Sergio Ruzzier's Blog, page 17

From the Spring 2011 Clarion catalogue

To see the whole catalogue go here.

Original art for sale

powerHouse Arena   and The Book Maker's Dozen present The Art of the Picture Book.
New York-based children's book illustrators cooperative The Book Maker's Dozen, which I'm proudly part of, will have original drawings and paintings from some of our picture books on display and for sale at powerHouse Arena. My piece in the show is from my book Amandina .

The show opens Friday, March 4, from 6-8 pm and will go on until May 1st.

The powerHouse Arena is in Dumbo (37 Main St. Brooklyn, NY).

Amandina on the real stage

Noemi Bresciani and her dance company Fattoria Vittadini, based in Milan, are putting up a show based on my picture book Amandina , that is about a little dog who puts up a show. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend, but if you are in Milan on Febraury 21 or in Bologna on February 28, please go see it!

Ho visto una nave navigare

Beni Montresor in the late Fifties
Ho visto una nave navigare is one of the very first books I have ever touched. 

It was published in Italy by Emme Edizioni (that published many wonderful books) in 1967, same year as the American edition (Knopf), titled I Saw a Ship A-Sailing. It's Beni Montresor's interpretation of some classic nursery rhymes. In the Italian edition, there are English words and sentences here and there, which were part of the illustrations, like "Not on me! Not on me!" or "Very new shoe". As a kid I didn't understand what those English words meant, but they stayed with me forever, as did these dreamy drawings.

Lisa Siebert's Picture Book List

Lisa Siebert, originally from Goleta, California, is a nursery school teacher in  Berlin, Germany.This is a list of her favorite picture books:
1. Kleinen Maulwurf, der wissen wollte, wer ihm auf den Kopf gemacht hat by Werner Holzwarth, illustrated by Wolf Erlbruch. Somebody did their business on the mole's head and he is determined to find out who. [Published in the U.S. in 2007 as The Story of the Little Mole Who Went in Search of Whodunit.]
2. Winnie Flies Again written by Valerie Thomas and illustrated by Korky Paul. Lovable Winnie keeps bumping into things while traveling on her broomstick until she discovers the reason why. Winnie the Witch is a much loved series from Britain.

3. One two three me illustrated by Nadia Budde and put into English by Jeremy Fitzler. Nadia is an illustrator who is waiting to be discovered on the other side of the ocean. This is the only gem available in English, none of her other books have been translated, as far as I know. I wish I could show you a picture but things aren't working for me that way at the moment! Her website is under construction but worth waiting for!   
4. Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are an award winning dream team (as are all of the non-American titles mentioned here) who have produced many a treasure...The Gruffalo is about a clever mouse who outwits his predators including the now famous Gruffalo of the "knobbly knees and turned out toes".

5. Tigerprince by Chen Jianghong. With breathtaking illustrations combining classical Chinese drawing with modern, western visual language, Chen Jianghong tells the moving story of a mother-son relationship between a little prince and a tigress.

6. Fast Food by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers. These guys create characters using fruits and vegetables and black eyed peas. My favorite is the banana airplane.

7. Une soupe au caillou  by Anaïs Vaugelade. Based on the fable. A wolf visits a hen and suggests they make stone soup. The neighbors are concerned and come to call, each bringing a vegetable to contribute. After they dine together the wolf leaves and  we wonder what he would have done if the neighbors had stayed at home.

8. Traction Man by Mini Grey.
I love the way this title celebrates children's imagination.

9. Sorry, but I have to say: anything by Mo Willems.

10. Lon Po Po by Ed Young. As with Chen Jianghong, I appreciate (and I think children also appreciate) when authors are not afraid to tackle our fears. (I like the dedication to the wolf at the beginning.)

The Lonely Boy

This is the first in a series of posts about picture books from my library.


Roland Topor is one of my favorite artists ever. I even met him, when I was still a kid, in Piazzetta Reale in Milan, after the opening of a big exhibition of his work. His signature on my invitation is all messed up by that evening's raindrops.


This book I'm showing, Il bambino solo (The Lonely Boy), is the Italian edition published by the praiseworthy Milano Libri. The French original title was Le petit garçon tout seul. I don't think this book was ever published in English, but let me know if I'm wrong.
But the princess, who was shy, preferred to sit on the branches.

