SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: The Rough Patch
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1963
WEBSITE: www.brianlies.com
CITY: Duxbury
STATE: MA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 277
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1963, in Princeton, NJ; children: one daughter.
EDUCATION:Brown University, B.A., 1985; studied drawing and painting at School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and illustrator. Editorial illustrator, beginning 1987; illustrator of children’s books, beginning 1989.
AVOCATIONS:Building things, bicycling, gardening, reading.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Graphic Artist’s Guild.
AWARDS:Society of Publication Designers Merit Award, 1987, 1988; Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Magazine Merit Award for Illustration, 1998; Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Book Award and Chickadee Award Honor Book selection (ME), both 2008, both for Bats at the Beach; Book Sense Book of the Year award and IndieChoice Picture Book Award, both 2009, and Bill Martin, Jr., Picture Book Award, Kansas Reading Association, 2010, all for Bats in the Library; National Museum of Wildlife Art Bull-Bransom Award, 2013; numerous state and children’s choice award nominations.
WRITINGS
Contributor of illustrations to children’s magazines, including Babybug, Cricket, Ladybug, and Spider and to adult publications, including the Boston Business, Boston Globe, Brown Alumni Monthly, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Hartford Courant, Harvard Magazine, Lotus, Mutual Funds, New England Business, PC Week, Princeton Alumni Weekly, Technology Review, and Washingtonian.
SIDELIGHTS
Beginning in 1989, editorial illustrator Brian Lies branched out from politics and turned to something with even more humor: illustrating children’s books. In addition to creating detailed and engaging artwork for stories by Ellen Weiss, Irene Livingston, Eth Clifford, I.C. Springman, and others, Lies has also written and illustrated several original picture books, chronicling a young pig’s adventures in Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite and Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle and introducing a flock of unusual picture-book characters in a series that takes its fledgling flight in Bats at the Beach.
Born in Princeton, New Jersey, when it was still relatively rural, Lies spent many childhood hours making forts and building dams with his best friend in the nearby woods. He also liked to read, invent things, and write and illustrate stories with his older sister. As he explained on his home page, “My favorite book when I was very young was Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever. When I was a little older I loved Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Jean Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain.”
In an interview in Miss Marple’s Musings, Lies talked about his childhood home. He noted that “it was a very rural-feeling place to grow. Building forts and dams in the woods, digging up antique bottles from streams where farmers had dumped them, running wild until the dinner bell rang. As a result, most of my work to date has a pastoral feel. I’m not a city kid.” In the same interview, he also shared his early fascination in becoming an illustrator. “I never expected to end up as an author or illustrator. As a kid, I believed firmly in innate talent, and didn’t feel I had it. I always liked writing and drawing—I think that if you’ve experienced the magic of getting lost in a story, some part of you has to wonder if maybe you have any of that magic in you, too. Illustrator / author Harry Devlin (the Cranberry series, among many others) had visited my school in 5th grade, and I thought that doing books sounded like the best job in the world.”
A school visit by author-illustrator Harry Devlin during Lies’ fifth-grade year was inspirational. “I was amazed at the idea that this [creating books] was actually a job,” he later recalled on his home page. “I wished it could be my job. But I didn’t think I was good enough at either writing or drawing to even try.” Despite this, Lies started drawing for the fun of it and in high school he learned to paint with oils and make stained glass windows. He took a detour from art by studying psychology and British and American literature at Brown University. After a move to Boston, however, he refocused his future, studying art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and exhibiting his paintings. Soon, his award-winning political illustrations could be found in the pages of newspapers such as the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Tribune, and the Boston Globe.
After two years of periodical work, Lies turned to children’s-book illustration by illustrating Clifford’s popular early-reader series about a furry sleuth named Flatfoot Fox. Appraising Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye, a Booklist critic remarked that the “expressive black-line drawings perfectly complement Clifford’s dry wit,” and a School Library Journal critic stated that “Lies’s entertaining … drawings add to the fun.” In her review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Whoooo, Booklist reviewer Emily Melton called his illustrations “comical and charming,” and Stephanie Zvirin noted in Booklist that they “capture the dry comedy” in Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Bashful Beaver. Writing for School Library Journal about Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Schoolhouse, Lauren Peterson concluded that “Clifford and Lies get everything just right.”
In Lies’ first self-written picture book, Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite, he introduces readers to Hamlet the pig and Hamlet’s best friend Quince the porcupine. When Hamlet becomes enamored of kites and buys a large Chinese dragon kite, cautious Quince senses trouble. Indeed, the kite lifts Hamlet from the ground and the pig ultimately has to be rescued by an eagle. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised Lies for his “meticulously detailed images and ability to sustain narrative tension,” and in Booklist Deborah Abbott wrote that the author/illustrator’s “bright color drawings … carry the sprightly story.”
Hamlet returns in Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle, which finds the pig vacationing at the beach. During a day in the sun, the ever-enthusiastic Hamlet makes a sand castle of grand proportions under the not-so-watchful eyes of slumbering Quince. When a sudden storm brews, Hamlet and Quince are stranded at the castle, but are rescued due to their clever use of a beach umbrella. Judith Constantinides, writing in School Library Journal, predicted that Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle “will appeal immensely to most youngsters,” while a Publishers Weekly critic noted that Lies’ “nimble watercolors play up comic elements and excitement” in his humorous tale.
In Bats at the Beach Lies presents a new take on a classic summer pastime as a nocturnal batwinged family enjoys a day of sand and … moonlight. In Booklist GraceAnne A. DeCandido wrote that the author/illustrator’s simple, rhythmic text “leave[s] no beach activity or experience unmentioned” and the “gently anthropomorphized bats” in his detailed paintings will engage young readers. “Kids will certainly identify with the exuberant and familiar fun,” predicted Martha Topol in her School Library Journal review of Bats at the Beach. Lies’ “dark yet luminescent art” is “where the book truly soars,” the critic added.
Lies’ fun-loving bat family returns in Bats at the Library, as they move from a spot near a roaring surf to a far quieter setting. In Bats at the Ballgame he continues to play fast and loose with America’s cultural pastimes, pairing his rhyming text with illustrations capturing the batwinged family as they take in a night game pitting two teams of literal high fliers. Another book in the series, Bats in the Band, finds a darkened children’s playhouse transformed into a band shell for the musical bats. With tongue in cheek, Lies’ illustrations for Bats in the Library feature covers of literary classics that are appropriately “‘bat-ify’[ed],” according to a Publishers Weekly, and his “richly detailed” illustrations create “considerable humor at the intersection where bat and human behavior meet.” Noting that the artist employs “fantastically disorienting upside-down spreads” to accurately capture a hanging bat’s perspective, a Kirkus Reviews writer added that in Bats at the Ballgame his “language is utterly delicious.” Amid sly visual references that will bring a smile to adult readers, Bats in the Band still holds great appeal for young children, noted another Kirkus Reviews writer; “again with the bats, evoking another call of ‘encore!’”
Lies drew the pictures in W.H. Beck’s 2015 book Malcolm under the Stars. The secret society of intelligent critters of the Midnight Academy is attempting to save the dilapidated McKenna Elementary School from being demolished. The fifth grade’s pet rat, Malcolm, coordinates efforts between the critters and the kids. Writing in School Library Journal, Amy Holland observed that “soft grayscale pencil drawings by Lies breathe life into the motley cast of animal characters.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews pointed out that “Lies’ gray-toned, textured pencil-and-graphite illustrations add dimension and personality to the creatures.”
Lies published Gator Dad in 2016. A fun-loving alligator and his three kids enjoy the day together running errands around the town. They even manage some back-to-nature time at the local park while still managing to accomplishing everything before returning home.
