Saturday, December 11, 2010

11th December Roland Harvey (1945) William Joyce (1957) Neil Curtis (d.2006)






Roland Harvey is an Australian author and illustrator. He sometimes does both the writing and illustrating as he has in his new series of books At the Beach; In the Bush; In the City and At the Top End, but at other times he illustrates other authors' work. He illustrates Alison Lester's Bonnie and Sam series even though she likes to illustrate horses. His style is detailed, humorous, cartoon-like and combines watercolour, ink and pen.

William Joyce is an American author, illustrator and filmmaker. In my library the children enjoy George Shrinks and at this time of year his magnificent Santa Calls. If you look at his website you will see all the films he has been involved in. There is a very interesting interview with him at Reading Rockets.

And thirdly, Australian illustrator, Neil Curtis died on this day in 2006, aged 56. I do not know his birthdate and I am so enamoured of his Cat and Fish books and their amazing black and white illustrations that the year couldn't go past without me mentioning them. Of course he has illustrated other books, but Cat and Fish and Cat and Fish Go to See are standouts and not to be missed. Read the article in the Age to see how they came about. Not many children's books start with the illustrations and then the chosen author gets to write the story as Joan Grant did.

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