Cristiana Clerici's Picture Book List

Cristiana Clerici writes about children's books on her blog The Tea Box and on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. I'll let her introduce herself.
I was born in Parma, Italy, where I still live with my two cats. I was a very lucky child, because I had the best granny in the world: she was the one who used to tell me the most incredible stories at bedtime, though my favourite has always been Cinderella (for the three balls and the three dresses she had, at least in my granny's version, not for Prince Charming nor for wedding! I start to think I've been quite coherent after all!). Granny was the one who gifted me with fascination for children's literature. I took my University degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures, in specific English and French, the further step was then quite a natural one to me: speak French and English + love literature, and in specific kidslit, + a bit of craziness = start studying the subject and writing about it, first for a few specialized magazines, then on my own blog(s)!


1 – NELLA NEBBIA DI MILANO by Bruno Munari      Bruno Munari has been a brilliant mind and a free soul, to me he represents all the good qualities of our country: he was a wise free thinker, someone with an excellent sense of aesthetics and color and a man gifted with a powerful creativity. Nella Nebbia di Milano is, to my opinion, his masterpiece. Though dated 1968, it's a timeless picture book, where words and images contribute to plunge you into a real foggy day, with a little surprise in the middle. His use of tissue papers and graphics recalls the imperceivable softness that wraps up everything on a foggy day. Though, being such a fan of colored papers, he could not renounce to a colorful heart: the great circus is in town, and even if everything around is gray and black and all mingled, inside the circus everything is color! The text is essential and full of poetry: "Gli uccelli fanno piccoli voli nella nebbia.... e tornano subito" (birds make short flights when it's foggy... and they come back immediately). 
[This book is also available in its English translation as "The Circus in the Mist".]











2 – THE SNOWY DAY by Ezra J.Keats      This is another timeless masterpiece I discovered only quite recently. What I appreciate more in Keats is the immense sense of child's perspective he has: his way of looking at the world is exactly the way children look at it, with that same enchantment. The Snowy Day to me represents exactly this: marvel and joy, playing, a metamorphosed world loosing its usual boundaries and becoming the perfect place for new discoveries. His use of color is incredibly masterly, he never exceeds and this not just because he's describing a snowy day, but because he has a great sense of balance. I love the way Keats portrayed his main character, not simply because he portrays a black boy (and I believe we would need many more book characters in Europe belonging to other ethnic groups others than white), but because he decided to outline Peter very simply, he avoids being too descriptive, so that anyone can identify with him, which leads to another important message: though different in our being individuals, we are all the same.


3 – ABC, WORD BOOK by Richard Scarry      This is the book I literally worn out when I was a kid: Scarry's images are always on my mind and every time I look at them I feel home somehow. I remember spending hours on the book looking at all the little details. Amid all the animals populating the book cats were my favorite (why on earth would I be surrounded by cats otherwise??), and the table I loved most was the one representing the Firemen House. Amid all the other picks I made, this is a real emotional choice and most probably it's the book I would still select were I still a child. Of Scarry's illustrations I really love the thin lines, the colors and his urban scenes full of details and warmth. And, one last thing, the cottage: this is where I always wanted to live. Remembering this makes me think of how much a children's book can determine the perception a child has of the world outside!


4 – LA VISITE DE PETITE MORT by Kitty Crowther      Kitty Crowther is one of my favorite authors/illustrators, I was right there when she received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award last year and I was so happy and moved and empathic that I ended up crying like a baby! Well, besides this... La Visite de Petite Mort is a book that affords a difficult theme like death in such an incredibly sensible way it is a real life lesson for anyone, adults and children likewise. Kitty Crowther always deals with difficult topics, and this book is no exception. When I found it book I felt so deeply touched I could hardly refrain from turning all emotional: Petite Mort is a child, a very kind child everyone is afraid of, they all tremble with fear when they see her, and she resents this very much, until she meets Elsewise who is a child as well, a child who has been hill for a long time. Elsewise welcomes Petite Mort, they play together and they become friends. I won't give the ending away but it is such a beautiful book I would talk about it for hours, this is why I'd better stop here!




















5 – LES ARBRES PLEURENT AUSSI by Irène Cohen-Janca, illustrations by Maurizio A.C. QuarelloIn Les Arbres Pleurent Aussi, the main character is the horse-chestnut tree that was in front of Anne Frank's hidden shelter, in Amsterdam. It's the tree that tells us about her, we will know her name only towards the end of the book, until then it's just a tree and a girl observing each other and the world all around getting darker and crazier. Both illustrations and text are of such rare beauty that I wouldn't know where to start: few books about Anne Frank were able to reach such high degree of poetry and intensity. It is such a powerful book, all played around the idea that the tree and the girl are both powerless, we know what their destiny will be and still we are stuck to the pages, watching them living their lives despite everything else. It contains all the sense of injustice and misery that comes with wars, whatever war they are.






















