AnnaLaura Cantone
As I stood outside AnnaLaura Cantone's studio with its whitewashed windows and her signature running across the bottom I couldn't help but think that they looked like an artist's canvas. Once inside, I was welcomed by AnnaLaura with a warm smile, gracious hospitality, and lots of energy. Looking around the studio, I could see the tools of her trade and some very interesting soft sculptures, and she began right away to tell me about her art and her projects.
Her passion for her craft is obvious. AnnaLaura is a children's book illustrator with books published in several countries. She is an instructor in illustration at the Istituto Europeo di Design, the "characters designer" for a new Italian children's cartoon series called "Pipi, Pupu and Rosemary," a wife, and the mother of a nine-month-old. Whew! I was delighted that she took time out to meet with me.
AnnaLaura wanted to be an artist from the time she was a child. She hated school and just wanted to draw. In fact, when she had writing assignments, she would write very large and would include lots of drawings. She grew up near Turin in a city called Alessandria and attended the Institute de Arte and the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan.
When she started working in 1999, she went to several book fairs to show her portfolio. She found a publisher at the Bologna Book Fair. "They showed me some titles that needed illustrations, and from them I chose to do The Emperor's New Clothes. Looking back, I can see that everything is wrong," says AnnaLaura. "The colors are wrong. There aren't any shadows so there is no depth to the art. The characters are too flat and too sharp." Learning from her first experience, AnnaLaura has been delighting readers with her illustrations in The Wedding Dress Mess, the Zara Zebra books, Pecorino's First Concert and Pecorino Plays Ball, Three Little Ghosties, and Mama Robot. Subscribers to the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) can find a complete list with reviews and awards at www.childrenslit.com.
So how, then, does she create her books? Working from 8:30 to 5, she draws with acrylics and pencil, but her artwork goes beyond that. Look closely and you will see all that she puts into her clever collages. I had brought my grandson's copy of Pecorino Plays Ball. It is a favorite of his, and one he used for a book report in second grade. AnnaLaura and I went through that book to give me an idea of her approach and illustration style. What I discovered is that she uses lots of found items in her collages. "When I think at the storyboard, I am always looking around for ideas," says AnnaLaura. And she certainly finds them! The pristine white walls of her studio form a neutral background for her soft sculptures that occasionally find their way into her art. There are drawers full of small squares of cotton fabric she bought in New York City, all kinds of rubber and metal stamps, and of course her acrylics. There are jars full of beads, too. She makes her own clay to create the eyes for some of her characters, such as Pecorino. On occasion, she has painted coffee beans, used pompoms and matchsticks, and even the discarded packaging from cookies. You will see some paper folding and the beads from those jars, too, in her illustrations. "I love the 3-D effect," says the artist. She uses two lines around the characters: one black to define the character and one red to give it a vibrant effect.
She uses a sewing machine to stitch some of the designs and borders on the pages. "AnnaLaura is an environmentally-friendly artist," states her friend and colleague Paulo who was there to act as translator, although AnnaLaura's English is quite good.
When asked how she liked creating the characters for the cartoon show, AnnaLaura confessed that she prefers working with brushes rather than the computer art which was used for the fifty episodes of the cartoons. She uses a technique to give the cartoon characters the same feeling as her book characters. She scans fabrics and colored paper to help create the characters and background and the color fields. Pipi, Pupu and Rosemary was presented at the Annecy Cartoon Festival in southern France and was well received.
"The computer is faster but it is like talking with a person behind a wall. Everything is too automatic with the computer. I prefer working with brushes. It is more physical, and when I use color and brush I discover many different results. Besides, I like to get a little dirt on my hands while working." And, of course, when there are deadlines, AnnaLaura will go back to her studio after dinner, sometimes working until 2 am.
After studying her artwork, it came as no surprise to me that her favorite artist is Picasso. She also likes Robert Rauschenberg, the Pop Artist, for collage and the abstract expressionist, Mark Rothko for color. It takes a very talented artist to weave together these influences to create her own style in what appears at first glance to be simply quirky art with strong child appeal.