In an interview in the Mile High Reading blog, Lies talked about Gator Dad and what the meaning and message of it is for him. “To me, Gator Dad is simply a slice of life with a dad and his kids. But at times, it’s an odd slice—for instance, when something goes bad in the fridge, Gator Dad will ‘let you smell it, too.’ You might be able to convince Gator Dad to do something that maybe you shouldn’t have done.” He continued: “It’s a celebration of what my wife calls ‘boy noises’—braking sounds as you stop a grocery cart, airplane sounds as a forkful of food heads toward a mouth. It’s ‘robot rides’ on Dad’s shoulders at bedtime. That said, many dads show their love through doing, rather than saying.”
Booklist contributor Kathleen McBroom opined that “when the book ends with Gator Dad’s charmingly offbeat invitation … young readers will be ready.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews suggested: “Dads, squeeze the day with your own children just as this one does.” In a review in School Library Journal, Amy Shepherd found the book to be “great fun as a read-aloud, and early readers will enjoy the challenge of independent reading as well.”
In 2018 Lies published The Rough Patch. Evan is a fox and a farmer. When his best friend, a black mutt, dies, Evan must find a way to pick himself back up and deal with his loss. In his anger over what had happened, Evan destroys the garden that they had cultivated together. A pumpkin vine, however, becomes the turning point in his outlook on life.
A Publishers Weekly contributor reasoned that some “readers may draw back from tragedy this stark, but others will be fascinated by Evan’s mysterious world.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews stated: “Reassuring and clear, this is a heartfelt story about loss and discovering that one can love again.” In a review in School Library Journal, Rachel Zuffa mentioned that “while best suited for independent readers or shared moments during a loss, this poignant picture book provides an exquisite depiction of grief and hope.”
Lies also published Got to Get to Bear’s! in 2018. Bear sends Izzy the chipmunk a message with the instructions to come over immediately. Izzy must brave heavy snow with help from a squirrel; slippery conditions with help from a duck; and other difficulties, but always with aid from friends. Arriving at Bear’s house, Izzy is greeted with a nice surprise. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews found it to be “a beautifully illustrated and gratifying story of woodland-creature comradeship and determination.” The reviewer exclaimed that Lies’ “attention to the tiniest details … elevates the book above the ordinary.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 15, 1990, review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye; September 1, 1992, Kay Weisman, review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Nosy Otter, p. 52; December 15, 1993, Emily Melton, review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Whoooo, pp. 753-754; October 15, 1994, Deborah Abbott, review of Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite, p. 437; March 1, 1995, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Bashful Beaver, p. 1242; March 15, 1997, Lauren Peterson, review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Schoolhouse, p. 1241; January 1, 2002, Michael Cart, review of Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle, p. 866; April 1, 2003, Diane Foote, review of Finklehopper Frog, p. 1403; August 1, 2006, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Bats at the Beach, p. 90; October 15, 2008, Linda Perkins, review of Bats at the Library, p. 46; April 15, 2012, Ann Kelley, review of More, p. 71; September 1, 2012, John Peters, review of Malcolm at Midnight, p. 123; April 15, 2016, Kathleen McBroom, review of Gator Dad, p. 53.
Children’s Bookwatch, September 1, 2015, review of Malcolm under the Stars.
Horn Book, July 1, 2012, Martha V. Parravano, review of More, p. 100; April 22, 2018, “Spring 2018 Publishers’ Preview: Five Questions for Brian Lies.”
Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 1994, review of Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite, p. 1133; May 15, 2006, review of Bats at the Beach, p. 520; August 15, 2008, review of Bats at the Library; August 15, 2010, review of Bats at the Ballgame; August 1, 2012, review of Malcolm at Midnight; May 15, 2014, review of Bats in the Band; May 15, 2015, review of Malcolm under the Stars; April 1, 2016, review of Gator Dad; May 15, 2018, review of The Rough Patch; July 15, 2018, review of Got to Get to Bear’s!.
Publishers Weekly, October 18, 1991, review of George and the Dragon Word, p. 62; June 20, 1994, review of Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite, p. 105; June 4, 2001, review of Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle, p. 80; April 7, 2003, review of Finklehopper Frog, p. 65; July 14, 2008, review of Bats at the Library, p. 65; July 30, 2012, review of Malcolm at Midnight, p. 65; May 28, 2018, review of The Rough Patch, p. 97.
School Library Journal, March 1, 1991, review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye; January 1, 1992, Dorothy Evans, review of George and the Dragon Word, p. 98; September 1, 1992, Marge Loch-Wouters, review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Nosy Otter, p. 201; August 1, 1993, Sharron McElmeel, review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Whoooo, p. 140; August 1, 1994, Margaret A. Chang, review of Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite, p. 140; April 1, 1995, Janet M. Bair, review of Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Bashful Beaver, p. 100; August 1, 1998, Jane Marino, review of The Midnight Fridge, p. 139; June 1, 2001, Judith Constantinides, review of Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle, p. 124; June 1, 2004, Anne L. Tormohlen, review of Lucky Duck, p. 122; June 1, 2006, Martha Topol, review of Bats at the Beach; August 1, 2015, Amy Holland, review of Malcolm under the Stars, p. 83; February 1, 2016, Amy Shepherd, review of Gator Dad, p. 68; May 1, 2018, Rachel Zuffa, review of The Rough Patch, p. 69.
ONLINE
Boston Globe Online, http://www.boston.com/ (July 29, 2006), David Mehegen, “Illustrator’s Book Has Kids Going Batty.”
Brian Lies website, http://www.brianlies.com (September 16, 2018).
Mile High Reading, https://readingwithmrteut.wordpress.com/ (March 24, 2016), author interview.
Miss Marple’s Musings, http://joannamarple.com/ (May 10, 2016), author interview.
Writer’s Rumpus, https://writersrumpus.com/ (May 6, 2016), Joyce Audy Zarins, author interview.
Brian Lies is the award-winning author/illustrator of the New York Times bestsellers BATS AT THE BEACH, BATS AT THE LIBRARY and BATS AT THE BALLGAME, and his latest, BATS IN THE BAND. He's the illustrator of more than 22 other books, including the recent MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT (by W.H. Beck, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) and MORE (by I.C. Springman, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012). He has won many awards for his work, including the 2011 Bill Martin Jr. Picture Book Award (Kansas State picture book award). Born in Princeton, New Jersey, Brian lives in eastern Massachusetts with his wife and daughter. He has loved libraries and books since he was little, and when he travels, he rarely misses an opportunity to explore the local library.
Brian Lies is the New York Times–bestselling creator of Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library, Bats at the Ballgame, and Bats in the Band, and he has written and/or illustrated dozens of other acclaimed books for children. He lives with his family in a small seaside town in Massachusetts, where he tends a big and thriving garden. You can learn more about him at www.brianlies.com.