6 – ICI LONDRES by Vincent Cuvellier, illustrations bu Anne Herbauts      Talking about war: Ici Londres is a brilliant book whose text is formed by the secret messages French people, exhiled in England, sent through BBC Radio during the Second World War, including the very famous: "Les sanglots longs / des violons / de l'automne / blessent mon coeur / d'une langueur / monotone." In the preface, that gives unity to the whole book together with the beautiful illustrations, the author tells how he used to listen to the encrypted messages, hidden behind a pile of stumps. It's interesting the way he describes his boyish dreams upon the strange messages he couldn't fully understand and the way he gives that sense of secret urge and dread: he knew something forbidden was happening, he knew that in occupied France listening to BBC was illegal and, from his hidden corner, he could share his part with adults. Anne Herbauts is an extremely interesting Belgian illustrator, whose works always represent facts from a very original perspective. In this book, through the mysterious messages it contains, she could give way to all her inner being. With the book there is a CD with the recorded messages and a special musical accompaniment.








7 – MIGRANDO by Mariana Chiesa Mateos      Migrando is a wordless book about migration: past and present. It's a book that goes to the very heart of emigration issues, it offers no resolution, it gives no judgment. The author identifies with those who were, and still are, migrating. It's both a personal story and a common one that ties together all different sorts of people. It's a double-face book: on one side past times, on the other  present times. What is touching and true about this book is that it lets you understand it's never easy to leave your own country, even if it can be necessary. The author shows this through the eyes of her characters: those looks with their sad smiles seem to be telling us that the past is always relevant, that the needs we had in the past are the same we have nowadays and that, in the end, men never change. In small clips, Mariana Chiesa Mateos gets to illustrate with cleverness and sensibility, the story of a girl leaving with her parents: we know almost nothing about her, we only know she feels sad, that she would like to fly back to where she belongs and one day she will. It's a book that received an important recognition from Amnesty International.







8 – L'ANGELO DELLE SCARPE by Giovanna Zoboli, illustrations by Joanna Concejo      This book is the work of two women I appreciate and love for the grace they both have in approaching their subjects. L'Angelo delle Scarpe is a story that tells about a lonely child, whose father is too busy working to take care of his own son. Nothing more common nowadays. One day the child sees someone on the balcony and calls his father, but he won't listen to him: he's too busy making and selling shoes, and when he doesn't work he thinks of business. The child cries out for attention, breaking the perfect silence of his father's thoughts. All this crying will at last force the man to leave his armchair, and his plans, to make a sensational discovery that will change his life forever. The man on the balcony is an angel, only the father cannot see it at first: he just realizes he has no shoes, until... Well, I won't spoil the ending. Joanna Concejo's refined drawings make a perfect counter-singing to the text, they enrich it with their perfect tones, the pale colors and their delicate touches of a rare sensibility.



9 – ISIS by Silvina Ocampo, illustrations by Pablo Auladell      Before being a real artwork this picture book is a cultural operation of excellence: the publishers in fact selected this amazing text by Silvina Ocampo, who was born in Buenos Aires at the beginning of the 20th century, where the main character somehow reminds her for that same sensible soul, for those same silences, for that inner wish to be something else or somewhere else. This text was not necessarily meant for children, though its beauty, with its dark sides and irony, with its ferocious portrait of humanity and its brilliant ending is such that it has become an amazingly beautiful picture book. It's a story about a strange metamorphosis that will change the main character into a wild animal: a quite twisted perspective but, let's be honest, haven't we all dreamed of becoming a wild and free creature sooner or later? This operation wouldn't have been possible without Pablo Auladell, he is to me one of the most promising Spanish illustrators: extremely versatile, his interpretation of the stories he narrates is unique, with a touch of the first Picasso and a very personal hint, he gives body and soul to this story as none else could have done. His use of color and perspective, the atmospheres of his works are simply brilliant.


10 – L'ULTIMA SPIAGGIA by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrations by Roberto Innocenti        How could I not love Roberto Innocenti? The true is that America was the first country where his genius was fully understood and recognized, this is why all my perpetual gratitude goes to the enlightened publisher who brought him to light! This said, what if Innocenti is in couple with J. Patrick Lewis? Well, the result could just be amazing! L'Ultima Spiaggia is a strange mingling of classic characters that a Novel-weirdo like me could just adore!! With their peculiar sense of irony and mocking approach, this fantastic duo of artists brought together some of the most improbable companions, both from fiction and reality, such as Huckleberry Finn, Long John Silver, the Little Mermaid, Peter Lorre, Jules Maigret, Antoine de Sait-Exupery, Moby Dick and many others, into one single book. How can this be? Well, they're all guests at the same hotel where the main character arrives on a solitary trip. No need to say this book is simply hilarious, refined, full of cultural references and enriched by Innocenti's masterly and unmistakable illustrations.

