13th December

No birthday, but on the 10th when there were so many birthdays, it was also Ann Turner's birthday. She was born in 1945 and is an American author. I do not know her work well, but the one book of hers that is in my library, In the Heart is illustrated by Salley Mavor, an illustrator who uses fabric to make 'wee people' for her very tactile illustrations. Salley's birthday is the 14th April, 1955 and I didn't know that back in April. In my library we have three of Salley's books. The other two are Martin Waddell's The Hollyhock Wall and Judith Benet Richardson's The Way Home. Recently though, I read about her new book Pocketful of Posies and I cannot wait to see these illustrations. Hurry up and come to Australia. The illustrations I have seen on websites are beautifully detailed, exquisite masterpieces. Her fabric relief technique is meticulous and slow, with a page in a book taking a month or so to do. This means a whole book could take a year or two. But to quote William Joyce who celebrated his own birthday only a couple of days ago, "Children's literature is the first literature and the first art children are exposed to. It should be good. And when it is, it should be given respect." So it is fitting that Salley Mavor has spent so much of her time illustrating nursery rhymes!

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.