Brian Lies
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Brian Lies (pronounced Lees) (born 1963) is an American author and illustrator of children's books. His works include his NY Times bestselling bat series, Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library, Bats at the Ballgame, and "Bats in the Band." Lies was interested in art since childhood,[1] and while studying literature and psychology at Brown University[1] he did political cartoons for the student newspaper, but was turned down when he applied for jobs at various publications.[2] He then studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and eventually did political cartoons for major newspapers and magazines.[3] He had, however, long been interested in children's books, and when he was approached by Susan Sherman (art director for children's books at Houghton Mifflin), who liked the way he portrayed emotions on his animal character's faces, he ended up illustrating the first book in the Flatfoot Fox series, written by Eth Clifford.[2] As of 2006 that series is still in print.[2] He also does illustrations for the children's magazines Spider, Ladybug, and Babybug.[3]
Contents
1
Works
2
Books Written and Illustrated by Brian Lies
3
Books Illustrated by Brian Lies
4
References
5
External links
Works[edit]
Bats at the Beach was read on NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday" by Daniel Pinkwater,[4] after which the book enjoyed a great deal of success, and leaving Houghton Mifflin to keep up with the sudden demand.[2] It also landed a spot on Publishers Weekly's children's picture book bestseller list[4] and was awarded an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award.[5] The story follows a group of bats, young and old, and their comical variations on such activities as sailing, surfing, putting on lotion, and roasting marsmallows. Matt Berman of Common Sense Media praised the book’s "simple and joyous concept" and noted the characters' gently rounded features.[6] Lies stated that he tries to keep the design of his animal characters as naturalistic as possible despite their often human-like behavior.[2] Lies got the idea from his daughter, who described a pattern of frost on the window as "a bat, with sea foam";[7] as Lies developed the idea, the verses came to him in a sudden inspiration.[2] The acrylic paintings[8] use a lot of blues and browns and are often bathed in moonlight though no moon is ever seen.[2] The sequel, Bats at the Library, made it onto Time.com's Top 10 Children's Books of 2008 list,[9] and the ABA announced that the book had been named Best New Picture Book in the 2009 Indies Choice Book Awards.[10] In 2010, the book was awarded the 2010 Bill Martin, Jr. Picture Book Award (Kansas Reading Association).
Judith Constantinides, in a review for School Library Journal, said his acrylic paintings for Donna M. Bateman’s Deep in the Swamp are reminiscent of an Audubon painting.[11] (The book also won a 2008 Southern Independent Booksellers Association Award.[12]) Constantinides, in an earlier review for School Library Journal, praised Lies’ Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle (which he wrote and illustrated) for its watercolor illustrations and the humorous details.[13] The book is about an optimistic ("despite his namesake", as Constantinides notes) pig named Hamlet and his "pessimistic" porcupine friend Quince as they struggle to defend a giant sandcastle against the waves.[13] Popcorn! by Elaine Landau was nominated for the 2006 Rhode Island Children's Book Award.[14] and was also included in the Children's Agriculture Book series of Wisconsin Agriculture in the Classroom, which tries to select books that "hat accurately portray modern agriculture".[15]
Books Written and Illustrated by Brian Lies[edit]
"Bats in the Band" (2014) ISBN 978-0544105690
"Bats at the Ballgame" (2010) ISBN 978-0-547-24970-4
"Bats at the Library" (2008) ISBN 0-618-99923-X
"Bats at the Beach'' (2006) ISBN 0-618-55744-X
Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite (2001) ISBN 1-931659-01-X
Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle (1994) ISBN 0-9677929-2-4
Books Illustrated by Brian Lies[edit]
"Malcolm at Midnight" Written by W.H. Beck. ISBN 978-0547681009
"MORE" Written by I.C. Springman. ISBN 978-0547610832
Deep in the Swamp Written by Donna M. Bateman. (2007) ISBN 978-1-57091-596-3
Finklehopper Frog Cheers Written by Irene Livingston (Tricycle Press, 2005) ISBN 1-58246-138-4
Lucky Duck Written by Ellen Weiss (2004)
Zoo Train by Lissa Rovetch
Spy Hops and Belly Flops Written by Lynda Graham-Barber (2004) ISBN 0-618-22291-X
Finklehopper Frog Written by Irene Livingston (2003) ISBN 1-58246-075-2 (also released in paperback with an audio cassette narrated by Steve Blane)
Dinosaur Footprints (Reading Intervention for Early Success) (2003) ISBN 0-618-23769-0
Dinosaurs (Reading Intervention for Early Success) Written by Adam Karlson. (2003) ISBN 0-618-23739-9
Popcorn! Written by Elaine Landau. (2003) ISBN 1-57091-443-5
See the Yak Yak Written by Charles Ghigna. (1999) ISBN 0-679-99135-2
The Midnight Fridge Written by Bruce Glassman. (1998)
Where are the Bears Written by Kay Winter. (1998)
Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Schoolhouse by Eth Clifford (1997) ISBN 0-395-81446-4
Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Bashful Beaver Written by Eth Clifford. (1995) ISBN 0-395-70560-6
Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Whoooo Written by Eth Clifford (1992) ISBN 0-395-60289-0
Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Nosy Otter Written by Eth Clifford (1992) ISBN 0-395-60289-0
George and the Dragon Word Written by Dianne Snyder. (1991) ISBN 0-395-55129-3
Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye by Eth Clifford (1990) ISBN 0-395-51945-4
Spring 2018 Publishers’ Preview: Five Questions for Brian Lies
April 22, 2018 by Horn Book Leave a Comment
This interview originally appeared in the March/April 2018 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a chance to each highlight a book from its current list. They choose the books; we ask the questions.
Sponsored by
We think that The Rough Patch is going to be a picture book about a fox named Evan and his dog who enjoy working together in the garden, but the “rough patch” of the title reveals itself to be a rough one indeed.
1. Why a fox?
Evan originally appeared as an old man. But generally, children don’t understand their grandparents to be emotionally complex beings. I felt that if Evan were human, it might be challenging for some young readers to engage with his emotional journey. So I tried him out as different animals (including a rhinoceros), but something about foxes’ lines and colors best echoed the long, lean New Englander I imagined Evan to be.
2. Quite a surprise there ten pages in! Did you mean for us to be as unprepared as Evan? (I’m not crying, you’re crying.)
Yes. What Evan experiences often comes unexpectedly, out of the blue. A page-turn seemed like the best way to make it feel as genuine and surprising as possible. It wasn’t my intention to be manipulative, but to be real. Without us experiencing strong emotion at that point of the story, what happens with Evan later on wouldn’t feel earned.
3. Which state of Evan’s garden is yours most like?
At our first house, I had a vegetable garden in which everything seemed to flourish without effort. My current one has been tougher — less fertile soil, issues with light, tomato blights. I’d begun to drift away from gardening, but after two tall pines fell on our house within three years, we had thirty-six more removed. Now I’ve got great light, a new critter-proof fence, and the garden is coming back, as I expect Evan’s will.
4. You made some smart decisions here about white space. How do you decide where to use it?
White space actually makes me uneasy! But with this book, the starkness of the white space felt important. Especially on the page you mention, it encourages you to focus on the emotional content of the image.
5. That picture of Evan wielding pruners is very Stephen King. Just how dark are you?
Ha — this book isn’t Cujo for Kids! We all experience rough patches in our lives: loss, disappointment, and darkness. I wanted Evan’s story to provide readers with a safe way to experience those feelings and know they can come back from them. Ultimately, I see this as a book about hope!
Interview with Totally Talented Brian Lies
May 6, 2016 Joyce Audy Zarins Book Reviews, Book Reviews - Picture Books, Illustrating, Inspiration, Interviews, Interviews - Authors & Illustrators 11 comments
Brian Lies, the renowned author and illustrator of the Bats books (Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library, Bats at the Ballgame, Bats in the Band) and dozens of other popular picture books, and presenter at the NESCBWI conference last weekend, has agreed to talk with us about his newest endeavors. Three days ago, on May 3rd, Brian’s book Gator Dad was released to the public by his long-time publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Congratulations, Brian!
In Brian’s book More, with text by I. C. Springman, textured paper imparts light as the background on which his amazingly detailed artwork of the kleptomaniacal magpie is painted. In Bats at the Library, the story happens at night, so moonlight and the artificial lights within the library are depicted so well. And he has used unusual perspectives to fun advantage. Even his author photo on the jacket flap was taken as he apparently hung upside-down in bat fashion! Obviously he has a history of maximizing the visual possibilities within a picture book. Gator Dad is no exception.