Megan Montague Cash's Picture Book List

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Megan Montague Cash is an author, illustrator and designer specializing in works for children. Her resumé includes toys, games, paper-engineered cards and numerous children's museum exhibits. Megan has published a score of children's books and her collaborations with cartoonist Mark Newgarden include Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug which won the Gold Medal at the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show in 2007 (among other awards). She teaches design and illustration at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn where she lives with her partner, the aforementioned cartoonist.
Click here or here to see Megan's work.


Here are Megan's Top 10 Favorite Children's Books
(in chronological order)

There are plenty of recent children's books that I love, but my most beloved were created years ago.

1.) Robert Francis Weatherbee: The Boy Who Would Not Go to Schoolby Munro Leaf (1935)
Propaganda for children? Perhaps. In book after book, Leaf uses his gentle Jujutsu powers of influence. He teaches manners. He teaches safety. He teaches peace. In Robert Francis Weatherbee, he uses humor and common sense to illustrate the value of an education. Sadly, this charming book is no longer in print.

2.) Goodnight Moonby Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (1947)
Brown, Hurd, the old lady rabbit, the young rabbit and the active little mouse have been putting children to sleep continuously for over 50 years.

3.) Finn Family Moonmintroll by Tove Jansson (1948)
Spend some time meandering in Jansson's world. The quirky text and exquisite images of Finn Family Moonmintroll are pure pleasure. But don't stop there. Every Jansson chapter book, picture book and comic strip compilation is just as good. Keep an eye out for the extraordinary die-cut The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My which is back in print after many years. The Moomin characters will follow you around long after you've returned the books to their shelves.

4.) Charlotte's Webby E. B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams (1952)
Unparalleled storytelling and art. Make sure to keep a box of tissues handy when you read this classic about love, loss and renewal. The original cover art for Charlotte's Web recently sold at auction for $155,000, but this invaluable book can be found online for 25 cents.

5.) How to Make an Earthquakeby Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Crockett Johnson (1954)
Possibly the best children's books ever. It is storybook? No. Is it a chapter book? No. It's kind of a "how to" book for kids. Like how to "Make a tunnel of love for kittens without a mother" and how to have "Fun at the Post Office". Krauss and her husband Johnson most certainly knew how to make children happy. Since this masterpiece is not easily categorized into any of today's cookie cutter publishing formats, it is of course, long out of print.

6.) Play With Meby Marie Hall Ets (1955)
This subtly gorgeous picture book illuminates the benefits of patience and mindfulness. It's the perfect quiet book for an increasingly loud world. A well-deserved Caldecott Honor has helped keep this book in print.

7.) Sparkle and Spin by Ann and Paul Rand (1957)
Paul Rand was arguably the quintessential graphic designer of the mid-20th century. Ann was his partner in life and children's books. Sparkle and Spin pretends to be about words but it's really about pictures. Both words and pictures were brought back in print a few years ago.

8.) Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present (1962)by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
No favorite children's book list is complete without the work of Maurice Sendak. A girl and a surprisingly large rabbit share a leisurely pastoral stroll. In this colorful and poetic classic, the two find a satisfying solution to a familiar problem. Another Caldecott Honor winner that's easily available.

9.) Miffyby Dick Bruna (1963)
Bruna is master of the deceptively simple. Don't confuse Miffy with Hello Copy Cat. Plenty of Bruna's timeless children's books are still in print and they're all good. The weirder out of print ones like The Apple are also worth investigating. If you're a graphic design fan, you might want to explore Bruna's beautifully designed book covers for grown-ups. The books themselves may be rare, but the cover images are easy to find .

10.) The Sunshine Family and the Ponyby Sharron Loree (1972)
Written and illustrated by my mother, this is a true story about group of people who leave the city to form a commune. This picture book represents a transitional and idealistic time in American history, and in the lives of my family. As all things must pass, it's no surprise this period piece is no longer in print. (FYI: I'm the blonde girl on the cover.)

