I always loved stories, telling them to my own children and their friends. With two degrees in art, it was only natural that I would begin illustrating the tales I told. So, in 1984, I created my first children's book, Patchwork Tales (written with Susan Phang), illustrated with wood block prints. Two years later I wrote a book called We Build a Climber (also with Susan Phang) illustrated with the same media. Did that ever take a long time! I am not a patient person, so I decided to try another medium--collage--the medium I use to this day. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE finding all kinds of materials like sticks, thread, doilies, and papers from all over the world to use in my art. In fact, I have not used pencil, paint, or ink in any of my art in over a decade! Even the tiniest eyes are cut and glued.
Sometimes people ask me why I keep creating books? I MUST!! It's what I am meant to do.
Photo source: http://Susanlroth.com/cut_it_out.htm
Sometimes people ask me why I keep creating books? I MUST!! It's what I am meant to do.
Photo source: http://Susanlroth.com/cut_it_out.htm
I am the author and illustrator of 45 children's books. I don't want to bore you by writing about all of them, so I have chosen three recent books: Hands Around the Library: Protecting Egypt's Treasured Books (2012), co-authored with Karen Leggett Abouraya and Parrots Over Puerto Rico (2013), co-authored with Cindy Trumbore.
Hands Around the Library I have always been intrigued by Egypt and anything Egyptian. The ancient pyramids, the art, the culture...I love reading and learning about it all. During my travels I visit museums I seek out Egyptian collections. As I was planning my first trip to Egypt a few years ago, I consulted my friend Karen Leggett Abouraya who was married to an Egyptian man and had visited the country often. Karen suggested that I visit the new Alexandria library, which sounded like the perfect place for an author and illustrator of children's books. The library was built in 2002 and has many similarities to the ancient library of Alexandria. I was drawn to the children's area and spent a long time chatting with the children's librarian and learning the history of both the ancient and modern libraries. It was so fascinating! When I returned to New York, I told my friend Karen that we MUST write a book about the Alexandria libraries NOW!! Then Egypt was suddenly in the news every day! We decided to include a scene where people joined hands to protect the library during the protests. Following our editor's suggestion, that became the focal point of the book. This is an important and positive event in world history that we wanted to share with children and adults. I hope you will read Hands Around the Library! Teacher resources, lesson plans, and photos of the Alexandria library can be found on the book's website. There is a link on the resource page of this blog. Parrots Over Puerto Rico What a project this was! I spent countless hours snipping wing feathers for these amazing parrots. More of that later. How did it all begin? Cindy, my co-author read a newspaper article that included information on El Yunque's Puerto Rican parrots which were disappearing. She told me about it and we both thought it might be a good idea for our next book. (We also collaborated on The Mangrove Trees.) We both spent three months doing research in books and on-line sources to help us learn about the history of Puerto Rico and the stunning parrots that have lived there for hundreds of years. With much background knowledge, we boarded a plane to visit the island. It was time for us to do the visual research. We hiked in El Yunque, taking hundreds of pictures then interviewed two scientists, our consultants. We learned many details and were able to see items like the tiny protective jackets the parrots wear when they are learning hawk aversion. Back in New York, using many photographs for inspiration, I began working with the colors I saw. "After my studio turned into a study in blue and green and turquoise, it was time to study all our photographs and books. And then, taking a very big breath, I started cutting (Roth & Trumbore, 2013). You can't imagine how many wing feathers I snipped for all those birds! Cindy and I struggled to include both the history of the parrots and the history of Puerto Rico within the story. Finally, we decided that we could include the parallel stories on the same page. I was able to describe the both histories visually in the vertical format. Creating a vertical book was new for me, but seemed necessary to allow the birds to soar. I am proud to tell you that Parrots Over Puerto Rico won the Sibert Informational Book Medal in 2013! This medal is given by the American Library Association for the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English. Source: "Soaring Behind the Scenes of Parrots Over Puerto Rico with Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore. Retrieved from Teachingbooks.net. What's New? My latest book, Between the Covers, is about a little girl who has adventures all over the world by reading books. When you read it you might remember stories from your childhood. The handmade paper fibers give the illustrations a soft, dreamlike quality. I also used a type of construction paper to give a childlike feel to the images. Other recent books include |
Images on this page are from http://susanlroth.com/books.htm.