JAZ: What was your inspiration for the theme of Gator Dad?
BL: When our daughter was born, my wife and I agreed I’d be a stay-at-home dad after her maternity leave at a Boston PR agency was up. After all, I already worked from home. So Gator Dad is a reflection on time I spent with my daughter, thoughts I had looking back on parenting as my daughter went off to college, and recollections about time I spent with my own father when I was a boy. I like to think of it as a celebration of dads who are very involved in their kids’ lives, and a counter to the typical modern image of “dad” on TV— he’s the incompetent buffoon who does love his kids, but can’t get anything right. Oops— looks like Dad’s letting the kids play with the chainsaw!
There are lots of fathers out there who are genuine in their love for their kids, active in their daily lives, and somehow manage to get things right. This book is for those dads.
JAZ: What is/are your goal(s) for the book?
BL: Sometimes, fathers show love more through things they do than things they say. My hope is that this story shows the love between the alligator dad and his kids, and that maybe kids with undemonstrative fathers will recognize their dad in this gator dad, and understand that their dad loves them, too. I also see it as a celebration of dads who are truly present in their kids’ lives.
This book was published in time for Fathers’ Day (June 19), but it’s not intended as a “holiday book.” It seems to me that being an involved father is a year-round thing. I’d love it if this book became a gift item that spouses and grandmothers-to-be gave to expectant dads, the way Suess’s Oh, The Places You’ll Go! has become a required gift for high school and college grads!
JAZ: The characters are wonderfully sinuous and expressive. However, you, um, live in Massachusetts. How did you choose gators?
BL: The very first sketch I did for this story, a decade ago, was the back view of an alligator with his arm around a dejected little gator. I explored other animals—kangaroos, rabbits, etc., but decided I didn’t want to go with something overtly fuzzy and cute. It also seemed that an animal with a tough and toothy exterior might be a good representative for dads, whose sometimes gruff demeanor often disguises a surprisingly sensitive interior.
JAZ: How many stages are there between your idea for a character and the actual finished art?
BL: I typically begin with realistic studies, learning how to draw the animal as accurately as possible from life or reference images, and then I’ll set the reference materials aside and draw from memory. The characters seem to morph automatically from realistic animals to animal characters.
People in the animation field, and some illustrators, begin with a “style sheet”—a page with multiple views/positions of a character, including facial expressions, to be used as a “standards guide.” I don’t do this. After my realistic studies, I almost always leap right into drawing the characters in situ, and develop them as characters as I go along.
JAZ: What is your favorite medium? Favorite paper? Do you also use the computer for the art?
BL: I paint on Strathmore Series 400 or 500 Bristol, with tube acrylic paints. I use a combination of Windsor & Newton, Sennellier, Lascaux and Golden brands. I do use Photoshop for copying, resizing and printing out sketches, and occasionally editing sketches before I work on a finished piece, but all of my paintings are traditionally-rendered.
JAZ: Your quality of light, the chiaroscuro modelling, is fantastic. Any tips?
BL: I start by transferring my sketch to the Strathmore paper, and then “ink” it with pthalo blue acrylic.
Next, I do an underpainting, getting rid of all of the paper’s whiteness and developing the dark/light relationships in the piece. The underpainting is usually either a burnt sienna / raw umber mix, or a greenish-blue, depending on the colors I anticipate in the final piece.
After the underpainting, I usually fill in the very darkest parts of the picture, and then the very brightest. That way, I’ve created a sort of “bright/dark bracket,” and all of the other colors have to fit between those two.
Years ago, President Bill Clinton’s staff had a saying: “It’s the economy, Stupid!” I wrote up an altered version of the saying, which was on my studio wall for years: “It’s the light, Stupid!” I complete the picture with the light in mind—how does it fall on this object? How does light reflect onto it from other objects? My hope is that, in the end, the light effect is convincing and feels like actual light.
JAZ: Using animals leaves the door open for a diverse range of kids to identify with the characters. What is your reason?
BL: Your statement before this question is the perfect answer! There’s a story (myth or true?) that Aesop used animals rather than people in the fables so as not to risk punishment from powerful people who felt he was targeting them. Theoretically, no king would hear a story about a crow and think, “That’s me he’s mocking!”
We know these stories are about human nature, hidden in animal skins. And that’s one of the reasons I like to use animals in my books. Unfortunately, many kids won’t pick up a book with someone of a different ethnicity on the cover, and I hope that some day we’ll get to a place where that isn’t so. Having alligators as the family in Gator Dad allows everyone to identify with the story. I also enjoy drawing animals because of the variety of shapes, textures and colors they offer.
JAZ: You use lots of irony in Gator Dad, for example when Dad says, “You’ll probably need to rest,” yet the picture shows otherwise!
BL: This book went through many different iterations. It began as a rhyming text, but it became hopelessly “sing-songy,” so I had to pull it back into prose. At one point, it was entirely ABOUT irony—the dad’s “voice” sounded either disengaged or negative, but the pictures showed him doting on the kids (“you can step on my toes” is him dancing with his daughter). And in the example you give, it’s not the kids who need to rest at the playground—it’s dad, collapsed on the ground. But in that version of the story, that irony felt a little too edgy, more negative than I wanted. So I turned the text in a more overtly positive direction, and that’s where it stayed.
JAZ: And the backgrounds include detail: turtles playing checkers, a fishing rabbit, and an anthropomorphic Mt. Rushmore, for starters. Why more so in this book?
BL: One of my big influences growing up was Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever, and one of the things I loved about it was all of the things going on in the pages. You could look at them forever. Gator Dad is the first book I’ve ever done that was decidedly urban—this gator and his kids live in a city. There’s always lots to see in a city—buildings, people, vehicles. It seems your field of vision is always completely filled with stuff, as compared to being at the beach, or a mountain top, where it might be mostly featureless water or sky. So it felt like the illustrations ought to have lots of details in them as well.
JAZ: Is there a story behind the monument to the rabbit who appears to be playing a lyre while astride an emu or guinea hen? Or is it just for fun?
BL: I like filling images with details which make the world I’m creating feel plausible within its own parameters. The bronze rabbit-and-emu in the background is a nod to equestrian statues we see here and there, and beyond that doesn’t have any specific significance in my life. But what’s a public park without statuary?
JAZ: Is Gator Dad the first of a series?
BL: I see Gator Dad as a stand-alone book. Gator Dad is my reflection on being an involved and capable dad, rather than the introduction of a new cast of characters for new stories.
JAZ: Three is an iconic number. Why three gator kids?
BL: I wanted this book to be as universal as possible, to reflect as many family structures as I could. Likewise, I expanded the one gator kid in that initial sketch to three because I didn’t want it to be a dad-and-son book, or a dad-and-daughter book. It evolved into what I see as a set of twins (one boy, one girl), and a toddler of uncertain gender. And as you said, three is a magical story number!
JAZ: Your blog shows your fantastic step-by-step process for 3D bat-related sculptural enhancements for your car. What are your promotional plans for Gator Dad?
BL: I’m doing a multi-city book tour, as well as a number of bookstore events with favorite booksellers in New England. Some planned features include building pillow forts and a “Stink Station” (the gator dad in the book lets his kids smell something that’s gone bad in the fridge). We’re going to be doing something fun with the car again. . . but for now, I’m not telling!
JAZ: What book is next? Future ideas?
