Te Big Book of Picture-Book Autors & Illustrators by James Preller S C H O L A S T I C B OOKS P ROFESSIONAL New York Toronto London Auckland Sydney Mexico City New Deli Hong Kong Buenos Aires
Contents Introduction...................................................5 Preface.......................................................6 Picture-Book Autors & Illustrators Mitsumasa Anno................................................8 Tedd Arnold..................................................10 Molly Bang...................................................12 Sonto Begay..................................................14 Aliki Brandenberg..............................................16 Jan Brett.....................................................18 Norman Bridwell...............................................20 Marc Brown...................................................22 Asley Bryan..................................................24 Eve Bunting...................................................26 Eric Carle....................................................28 Joanna Cole...................................................30 Barbara Cooney................................................32 Donald Crews.................................................34 Bruce Degen..................................................36 Lulu Delacre..................................................38 Tomie depaola.................................................40 Diane and Leo Dillon............................................42 Lois Elert....................................................44 Mem Fox.....................................................46 Gail Gibbons.................................................48 Patricia Reilly Giff..............................................50 Poebe Gilman................................................52 Paul Goble....................................................54 Eloise Greenfield...............................................56 Rut Heller...................................................58 Kevin Henkes.................................................60 Gloria Houston................................................62 Pat Hutcins..................................................64 Trina Scart Hyman.............................................66 Tony Jonston.................................................68 Ezra Jack Keats................................................70 Steven Kellogg.................................................72 Karla Kuskin..................................................74 Leo Lionni....................................................76 Arnold Lobel..................................................78
Jonatan London...............................................80 James Marsall.................................................82 Bill Martin, Jr..................................................84 Jean Marzollo..................................................86 Robert McCloskey..............................................88 Emily Arnold McCully...........................................90 Angela Self Medearis...........................................92 Robert Munsc................................................94 Mary Pope Osborne.............................................96 Barbara Park..................................................98 Dav Pilkey...................................................100 J. Brian Pinkney...............................................102 Jerry Pinkney.................................................104 Patricia Polacco...............................................106 Jack Prelutsky................................................108 Barbara Reid.................................................110 Fait Ringgold................................................112 Joanne Ryder.................................................114 Cyntia Rylant................................................116 Allen Say....................................................118 Jon Scieszka..................................................120 Maurice Sendak...............................................122 Dr. Seuss (Teodor Seuss Geisel)..................................124 Marjorie Weinman Sarmat......................................126 Peter Sis.....................................................128 Lane Smit..................................................130 Peter Spier...................................................132 William Steig.................................................134 Jon Steptoe.................................................136 Mark Teague.................................................138 Cris Van Allsburg.............................................140 Bernard Waber................................................142 Kate Waters..................................................144 Rosemary Wells...............................................146 Hans Wilelm................................................148 Vera B. Williams...............................................150 Jane Yolen...................................................152 Ed Young....................................................154 Carlotte Zolotow.............................................156 Bibliograpy................................................158 About te Autor.............................................160
Introduction Welcome to Te Big Book of Picture-Book Autors and Illustrators! Tis all-in-one resource is a great way to introduce cildren to 75 of teir favorite autors and illustrators, including Aliki, Eric Carle, Tomie depaola, Kevin Henkes, Leo Lionni, Jerry Pinkney, Patricia Polacco, Dr. Seuss, and many more. Te interview-based profiles in tis collection provide insigt into te lives, work, inspiration, and creative process of tese talented writers and artists. Sare tese fascinating minibiograpies wit students to enance autor studies and elp your students read wit greater entusiasm and understanding. Great effort went into selecting te autors and illustrators included in tis book. We spoke wit a number of teacers and scool librarians to find out wic autors and illustrators students would most like to read about. James Preller spent many illuminating ours conducting te interviews and gatering information before writing te profiles tat appear on tese pages. Eac