Our complete spring 2013 children's announcements package, including all the features and listings.
Consumer Shifts for Children’s BooksGearing Up for Spring: Picks from Children’s BooksellersA Loving TributeBack in the DayMaureen Johnson: The Queen of TeenYouTube SensationsMischief MakersSilly Superlatives of the SeasonFall 2013 Sneak PreviewsSpring 2013 Children's Announcements: Publishers A-E | Publishers F-M | Publishers N-R | Publishers S-Z
About Our Cover Artist
Dinosaurs, trucks, robots, rocket ships—Chris Gall’s artwork teems with larger-than-life images, which is not surprising for a guy who’s had his eyes on the stars from the beginning. “In second grade I was obsessed with drawing the spacecraft from the Apollo program,” he says. “I got a lot of encouragement and it went up from there.” In the fifth grade, while living in Pittsburgh, he was accepted into an arts program at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. “Everyone was a lot older than me, and truthfully I would have rather been home watching Scooby-Doo. But it made a lasting impression and taught me the term ‘thumbnail sketch.’ ”
Gall, who became a successful commercial illustrator, entered the world of picture books with his artwork for 2004’s America the Beautiful (he is a descendent of Katharine Lee Bates, who wrote the poem-turned-anthem in 1893). “After that,” he says, “I decided I wanted to write my own stories to go with my art.” The Cleveland-born Gall has lived most of his adult life under the spacious skies of Arizona, where, he notes, “it is always sunny and there is plenty of parking.” Sounds like the makings of another stanza.