BL: My next picture book (fall, 2018) is called Got to Get to Bear’s!, and is probably influenced by last winter’s unprecedented snowfall (I live south of Boston, where we broke all existing records, and lived in snow trenches for several months). In the story, a chipmunk named Izzy gets an urgent letter from a friend, asking her to come right away, and Bear never asks. . . so off she goes. Snow flakes turn into a blizzard, and Izzy needs to rely on a growing number of friends to get to Bear’s place, and to see what it was that he needed in the first place.
I’ve got a long list of different story ideas lined up, waiting for attention, and dealing with a variety of themes and characters: grief and renewal, foxes and cats and ancient Egypt, lobstermen and other unusual protagonists. It looks to be a fun few years ahead!
JAZ: Thank you for sharing so generously, Brian! In Gator Dad texture, gorgeous color, detail, and lively action combine in beautiful paintings that enhance the pleasure of your story. Dads (and their kids) will love your book! And Got to Get to Bear’s is another to look forward to!
ABOUT BRIAN LIES
First of all. . . what's with that name??
(Please note: for a professional biography for a conference or event, please see "Biographies for Press" )
I was born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1963, which back then was a quiet college town, surrounded by old farmland slowly giving way to housing developments. I spent a lot of time building dams and forts in the woods across the street with my best friend, inventing things, and writing and drawing with my older sister. My friend and I were also young entrepreneurs, selling greeting cards door-to-door (we earned a set of walkie-talkies!), or managing roadside lemonade-and-sticker stands.
At various times during my childhood, my sister and I had newts, gerbils and rabbits as pets. When I was in fifth grade, an author and illustrator visited my school, and I was amazed that a person could have a job writing and drawing. I wished it could be my job! But I didn’t think I was good enough at either writing or drawing to even try.
I had always liked to draw, though, and kept doing it just for fun. During high school, I also painted with oil paints and made stained glass windows. I actually sold some stained glass, too—another taste of self-employment. I went to Brown University after high school, where I studied Psychology and British and American Literature. I began to think about what I really wanted to do for a career, and what I really wanted was something that involved art. So after graduation from college in 1985, I moved to Boston to study drawing and painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (also known as the Boston Museum School).
One of my earliest published illustrations, from the Christian Science Monitor.
At the Museum School, I started getting paintings in exhibitions and won a few prizes, and then was able to get political illustrations published in the Christian Science Monitor and the Boston Globe.
Suddenly I had a career as an editorial and political illustrator, working with a lot of magazines and newspapers. In 1989, I illustrated my first book, Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye, with Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston.
Since then, I’ve illustrated almost thirty books, including my NY Times bestselling bat series ( Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library, Bats at the Ballgame, and Bats in the Band). My newest book is THE ROUGH PATCH (coming August, 2018), and will be followed in October by Got to Get to Bear's! My first two written-and-illustrated titles were Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite (1994), and Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle (2001).
One of my great joys as a grown author and illustrator is to be able to visit elementary schools around the country, working with young writers and illustrators as they create their own stories (see Schools). It feels as though it's all come full-circle.
I now live in a seaside town in Massachusetts with my wife, my daughter, and two cats. My hobbies are bicycling, woodworking, and tending a big vegetable garden behind the house. I’m very interested in old-fashioned food preparation, too, and sometimes try making my own kimchi, sauerkraut, cheese, and other things (including a vinegar-laced drink called switchel, which I kind of liked but which everybody else in my family thought was really nasty).
I also read a lot, which I think is important—it keeps my imagination going, and leaves me feeling much more relaxed than television does!
Brian Lies is represented by Erin Murphy Literary Agency. For school visit queries, click here.
All images and content on this website ©Brian Lies, and may not be used or transformed in any way without express permission.
Reuse without permission is theft.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How long does it take to write a book?
A: It depends on the book. I've written a manuscript (and re-written it many times) in as few as three months. Sometimes it takes a lot longer. Several of my story ideas have been with me for twenty years, and I still haven’t decided on the best way to tell them!
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: Ideas can come from lots of different places: things that you like to do or you've done in the past, things that you see that make you curious, or things that people you know might say or do. There are lots of ideas everywhere, and all you have to do is start paying attention to things around you. Also, when you get an idea, write it down in a notebook or a sketchbook, so you won’t forget it!
Q: I’ve written a children’s book. Will you illustrate it for me?
A: It’s normally the editor and art director at a publishing house who choose the illustrator for a book, and if you want to suggest me as a potential illustrator for your work when you submit it, I'd be honored. It's important to know that you don’t need to have an illustrator with you before you submit a manuscript for publication—the most important thing is that your story is as strong as it can be when you submit it.
Q: Would you be willing to read my manuscript and give me some advice?
A: Though I enjoy providing critiques in certain professional circumstances, I’ve been advised not to read other people's manuscripts any more. It could get very awkward if someone sent me a manuscript similar to something I was already working on!
Q: What were your favorite books when you were a kid?
A: My favorite book when I was very young was Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever. Other early favorites were The Wonderful Treehouse by Harold Longman and illustrated by Harry Devlin, Why I Built the Boogle House, by Helen Palmer, Drummer Hoff by Barbara and Ed Emberley, and Fortunately, by Remy Charlip. When I was a little older I loved Jean Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain, Helen Bush’s Mary Anning’s Treasures, and all of the children’s books by Jane Langton (The Diamond in the Window, The Swing in the Summerhouse, etc.). I also enjoyed reading Edward Eager’s magic books (including Half Magic and The Well Wishers).
Q: Of the books you’ve done, what’s your favorite?
A: I’d bet most authors or illustrators would answer that whatever they’re working on when you ask the question is their favorite. However, for a number of reasons, if I HAD to choose, I'd say my favorite book so far is The Rough Patch, a meditation on grief and the anger which sometimes accompanies it . . . and on hope.
Q: Do you ever give up?
A: Sometimes I’ll work on an idea for a while, and then decide that it either doesn’t really work as a book, or isn’t something that I want to spend more time on. But I’ve definitely found that persistence is the best way to succeed.
Q: Does your hand hurt after you draw a book?
A: If I’m working seven days a week to get a book finished, my hand will start to hurt a bit. But I can paint or draw for eight or more hours a day and not have it bother me. What gets really tired is my head. It’s hard to keep your concentration going after many hours of work.
Q: Why did you become an author and illustrator?
A: I’ve always loved coming up with ideas and putting them down on paper, whether it was writing or doodling. Writing and illustrating children's books seemed the best way to do something I loved.
Q: What do you like most about writing?
A: I like making stuff up. And writing is an opportunity to get ideas down on paper so that I can share them with other people. My hope is that, if I do it well, a story I create will actually seem real to some readers.
Q: Does writing and illustrating books become easy after a while?
A: Mostly, no. Both writing and drawing take a lot of time and effort, and they never feel easy. But at the same time, as I do more and more books, I feel more comfortable in my own drawing and writing style. It has become more fun than it was in the beginning.
Q: When you were young, were teachers impressed by your stories?
A: No, I don’t think so. I think I was probably seen as a creative student, and I clearly loved to write and draw, but I don’t think I was ever considered “a future author/illustrator.”
Q: Which one do you like better, writing or drawing?
A: That's a hard question to answer. I like both, and find both incredibly frustrating. To me, that's like asking "Do you like verbs or nouns better?" They're both important in a sentence, and writing and drawing are both equally important in creating a picture book. To me the most important thing is story, and the words and pictures both work in service of that story.
Q: Have you ever written a book about seasons or holidays?
A: No—so far, the stories I want to tell haven’t been tied into seasons or holidays. I do think it’d be fun to do a Halloween book some day, but there are lots and lots of them already. Some people think my bat books are Halloween stories, but they're not—if you look at them, not a single one takes place at Halloween time! Also, if you do a season/holiday book, you’re limiting when people read your stories to that time of year. Bookstores will stock your book in the month before the holiday, and the day after. . . off the shelves they come.
