By: Mark G. Mitchell,
on 2/16/2013
How perfect that award-winning children’s book artist Terry Widener has done the pictures for the new picture book by Jonah Winter (just released by Schwartz and Wade) about the greatest all around baseball player ever – Willie Mays. Terry brings a background of high level advertising and editorial illustration and something else to the many [...]
By: Betsy Bird,
on 6/27/2011
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen is, let’s admit it, the world’s greatest puberty metaphor. A boy and girl are friends. Something happens and he grows cold and distant. In the midst of his indifference he’s spirited away and must be won back. Okay, the metaphor kind of breaks down at the end there, but the separation of boy/girl best friends is very real. With that in mind author Anne Ursu has done the mildly impossible. She has updated the old tale to the 21st century, thrown in references to other Andersen tales, and generally written one of the more fascinating and beautifully written, if sad, fantasy novels for middle grade readers of the year. If there’s a book to watch this season, Breadcrumbs is it.
Hazel and Jack are best friends, now and forever. At least that’s how Hazel sees it. Sure, she knows that Jack’s a little depressed because of his mother’s mental illness, but he’s always there for her no matter what. That’s a good thing since Hazel doesn’t like dealing with her new school and she definitely doesn’t want any other friends. Then, one day, everything changes. Jack suddenly turns cold on Hazel. He refuses to be her friend, and then without warning disappears altogether. His parents give one reason for where he has gone, but when Hazel learns that Jack was spirited away by a beautiful woman in a carriage she sets off into the nearby woods to find her friend and to save him, no matter what the cost (no matter if he wants to be rescued, for that matter). Trouble is, you can read all the books about adventures that you like, but when it comes to real rescue missions nobody can prepare you for the moment when you have to face your own problems.
To my mind, Ursu does for Hans Christian Andersen in this book what Adam Gidwitz did for The Brothers Grimm in his A Tale Dark and Grimm. Which is to say, she picks him apart. Andersen was an odd author. There. I said it. His stories were rarely happy-go-lucky affairs. I mean, have you ever read The Swineherd? There’s a darkness to his tales. With Breadcrumbs that darkness isn’t there simply because this is based on one of his stories. His influence permeates everything in this tale. Hazel’s travels bring her in contact with stories that bear some resemblance to The Red Shoes and The Little Match Girl. Other stories seem to reference
7 Comments on Review of the Day: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu, last added: 6/29/2011
By: John,
on 3/30/2009
These striking deity characters are the work of Erin McGuire. Aren’t they wonderful?
Wonderfully informative interview. Always love seeing the process behind a successful and brilliant work of art.
Thank you Mark for interviewing Terry Widener here on this latest book. It’s so good to hear Terry say, that if you want to learn to draw, you need to practice, practice, etc. And to go to your local education area and take a life drawing class or two, or as many as you can. He is so right that the people who stylize their drawings can also draw the traditional way. I don’t know if many people realize that today, who do not follow art or illustration. It’s so fundamental to just sketch every day. I also appreciated his comments about the old wool uniforms and the baggy pants, socks, etc. Also how he makes smaller drawings of different scenes, and slips them under the work he’s doing to see if he will change it – or not. One of my profs taught us how to make our own graphite paper by rubbing a thick graphite stick solidly on vellum paper, and then taking rubber cement thinner on a cotton ball all over it, smear it up, let it dry, and then you’ll have any size graphite tracing paper you want. Glad to see Terry from your photos also. He’s a favorite illustrator of mine. Thanks again for taking the time to do this interview.
Thank you, Theresa. You’ve written some wonderful things and done some great process posts for this blog, too!
Virginia, I was struck by the same points Terry made as you were! So basic. So “where the rubber meets the road. Terry is such a great role model for practice, due dilligence, patience and creating true beauty in his work.