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September 29 - October 5, 2005 Edition
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In Print: Talented team in fun word and color spree September 22, 2005 Marc Brown in his Vineyard Haven Studio. Photo by Susan Safford By Ann Hollister "Wild About Books" written by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Marc Brown. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2005. $16.95. # of pages. "Wild About Books" is a new collaborative book written by storyteller/author Judy Sierra and illustrated by author/illustrator Marc Brown, creator of "Arthur the Aardvark," the award-winning book and television series. And what a joint project it is! Marc Brown meets with his publisher, Janet Schulman of Random House, every summer on the Vineyard. Two years ago, without much ado, she asked him to look at a text while she went off to the beach. The rest, as they say, is history. Both Marc Brown and Judy Sierra are admirers of Dr. Seuss and this book is dedicated to him. He would love it! Mr. Brown and Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) worked together years ago for Parents Magazine Press and Random House-published Bright and Early Books for Beginning Beginners. One of Mr. Brown's first books, "Wings on Things," is still in print. In the meantime Judy Sierra had been busy re-telling wonderful tales from Africa, as in her "The Elephant's Wrestling Match," and "Indonesia," in "The Gift of the Crocodile," among other titles. Her books feature her rich prose and the illustrators' work is always complementary. This new work, "Wild About Books," is a wonderful melding of their literary talents. Mr. Brown has always been interested in getting not only his own, but millions of other children "hooked on reading." He actually began by telling stories to his own three children in the style he had heard as a child from his grandmother. To entice his son to read, he began writing his own books. His book-writing tally is now well over 50. Ms. Sierra began by doing puppetry and then got enthralled by stories from all over the world. Her "Wiley and the Hairy Man" is a re-telling of an old Alabama folk tale which has had many interpretations. In "Wild About Books" Ms. Sierra and Mr. Brown display their love of children's literature through her rhyming verse and his lovely folk art paintings. Mr. Brown was trained at Cleveland Institute of Art and this book gives a major focus to the richly colored full-page illustrations that leap out at one on every page. He says he is proudest of this latest work. It took him two years to create with watercolor wash the folk art panels that match the book's text so well. When it came time to visualize the bookmobile that travels to the zoo, Mr. Brown called on his boyhood in Erie, Penn. where he remembers the bookmobile coming to different neighborhoods. It took him time and thought to decide how he wanted to depict the librarian, Molly McGrew. Between word names and watercolor pictures, one gets to identify more than 50 animals which in itself is enough to engage any child! At the same time as one is drinking in the colorful, whimsical illustrations one is caught up in the lilting verse, which mentions a list of classic literature from Harry Potter and Nancy Drew books to "The Wizard of OZ." In his illustrations Mr. Brown has the raccoons reading such imaginative titles as "Garbage Tips," "Trash," and "The Cherry Orchard." This reader went through with a magnifying glass picking up a wealth of titles cleverly matched to the animal characters. For example, did you know giraffes like tall books? Have you heard of an oryx or a bandicoot? This book is well thought out and is simply fun! The book measures 9 1/2 by 12 inches, a nice size to hold while reading to a child or to display while reading aloud to a classroom. It would make a lovely gift for home or schoolroom. It can be found at local bookstores. Ann Hollister taught third grade at the Edgartown School for 25 years. She is now a supervisor for on-site student teachers here from various New England colleges and an instructor for the Martha's Vineyard Adult Learning Program's ESL program. She frequently contributes articles about books for young readers to The Times.

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