Aileen Leijten's Picture Book List

Aileen Leijten was born and raised in Belgium.  After graduating from college, she moved to the U.S. to continue her studies in Animation Film. She graduated with an MFA in 1994. Her films were nominated nationally and internationally, and Sugar & Plastic won an award at the Sinking Creek Festival in Nashville. After that, Aileen worked for companies such as Steven Spielberg's non-profit, Starbright, Hanna-Barbera, Sony Studios, Mattel Media, and Walt Disney Imagineering (theme park design). In 2003 she illustrated City Hall, her first children's book. Together with her husband, author/illustartor John Rocco, she decided to move to New York to focus on children's books. She illustrated: Bella & Bean, written by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, and she wrote and illustrated Hugging Hour, Penguin/Philomel 2009. You can learn more on her personal blog.
This is a list of ten of her favorite picture books:

1. The Doubtful Guest - Edward Gorey
    This is my favorite Edward Gorey book, it encompasses everything I love in a picture book. The text is brilliant in itself, but Gorey adds so much extra with his quirky, wonderful and very funny illustrations. A truly inspirational masterpiece.


 
2. The Rabbits - John Marsden & Shaun Tan
    I was so happy when I discovered this book at the bookstore. I couldn't get enough of it and I bought many more of Tan's books because of it. The illustrations are gorgeously sad and the text poetic and so moving. This devastating tale about colonization says everything that needs to be said, and the illustration capture the essence of what the colonized and their land are enduring.
   
3. In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak
    Sendak approached this book in a very graphic novel-like way, and the result is stunning. The thick, black, pen and ink line is beautiful and the colors make this dreamlike environment come to live. It's hard to believe that this book has been ranked 25th place on the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000" list compiled by the American Library Association.

4. The Tomten - Astrid Lindgren & Harald Wiberg
    I never get tired of reading this book to my daughter. It's so calming, soothing and beautifully illustrated. No other book captures the long cold winter feeling, snowy silence. People and animals huddle together and this magical creature the Tomten watches over everything. So sweet.

5. Anatole - Eve Titus & Paul Galdone
    Anatole is a smart, sweet, compassionate and generous mouse. From the first page, one immediately cares about his little French hero. The illustrations are basically black and white with a some blue and red added here and there, they capture all the necessary actions and emotions and are perfect for this book.The story is smart, sweet and fun. Another book i will never get tired of.

6. Santa Calls - William Joyce
    The story is charming, but the illustrations are beyond beautiful. This was the first picture book I ever bought for myself. Joyce's style has this old art deco feeling and he fills the pages with incredibly intricate details, reminiscent of Little Nemo in Slumberland (btw, does that count a s a picture book, because I'll have to add it to the top of my list!)

7. Doctor De Soto - William Steig
    I had to pick one of Steig's books, they are all so good and so funny. Doctor De Soto is great, meaningful, suspenseful, and funny. It won the Newberry Award, that says it all.

8. The Swineherd - Lisbeth Zwerger   
    Lisbeth Zwerger is one of, if not my favorite illustrator ever. I love her delicate lines, subtle watercolors and swirly pen and ink work. I grew up with the Anderson fairy tale, and have always loved it, but Zwergers fluid illustrations make this book stand out, even from her other picture books.

9. The Lion and the Mouse - Jerry Pinkney
    I like wordless books, this one in particular. The drawings are so detailed and realistic yet very personal and humorous. Again, those swirly lines and the incredible masterful use of watercolor, makes me swoon. A stunning book.
   
10. The Story Blanket - Ferida Wolff /Harriet May Savitz - Elena Odriozola
The story is sweet and warm and good. The illustrations are great original, new and refreshing.Every single page is beautiful. The layouts and use of white space is perfect, the bright colors complement each other well and the character design is fresh.

Christine Kettner's Picture Book List

Christine Kettner is currently Art Director for Clarion and Harcourt Children's Books, imprints of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in New York City.
She was art Director for Hyperion books for Children and design supervisor for Harper Collins. In her long and adventourous career she has had the privilege to work with Rosemary Wells, William Joyce, John Scieszka, John Rocco, Sergio Ruzzier and Stephen Marchesi and many, many others.
About her work she says:
"Nothing is more rewarding than working with artists to make words come alive through pictures creating a tangible book that a child can hold in their hands, expanding their world."
Here's her list:

1. The Snow Cat by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
2. Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag3. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina4. Puss in Boots illustrated by Fred Marcellino5. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd6. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein7. How Pizza Came to Queens by  Dayal Kaur Khalsa8. George and Martha by James Marshall9. Uncle Elephant by Arnold Lobel10. Shrek by William Steig