Her two favorite children's book illustrators are both renowned in Europe and have some books here in the United States. They are: Wolf Erlbruch, who illustrated Oh, No! Where Are My Pants?: and Other Disaster Poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins, and Carll Cneut who has illustrated Monster, Don't Eat Me! by Carl Norac.
I asked AnnaLaura if she would like to say something to the adults and children who enjoy her books. She responded, "Push children to use lots of imagination. Use everyday materials and recycle things to create something new. That allows all of us to be free to try something new and different. If you use expensive materials you are going to be afraid to try for fear of wasting precious materials."
What will we see next? AnnaLaura's next book is Prudence and Moxie by Deborah Noyes, a picture book about an unusual friendship which will be published by Houghton Mifflin in April, 2009.
Contributor: Sharon Salluzzo
Find out more about Anna Laura Cantone at www.annalauracantone.com.
Reviews
The Daddy Goose Treasury
Vivian French
Illustrated by AnnaLaura Cantone, Ross Collins, Joelle Dreidemy and Andrea Huseinovic
The stories behind twelve familiar nursery rhymes are told from the perspective of Daddy Goose. Each section features the traditional rhyme followed by a profusely illustrated five to six page original tale. Lilly the cow loves to hop and jump. She is determined to become a World Famous Cow by jumping over the moon. Billy the Dog aspires to be a World Famous Juggler, but he keeps dropping the dish and the spoon. Milly the Cat is practicing to be a World Famous Musician, but when she plays her fiddle the screeching is so horrible, Lilly jumps higher than she has ever jumped—right over the moon. Miss Muffet actually befriends the spider who sits down beside her. Old King Cole becomes absent-minded and grumpy when his wife hides his favorite pipe. Mary Mermaid is contrary because she would rather play the card game of Snap with her crab friend than play dress-up with her cousins. And so it goes. Although the illustrations are created by four different artists, the book presents a unified reading experience. All of the pictures are large and colorful. Some are definitely cartoonlike, while others are a bit more realistic. Reading these stories could serve as a springboard for creating original stories for other nursery rhymes. 2006, The Chicken House/Scholastic, $18.99. Ages 4 to 7. Reviewer: Phyllis Kennemer, Ph.D. (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 0-439-79608-3
ISBN: 978-0-439-79608-8
Mama Robot
Davide Cali
Illustrated by AnnaLaura Cantone
Translated by Marcel Danesi
A young boy, unhappy with his mother's frequent absences and orders, decides to make a robot mom. She will not only be there all the time for him but also will protect him from hazards like the school bully. And she will cook "ONLY what I like," and "NEVER yell at me!" But when he builds his amazing robot mom, he finds her unsatisfactory. She is not soft, she does not smell nice, and she does not know how to cuddle. So he takes the robot mom apart. After a hug and kiss from his real mom, he shows her his clever new construction, a robot dog. The rather straightforward text is accompanied by Cantone's deliciously comic mixed media visuals. Our narrator is a cylindrical fellow with a banana-like nose and ping-pong ball eyes set on the top of his head. There is also Fluffy the cat with an almost endless tail. The robot mom looks like a brass boiler. The double-page scenes, divided into smaller spaces on occasion by a strip of frilly cloth, contain intriguing objects unmentioned in the text but adding to the zany character of the story. Do not pass by the end pages either. This tale of fun may also help reinforce the benefits of having a real but busy mom. 2008, Tundra Books, $17.95. Ages 4 to 8. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 978-0-8877-6873-6
ISBN: 0-8877-6873-3
Pecorino's First Concert
Alan Madison
Illustrated by AnnaLaura Cantone
Pecorino Sasquatch is considered the silliest boy in the world. Arriving early at a concert conducted by the famous Vittorio Pimplelini, Pecorino thinks he hears the instruments on stage calling to him. He pats the drum, plucks the cello, but cannot get a sound from the tuba. Searching inside, he falls in and gets stuck there. His mother, back from the Ladies' Room, calls him in vain. The concert begins. When the tuba is supposed to play, no sound comes out until, with an enormous blow from the tuba player, Pecorino is blasted out into the air—straight into his mother's arms. Humor and word play, from "furmuzzle" and "wamboodle" to the sounds Pecorino makes with the instruments, pervade the lightweight tale. But the wild illustrations on double pages take us beyond the surreal. Characters have large, sausage-like noses, bulky bodies, tiny feet, and ping-pong ball eyes. Mixed media combine with scratchy fine-line drawings and varied typefaces to create dramatic but humorous situations that refuse to be still. Perhaps in a new adventure we will find out what the strange pet with the furry striped tail keeping Pecorino company is. 2005, An Anne Schwartz Book/Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, $15.95. Ages 4 to 8. Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature).
