Seattle - Karla Kuskin, a prominent children's book writer and illustrator, died Thursday. She was 77.

Kuskin, who had a neurological disorder, died of cortical basal ganglionic degeneration in Seattle, said her children, Nicholas Kuskin of Pelham, N.Y., and Julia Kuskin of Seattle.

Kuskin moved to Seattle in 2006 after spending most of her life in New York.

Growing up as an only child in Manhattan, Kuskin was encouraged to write by teachers at the Little Red School House in Greenwich Village.

She attended Antioch College, earned a bachelor of fine arts degree at Yale University and went on to write and illustrate dozens of children's books. Many have won awards for their penetrating wit and concern for the character of her subjects.