Brian Lies Interview and a Look at GATOR DAD
March 24, 2016Uncategorized
Today, Brian Lies, author of the Bats (in the Band, at the Beach, etc.) series and author of the new upcoming title, Gator Dad, has dropped by my blog today to talk about his new book and other interesting aspects of his work!
Hello, Brian, thank you for joining me for an interview today, and for a look at your 2016 title, Gator Dad.
Tell us a little bit about Gator Dad.
Gator Dad is a celebration of dads who are involved in their kids’ lives. I started thinking about writing a “dad” book when my daughter went off to college a few years ago. Having a child leave home leads to contemplation, and I grew wistful remembering all of the time she and I spent together, going back to when I was a stay-at-home dad in the late 1990s.
My wife was a vice-president at a PR agency in Boston, and we agreed it made sense for me to care for our daughter after my wife’s maternity leave ended, as I already worked from home. We had wonderful days, and we had hard days, just as every stay-at-home parent experiences. Back then, stay-at-home dads were relatively rare, and there were some differences between moms and dads. Dads didn’t get invited to play groups. A man standing at the edge of the playground raised suspicion. At the store, there was the frequent comment about being “Mr. Mom,” or compliments on “babysitting,” and that stuff bothered me—I was parenting, and didn’t feel it was a lesser thing.
As well, I didn’t see my experience echoed in tv shows or ads. I was trying hard to give my daughter a rich and interesting life, but in media, Dad was always shown as an idiot who loved his kids, but was completely incompetent when it came to parenting or household tasks. Dad is cooking tonight? Call the fire department. Dad has to diaper the baby? The diaper’s going to end up on the baby’s head.
Things have changed quite a bit since then. There are a lot more stay-at-home dads now, and there are a lot more positive depictions of dads on tv. My thoughts about being a dad—then and now—coalesced in a book in which a loving father gets through a day with his kids . . . in ways that are sometimes unorthodox.
Is there a message you hope people will take away from Gator Dad?
I try not to write a story that’s “message forward.” It seems to me that as soon as you begin a story with the goal of advancing a moral or a message, you’re beating a drum, and people can hear that lesson coming. I can’t imagine any child begging a parent to read a book called Let’s All Be More Polite! or Mr. Fuddy Learns Not to Throw Things at the Zoo Animals. Certainly not more than once.
To me, Gator Dad is simply a slice of life with a dad and his kids. But at times, it’s an odd slice—for instance, when something goes bad in the fridge, Gator Dad will “let you smell it, too.” You might be able to convince Gator Dad to do something that maybe you shouldn’t have done (here, using a fallen tree as a bridge over a pond and ending up in the pond). It’s a celebration of what my wife calls “boy noises” —braking sounds as you stop a grocery cart, airplane sounds as a forkful of food heads toward a mouth. It’s “robot rides” on Dad’s shoulders at bedtime.
That said, many dads show their love through doing, rather than saying. I’d like to think that kids who have undemonstrative dads might read this book with their parents and make a connection: “Hey—my dad does this stuff, too. He must love me!” And for kids whose dads who do tell them that they love them, I hope this book will simply echo the positive parts of the relationship they have.
Are any of the scenarios in Gator Dad based on things you’ve done with your own children?
Absolutely! When I took my daughter out for a stroller ride, I was looking for ways to turn it into an adventure—perhaps making her laugh by speeding up and slowing down abruptly. When we went for walks in the woods, I was hoping to find salamanders under the rocks to show her, or turn going up a hill into a mountain climbing expedition. I tried to teach my daughter how to make those “boy noises.”
But some of Gator Dad comes from times I remember with my Dad— playing until he collapsed on the floor, though my sister and I would beg for more. Climbing onto him as though he were a raft, keeping us from the savage sea of the living room carpet. Giving my sister and me robot rides at bedtime—tug on one ear to turn left, the other to turn right—and we’d eventually end up in our bedrooms. There were certain kinds of experiences we got with him that we didn’t get from any other grownup. For instance, he was the one you could count on to buy wax teeth or “Nik-l-Nip”(little wax bottles with a small bit of sweet liquid inside) at the crumbling, ramshackle shop where he bought newspapers or pipe tobacco. These are things I’ll carry with me forever.
What is one thing that readers don’t know about you, that only you could tell us?
How about two things?
1) When I was in high school, I was a pole-vaulter on the track and field team. I had lousy technique, but we hadn’t had many (or any?) pole-vaulters before, so I held the school record for three or four years.
2) One of my favorite candies is Bottle Caps, though they used to be bigger (by the way, did you know you can make “Bottle Cap flavored soda” by mixing all of the different soft drinks at a fast food restaurant?!?).
If you weren’t writing and illustrating books, what do you think you’d be doing?
I headed to college convinced that I was going to become a clinical psychologist, because I’ve always been interested in how we think, how our thoughts can turn against us in an unhelpful way, and how we can try to bring them back around again. But I could also see myself as a paleontologist, an architect, or trying to be a “fine art” painter.
What can readers expect from you in the future?
I hope they can expect the unexpected in future books. I’ve got lots of stories lining up to be told. I’ve got a book set in a blizzard, coming in 2018, and a book dealing with the angry part of grief (and renewal). I’m interested in expanding how I show a story, trying lots of new techniques and materials not only in 2D, but also in 3D media. There are lots of exciting ways you can tell a story. And I feel we’re in a new Golden Age of children’s literature, in which publishers and readers are more open than ever to exploring unusual ways to tell a story.
Anything else you’d like to share with readers of this blog?
One of my first pets was a white rabbit named Maximus Leppus (Latin for “the biggest rabbit”). He was a “rescue rabbit.” And I’m afraid he was never very friendly or cuddly.
Thank you, Brian, for joining me here! Looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Gator Dad!
Brian Lies – Illustrator Interview
Posted on May 10, 2016 by Joanna
I have known Brian online for a number of years being an avid fan of all his fun fictional bat picture books (an often maligned and gorgeous/important critter.) If you don’t know this series, please check them out here. His new picture book, GATOR DAD, hit the shelves a week ago, so it seemed the perfect timing to host an interview with him on Miss Marple’s Musings. Don’t miss an opportunity to win a copy of GATOR DAD when I review it on PPBF this Friday!
[JM] Illustrator or author/illustrator? If the latter, do you begin with words or pictures?
[BL] I’m an author/illustrator—I’ve illustrated a number of books I didn’t write, but really enjoy creating my own stories. To me, the story itself comes first, and both words and pictures begin to appear. I sketch whatever I first see, and write down whatever I first hear. And then the process is about making the two play together well. The hope is that, in the end, they combine to make a richer story than either could have done on its own.
[JM] Where are you from/have you lived and how has that influenced your work?
[BL] I was born in Princeton, NJ, and grew up 13 houses beyond the town line, but still with a Princeton mailing address. This caused some confusion for me, as it was Princeton, but not Princeton at the same time. I lived on a wooded road with only a single house on the opposite side, and deep woods both on that side and behind our house.
Cherry Hill Road
So it was a very rural-feeling place to grow. Building forts and dams in the woods, digging up antique bottles from streams where farmers had dumped them, running wild until the dinner bell rang. As a result, most of my work to date has a pastoral feel. I’m not a city kid. In fact, Gator Dad is the first book I’ve done that was overtly set in a city, but the alligator dad and his kids still escape to “the wild,” their local park.
[JM] Thanks for sharing the quiet of Cherry Hill Road with us. Tell us a little of your beginnings and journey as an artist.