Best Books:
- Kirkus Book Review Stars, June 15, 2005; United States
ISBN: 978-0-689-85952-6
Pecorino Plays Ball
Alan Madison
Illustrated by AnnaLaura Cantone
One fine spring Saturday Pecorino's mother wakes him up and tells him today is the first day of Little League. Off they go to the field where the coach gives Pecorino his baseball shirt, an "Xtra-Xtra-large" that goes down to his sneakers. Unlike the other shirts that say "Malone's We Sell Boxes," Pecorino's shirt appears to say "Alone," which is just how he feels in the outfield. Interestingly he makes friends with the member of the opposing team who also plays right field and whose shirt appears to say "hit me." Madison captures the insecure feelings of children just learning the game and presents the story in vivid language with lots of humor. Lovely lines, such as "trees were singing and the birds were budding," will keep listeners on their toes. Alliterations such as "tipped, tapped, or touched the ball with their bats" and "caught, corralled, or clipped the ball with their mitts" make this a delight to read aloud. The illustrations combine collage with pen, pencil, and acrylic drawings. The offbeat style (the people are shaped like bowling pins) suits the quirky tale. Only seven players are shown on the baseball field instead of nine but one is a girl. In the end Pecorino makes the catch that wins the game, and he makes a new friend. This book is just right to calm the nerves of new T-ball and Little League players. 2006, Anne Schwartz/Atheneum, $15.95. Ages 5 to 8. Reviewer: Sharon Salluzzo (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 0-689-86522-8
ISBN: 978-0-689-86522-0
Three Little Ghosties
Pippa Goodhart
Illustrated by AnnaLaura Cantone
The more lovable than frightening little ghosties who sit "on their posties, eating burnt toasties, telling big boasties" take delight in reporting to each other on their abilities to frighten, all in amusing rhymes. Ghouls, witches, even an ogre, are spooked away with whoo's and boo's. But when they decide to scare some "girlsies" and "boysies," and arrive at the narrator's house, they meet their match. Back to their "momsies" they run, only to be sent to bed. The appealing, silly story is made all the more attractive set on double-page, mixed media scenes, like that of the sketchy gray blobs of ghosties chewing on their pieces of toast, or of the other cartoony characters in their various locations. The witches "in their nighties" ride off on broomsticks through the woods, but the oafish ogre towers over the fields. Houses are designed like fairytale castles, while the narrator sleeps in a huge "royal" bed. The size and shape of the words of the text vary to enhance the emotion; many bits of detail add to the flavor. The story starts with the ghosties on the jacket/cover and front endpapers; they are tucked unhappily into bed on the back endpapers. 2007, Bloomsbury Children's Books, $16.95. Ages 3 to 7. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 978-1-5823-4711-0
ISBN: 1-5823-4711-5
The Wedding Dress Mess
Beatrice Masini
Illustrations by AnnaLaura Cantone
Text adaptation by Lenny Hort.