of tese creative people offers is or er distinct voice and vision. Some make us cuckle, oters make us cry, some rely on facts to tell of dramatic events tat saped our istory, oters spin yarns in irresistible verse. Tese autors and illustrators bring a ric diversity of experience to teir work. Tey come from near and far: big cities and small towns all over te United States, as well as Puerto Rico, Australia, Canada, Czecoslovakia, Cina, England, Germany, Holland, Japan, and Nortern Ireland. And tey all ave great stories to tell. Fait Ringgold reflects on a wonderful cildood in Harlem; Sonto Begay explains wat it s like growing up in a ogan on a Navajo reservation; Cyntia Rylant describes te influence of er Appalacian upbringing on er work; and Mem Fox sares te trill of publising er first book after rewriting it 23 times! Eac profile is accompanied by a Do It Yourself activity in most cases, suggested by te autors and illustrators temselves to spark students creativity to tell teir own stories. We suggest tat you adapt tese activities to meet te needs of your students. For example, younger cildren migt draw pictures and dictate stories wile older cildren migt work troug te writing process to create polised stories for teir portfolios. We designed tis book wit your students in mind. By learning about teir favorite autors and illustrators, cildren gain valuable insigt into te stories tey are reading. Tis encourages cildren to read and provides tem wit models of strong writing, ultimately elping tem develop into more fluent, capable, and motivated readers and writers. Our ope is tat tis collection of interviews will elp you and your students feel even more connected to tese wonderfully creative autors and illustrators. And wo knows... it may just inspire your students to publis teir own books someday. Te Editors 5
AUTHOR-ILLUSTRATOR Mitsumasa Anno Born: Marc 20, 1926, in Tsuwano, Japan Home: Tokyo, Japan 8 SELECTED T ITLES Topsy-Turvies: Pictures to Stretc te Imagination 1970 Anno s Alpabet: An Adventure in Imagination 1974 Anno s Journey 1977 Te King s Flower 1979 Anno s Medieval World 1980 Anno s U.S.A. 1983 All in a Day 1986 Anno s Mat Games (first in a series) 1987 Anno s Aesop: A Book of Fables by Aesop and Mr. Fox 1989 Anno s Magic Seeds 1995 Mitsumasa Anno was born and raised in Tsuwano, a small mountain village in Japan. Toug it was a very beautiful village surrounded by mountains, Anno yearned to learn more about te world beyond it. Anno remembers, As a cild, I always wondered wat was on te oter side of te mountains. Anno s boundless curiosity pertained not only to distant lands; e was also fascinated by matematics, logic, entomology (te study of insects), and art. He possessed a lively imagination: I liked to observe real people and make up stories about tem. If a man walked by, I would tink tat e must be a carpenter or a doctor on is way to see a cild in te ospital or watever. In 1961 Anno first saw te drawings of M.C. Escer. Tese strange, improbable drawings excited Anno. It seemed to im tat Escer s drawings were almost like puzzles, riddles from anoter world te world of te imagination. Newly inspired, Anno decided to create is own, Escer-like illustrations. In te book Topsy-Turvies: Pictures to Stretc te Imagination, e created impossible pictures of ceilings tat double as floors, stairways tat lead up to a lower level, and water faucets tat turn into rivers. Anno wanted te book to callenge readers to see new tings and tink new tougts. In a postscript to te book e explained, I ave purposely added no words to tese topsy-turvy pictures of mine so you can make tem mean watever you want tem to mean. Anno soon contrived anoter book witout rules Upside- Downers: More Pictures to Stretc te Imagination. He said, My pictures are like maps, wic peraps only I can understand. Terefore, in following my maps tere are some travelers wo get
lost. But for Anno, getting lost is just one more opportunity for te reader to find someting new. It seems tat altoug languages and customs are different in various parts of te world, tere are no differences at all in our earts. Anno s Journeys Anno s first visit to Europe inspired im to write Anno s Journey. Anno said of is journey, My purpose for traveling was not merely to see more of te world but to get lost in it. I did often get lost and faced many difficulties, but under suc circumstances tere were always unexpected discoveries and interesting experiences waiting for me. Anno s Journey was te first of four remarkable books based on Anno s travels; it was followed by Anno s Italy, Anno s Britain, and Anno s U.S.A. Peraps te most surprising ting tat Anno discovered in is travels was ow similar people are to one anoter. He says, Among living creatures, more tings are sared tan are different. Seeing a sunset in Europe, I was impressed by te natural trut tat we ave only one sun tat no matter were we are, we all see te same sun. Differences suc as language, dress, and skin color are only on te surface. As Anno said, Te essence of being uman is te same everywere. Over time, many autors become associated wit a particular caracter tey created. For example, Dr. Seuss will forever be known as te man beind te Cat in te Hat, Norman Bridwell is beloved for Clifford te Big Red Dog, and H.A. Rey is famous for creating te miscievous Curious George. But Anno s books rarely center on a main caracter. Instead, tey seem to be about te world itself. Still, tere is one recurring caracter te lone orseman wo travels troug te pages of te Journey series. Tis caracter best represents te spirit of Anno s work te spirit of exploration and discovery. Te Journey books also provide readers wit a treasure unt of sorts. Hidden in te drawings are pictures of famous paintings or picture-book caracters suc as Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood. By iding tese treasures, Anno wispers a secret into te reader s ear: Te more you seek, te more you sall find. DO IT YOURSELF! Wen e finised Anno s Italy, Anno said, Te book as no words, yet I feel sure tat anyone wo looks at it can understand wat te people in te pictures are doing and wat tey are tinking and feeling. Do you tink tat s true? Try to imagine wat some of te people in Anno s illustrations are tinking and feeling. Write down a conversation tey migt be aving. 9