Yelin called Rosenthal “the goddess of picture books” and remembered her as a generous mentor who would share feedback on Yelin’s writing. She last saw Rosenthal in the fall, at a Make a Wish Foundation event where Rosenthal wore a jacket depicting her picture book covers.

“She’s the most creative person I know,” Yelin said.

In her nontraditional book “Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal,” the author reflected on middle age and her youthful passion for life.

“If it is wonderful, splendid, remarkable — a view outside a window, a lit-up fountain at night, that fig-chorizo appetizer — I am compelled to seek some sort of saturation point, to listen/stare/savor on a loop, to greedily keep at it until I’ve absorbed, absconded with, and drained it of all its magic,” she wrote.

“Invariably, I will have to move on before I have had enough. My first word was ‘more.’ It may very well be my last.”

Rosenthal is survived by her husband, Jason, and three children: Justin, Miles and Paris.

Pratt writes for the Chicago Tribune

Associated Press contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

1:05 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with staff reporting.

10:51 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details and quotes.

This article was originally published at 10:15 a.m.