 In 1997, "Tikki Tikki Tembo" was selected by "The New York Times" on its list of the 50 best children's books of the previous 50 years.Lent's artwork had been contributed to the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota and the Mazza Museum at the University of Findlay, in Findlay, Ohio.Lent was a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts and died at age 79 on January 27, 2009 of pneumonia in Medford, Massachusetts.