The wedding dresses of Filomena, the "finest seamstress in Italy," are, of all her creations, "the icing on the cake." While she is sewing wonderful gowns for others, Filomena is thinking of the wedding dress she would like to make for herself. Meanwhile, across the piazza, the man who fixes her sewing machine is dreaming of her. When Filippo finally proposes, she begins work on her masterpiece. It leaves her no time to spend with him, so he longs only for the wedding. Unfortunately, Filomena goes too far. The overdone dress makes everyone laugh as Filippo flees in panic. Luckily she realizes in time what is really important, throws off the elaborations, and manages to bring him back for the happy ending. Cantone's sketchy, cartoon-y combination of collage materials brings a madcap sensibility to the visual tale, from the busy heroine amid her dresses on the jacket through the beginning end-papers of the birds eating rice, with a note that "some people throw bird seed" to the back end-papers of the happy couple. Filled with imaginative bits of advertisements, fabrics and wild designs with words in both English and Italian, the double pages zip along, infecting us with their fast-paced, light-hearted romanticism. Loads of fun along with a message of what really matters. 2003 (orig. 2002), Watson-Guptill Publications, $15.95. Ages 4 to 8. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 0-8230-1738-9
ISBN: 978-0-8230-1738-6
Zara Zebra Counts
Brigitte Weninger
Illustrated by Anna-Laura Cantone
This counting book is a bit more complex in its presentation than most. It opens with Zara looking at five pieces of candy and the text states that there is more than one (1) little zebra should eat. She invites a friend, and then another until there are five. Then each one can have a piece of candy. It really presumes that kids will understand that there are five pieces of candy on the opening spread so each will have one—the concept of sharing is actually more evident in the story and easier to understand than the counting lesson. Other books in the series of sturdy padded books include Zara Zebra's Busy Day, Zara Zebra Draws, and Zara Zebra Gets Dressed; and Zara never seems to do anything without her little duck somewhere in the book. 2002, North-South Books, $6.95. Ages 1 to 3. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 0-7358-1729-4
ISBN: 978-0-7358-1729-6
Zara Zebra Gets Dressed
Brigitte Weninger
Illustrated by Anna-Laura Cantone
Looking at a zebra with its black-and-white stripes you would never suspect that there is a colorful set of clothing under those stripes. Zara, like human kids, gets herself dressed. She begins with yellow polka-dot underwear, adds blue plants, a red sweater and green socks! She looks like she is ready to go, but not until she puts on her striped coat. A simple lesson in identifying colors and types of clothing is presented in this padded, sturdy book. Part of a series that includes Zara Zebra Draws, Zara Zebra Counts, and Zara's Busy Day; and Zara never seems to do anything without her little duck somewhere in the book. 2002, North-South Books, $6.95. Ages 1 to 3. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 0-7358-1730-8
ISBN: 978-0-7358-1730-2
Zara Zebra Draws
Brigitte Weninger
Illustrated by Anna-Laura Cantone
Zara is introducing kids to some simple shapes in this padded book with sturdy pages. She begins the lesson with a long thick line, next a circle, then a triangle, a rectangle, and a square. Kids question—Is it a stick? Is it the sun? Is it a sail? Is it a book? When all the symbols are put together they make something familiar. Other books in the series include Zara Zebra Counts, Zara Zebra's Busy Day, and Zara Zebra Gets Dressed; and Zara never seems to do anything without her little duck somewhere in the book. 2002, North-South Books, $6.95. Ages 1 to 3. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 0-7358-1731-6
ISBN: 978-0-7358-1731-9
Zara Zebra's Busy Day
Brigitte Weninger
Illustrated by Anna-Laura Cantone
Mimicking what should be a typical day for a young child—Zara gets up in the morning. Her clock shows 8 a.m. (which is probably very late for most kids). She heads off to the market and some of the foods that she buys end up on her table for lunch. It is just slightly after noon. During the afternoon, Zara plays and in the evening she reads a book. When it is completely dark—the moon and stars are shining—then it is time for Zara to go to sleep. As with the other books in the series—Zara Zebra Counts, Zara Zebra Draws, and Zara Zebra Gets Dressed, Zara never seems to do anything without her little duck somewhere in the book. 2002, North-South Books, $6.95. Ages 1 to 3. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 0-7358-1732-4
ISBN: 978-0-7358-1732-6
Added 10/24/08
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