[BL] I never expected to end up as an author or illustrator. As a kid, I believed firmly in innate talent, and didn’t feel I had it. I always liked writing and drawing—I think that if you’ve experienced the magic of getting lost in a story, some part of you has to wonder if maybe you have any of that magic in you, too. Illustrator / author Harry Devlin (the Cranberry series, among many others) had visited my school in 5th grade, and I thought that doing books sounded like the best job in the world.
Wonderful Treehouse
(PHOTO-Wonderful treehouse) But I didn’t feel talented, so didn’t think it was for me. I went to Brown University thinking that I was going to become a clinical psychologist, and work with kids. While there, I started doing illustrations for the college newspaper, including political cartoons. I began to think that there might be a job there—a steady job doing art!—and I ended up with 140 rejections from newspapers around the country. So art school was the next step, and after a few years as a freelance editorial page illustrator with a number of clients, I began to think again about children’s books. An unexpected encounter with Susan Sherman, then art director at Houghton Mifflin (now at Charlesbridge) led to my first illustrated book, and I found myself doing what I’d only dreamed of doing sixteen years earlier.
[JM] What is your preferred medium to work in?
[BL] Right now, I’m finding a lot of satisfaction painting with acrylics on paper. I work traditionally, beginning with a toned underpainting which sets up light/dark relationships in the piece, then add colors on top of that. The underpainting helps to unify the overall palette, and educates me about the brights/darks to come.
story practice painting
Book Whites
[JM] Do you have themes or characters you return to in your art?
[BL] I don’t know if it comes through in my illustration work or not, but I think shelter is very important to me, in lots of different forms. I seem to like drawing critters’ homes, in whatever shape they take, and they’re always safe, comfortable spaces.
[JM] Can you share a piece or two with us, maybe of a GATOR DAD or a WIP, and the process of creating them?
pillow fort in process
[BL] This is an image of the gator dad helping his kids to build an enormous pillow fort. I start by redrawing my sketch onto a piece of thick Strathmore paper, then inking in the lines so that I don’t lose it when I start painting. I work traditionally—beginning with a brown-toned underpainting in which I get rid of the white of the paper and figure out the shapes of the shadows in the image. Then I apply light and dark colors on top of the underpainting (chiaroscuro), trying to make everything I paint subservient to the lighting effect I’m trying to create. In this picture, I’ve worked on the lamp and have started coloring in the pillows/blankets that make up the fort. The characters are all still in their brown underpainting tones.
And here’s a sneak peek from my NEXT book: Got to Get To Bear’s!, which publishes in 2018. It’s a graphite drawing, enhanced in Photoshop, which is currently the jacket image for the book
Bears Jacket
[JM] Which book do you remember buying with your own money as a kid?
[BL] The first books I can recall buying with my own money were paperback collections of comic strips which I’d buy before family trips, to entertain myself on long drives—“B.C.,” by Johnny Hart, and books with work by Mad Magazine’s Don Martin.
[JM] What does your workspace look like?
[BL] It’s often a mess! When I’m working on a book, I’ve got papers taped to the walls, shoved in on top of books on bookshelves, etc. I’m one of those people who is clean but not neat (i.e., untidy, but no pizza crusts or moldy coffee mugs), and in the midst of the clutter, I know exactly where things are. I only do a deep cleaning when I finish a project and am getting ready to start on the next.
[JM] What artwork do you have hanging in your house?
Drummer Hoff
[BL] I’ve never wanted to display my own work in the house, because I know it too well. But over time, you have pieces in exhibitions, and you’ve got all of this framed artwork, and somehow it seems to fit the seasons (snow, Thanksgiving, etc.). We’ve got some original artwork from Kurt Wiese, a block print from 1970 Caldecott Medal book Drummer Hoff by Barbara and Ed Emberley, David MacPhail and Judy Moffatt, and one little oil sketch I particularly like, a 1914 painting by Edward Loyal Field.
edward loyal field
[JM] What is the greatest piece of advice you have received?
[BL] Two greatest pieces of advice come to mind: “The secret to a long marriage is . . . four or five choice things not said, daily.” And “never cook with the kitchen drawers open.”
Five Fun Ones to Finish? [JM] What’s your favorite park (state/urban) in the world?
[BL] I think it would have to be Bryce Canyon, in Utah. We took long tent camping trips as a family when I was a boy (see “buying books,” above!), and the Grand Canyon left us feeling a little cold. Maybe it was too grand? The enormity of it as seen from the Rim parking lots made it impossible to take in? I imagine my feeling would have been different if we’d taken a mule ride down into the canyon. But the colors and vistas and ranks of hoodoos at Bryce were astounding.
[JM] Cats or dogs?
[BL] Cats! Currently, two shelter cats: Dylan, a sleek Russian blue /Siamese (?) mix, and Atticus, a very solid tabby (one nickname: Potato).
Atticus at Rest
Dylan on Alert
[JM] Fact that most people don’t know about you?
[BL] I love transformations—whether it’s the growth of a story from first idea to finished book, a pile of wood into a useable piece of furniture, or taking tiny seeds and watching them grow into things that you can harvest and eat. I’m an avid vegetable gardener, and after eight or so years of a shaded garden, we took out a number of trees threatening our house (two fell on it in the last three years), and this spring feels like a rebirth!
[JM] I love your thoughts on the importance of transformation, and as an avid gardner myself understand how this is an annual metaphor for us. What as your first paid job?
[BL] My first paid job was selling greeting cards door to door, probably fourth grade. My best friend and I earned a couple of great things doing it, including a pair of walkie-talkies, but I think we always suspected that the card company was doing better than we were out of it. We’d ring the doorbell, make an impassioned plea, make a sale. The longest I’ve been employed by someone else in my life was three months. Maybe the greeting card sales set my fate as a freelancer?
[JM] Go to snack/drink to sustain your creative juices?
[BL] I actually don’t have a particular snack or drink that helps while I work. I’ll have a cup of coffee in the morning—a good, dark Sumatra, and that gets me going. But if anything’s in the studio, it’s just tap water. No sipping tea as I work, no nibbling biscotti, nothing. It would be a much more colorful answer if I said I sustained myself with Weetabix dipped in Scotch!
Social Media:
www.brianlies.com
www.gatordad.com
Twitter: @BrianLiesbooks
Email: blies@earthlink.net
Brian, not all my interviewees do this, but you have managed to give us a sense of your childhood and evolution to this wonderful calling (it’s so much more than a job, right?) of being an author/illustrator for children. Good luck with promoting GATOR DAD, which I have asked our elementary school librarian to purchase! BTW, love your advice!
Lies, Brian: GOT TO GET TO BEAR'S
Kirkus Reviews. (July 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Lies, Brian GOT TO GET TO BEAR'S HMH Books (Children's Fiction) $17.99 10, 30 ISBN: 978-0-544-94882-2
Izzy, a chipmunk, braves a storm, relying on her friends' resourcefulness to get to Bear's house.
When Izzy receives a note from Bear asking her to come over right away, she can't refuse. As she steps out the door, it begins to snow. As the snow gets thicker, she finds it more and more difficult to find her way. Soon, a squirrel in a sweater comes to her rescue and takes her across the treetops to get to Bear's. When it gets too slippery, a duck in a Peruvian hat starts to fly them all there. When it gets too difficult to see, a sweater-wearing raccoon carries them all (one perched atop the other, "Musicians of Bremen" style) by leaping across the snow. After a long journey in the blizzard and assistance from this accumulation of friends, Izzy finally makes it to Bear's house for a delightful surprise. Lies creates a charming, heartwarming story of friendship, goodwill, and perseverance. His attention to the tiniest details--seemingly each hair on the raccoon's tail can be descried, not to mention the profusion and variety of knitwear--elevates the book above the ordinary. The landscape illustrations are exquisite. Often illustrating the intensifying blizzard on double-page spreads, he draws readers in and puts them in the middle of the storm.
A beautifully illustrated and gratifying story of woodland-creature comradeship and determination. (Picture book. 4-7)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Lies, Brian: GOT TO GET TO BEAR'S." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A546323220/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5523271f. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A546323220
The Rough Patch
Publishers Weekly. 265.22 (May 28, 2018): p97.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The Rough Patch
Brian Lies. Greenwillow, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 9780-06-267127-1
The polished, jaunty spreads that open this story by Lies (Gator Dad) give little hint of the deep emotion to come. Evan, a fox, cuts a handsome figure in his overalls and wire-rimmed spectacles, and he and his beloved black-and-white dog are always together. They drive in Evan's red farm truck and play games, "But what they loved the most was working in Evan's magnificent garden," a lush, fertile enclosure studded with neat trellises. Then, two terrible things happen: Evan's dog dies--readers see the fox slumped over the hound's body--and in his grief, Evan destroys his garden, swinging a hoe that fells the plants and snaps the trellises in two. The story of how Evan finds his way through his grief rings true, and Lies's atmospherically lit, exquisitely drafted paintings will absorb readers as they trace Evan's journey through mourning. Some sensitive readers may draw back from tragedy this stark, but others will be fascinated by Evan's mysterious world, in which pumpkins grow into prizewinning behemoths and rubber boots come specially made for fox feet. Ages 4-8. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Rough Patch." Publishers Weekly, 28 May 2018, p. 97. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541638890/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5a79cf3c. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A541638890
Lies, Brian: THE ROUGH PATCH
Kirkus Reviews. (May 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Lies, Brian THE ROUGH PATCH Greenwillow (Children's Fiction) $17.99 8, 14 ISBN: 978-0-06-267127-1
Nature brings healing and a reawakening of the heart.
Evan, a farmer, is a red fox; his best friend and trusty companion is a black mutt. They do everything together, including work in Evan's lush garden. Eventually the dog dies, and Evan is inconsolable. Progressing through the stages of grief, Evan mourns, then feels bitter anger and destroys the garden, hacking it to pieces (presumably not, as some readers may wonder, the corner where he buried his friend). Matching Evan's mood, the formerly beautiful place is now weed-filled and forlorn. A creeping pumpkin vine gradually helps Evan to reassess his thinking. Deciding not to destroy the nascent plant, he cultivates it; his tender horticultural touch allows the pumpkin to develop into a gourd of enormous proportions. Bringing it to the fair, Evan wins third place--and oh, what a prize he chooses, revealed wordlessly on the book's final page! This story is simply and subtly told with admirably genuine emotion, but the textured, strong-hued art is the real standout. Charming images, such as Evan's gardening boots with holes for claws, and heart-wrenching ones--note Evan's bending over the dog's unmoving body--are to savor. Lies also matches colors and characters' expressiveness to moods and provides white space around numerous vignettes to focus readers' attention.
Reassuring and clear, this is a heartfelt story about loss and discovering that one can love again. (Picture book. 4-7)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Lies, Brian: THE ROUGH PATCH." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A538293890/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6c051a27. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A538293890
Gator Dad
Kathleen McBroom
Booklist. 112.16 (Apr. 15, 2016): p53.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Gator Dad. By Brian Lies. Illus. by the author. May 2016. 32p. HMH, $17.99 (9780544534339). PreS-Gr. 1.
Gator Dad is one cool dad. He and his three kids "squeeze the day," eking out everything they can and pushing conventional limits to turn daily activities into exciting romps. Dad is both inclusive ("If something in the fridge has gone bad ... I'll let you smell it, too") and unorthodox, his methods resulting in the occasional mishap (such as an accidental dunk in a pond). Lies' rich paintings add humor and are especially effective in capturing the gator kids' gleeful expressions. Scenes include quiet times, too, such as cuddling on the couch and goodnight stories. Many of the illustrations spill across double-page spreads, making this a great choice for a read-aloud. This gator family seems to have an idyllic setup: there is no job or school to get in the way of their fun, and mealtimes, bath times, and bedtimes all appear to be drama free. When the book ends with Gator Dad's charmingly offbeat invitation ("Let's squeeze tomorrow, too"), young readers will be ready. --Kathleen McBroom
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
McBroom, Kathleen. "Gator Dad." Booklist, 15 Apr. 2016, p. 53. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A451632292/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e5ae3507. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A451632292
Lies, Brian: GATOR DAD
Kirkus Reviews. (Apr. 1, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Lies, Brian GATOR DAD HMH Books (Children's Picture Books) $17.99 5, 3 ISBN: 978-0-544-53433-9
A gator dad and his three hatchlings "squeeze the day" they have together. The morning starts with Dad waking up the kids and feeding them a high-energy breakfast of pan-fried fish, tails sticking out of the breading. Then it's on to errands at the grocery store (in one of those carts that looks like a car) and some outdoor adventures at the local park: football, a seesaw, swings. While the start was uneven, from here on out, Lies writes with a just-right combination of lyricism and pragmatism: "I'll be your raft on a sea of grass, / a tree for you to climb. // I might even agree to do something // that maybe we shouldn't have done." Back home and dry again, they settle down with a book or perhaps "tear the house apart" building a fort out of blankets and couch cushions. This is a dad who will play dress-up and "teach you the sounds that all your toys make," a dad who will supervise tub time, hug you through a storm, robot you to bed, read one last book, and then look forward to more "squeezing" tomorrow. Lies' acrylic illustrations are filled with small details to notice, especially the labels on cans and boxes, but what is most evident are the feelings these four have for one another. Dads, squeeze the day with your own children just as this one does. (Picture book. 4-8)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Lies, Brian: GATOR DAD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2016. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A447747779/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=42e084f5. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A447747779
LIES, Brian. The Rough Patch
Rachel Zuffa
School Library Journal. 64.5 (May 2018): p69.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
* LIES, Brian. The Rough Patch. 40p. Harp erCollins/Greenwillow. Aug. 2018. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780062671271.
Gr 2-5--Lies taps into the powerful nature of love, loss, grief, and hope in his latest picture book. Evan, a fox, and his dog are best friends and in a series of acrylic, oil, and colored pencil vignettes, they are shown attending a fair, playing games, and, most important, working in Evan's meticulously groomed garden. These loving scenes are abruptly cut short by a large spread of white space with spare text stating: "But one day, the unthinkable happened." On the opposing page, white space surrounds a grieving Evan as he mourns the loss of his dog. In his grief, Evan destroys the garden that reminds him so much of his friend and weeds grow in its place. When a pumpkin vine sneaks into the garden, Evan allows it to take root and with it, hope returns. With lyrical figurative language, Evan transitions from being devastated by heartache to a being willing to step back into the world again. With his pumpkin, Evan rejoins his friends at the fair. Although it's not the same without his best friend, he enjoys himself again and even wins a prize for his pumpkin. His prize and the hope of all those who suffer love's loss is a chance to love again with a new puppy. While best suited for independent readers or shared moments during a loss, this poignant picture book provides an exquisite depiction of grief and hope. VERDICT A remarkable first selection for all libraries and a helpful guide for children and adults who are going through their own rough patches.--Rachel Zuffa, Racine Public Library, WI
KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | lib. ed. Publisher's library binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL Bilingual | POP Popular Picks
Caption: The Rough Patch (Lies)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Zuffa, Rachel. "LIES, Brian. The Rough Patch." School Library Journal, May 2018, p. 69. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536987928/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d98e8d79. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536987928
Lies, Brian. Gator Dad
Amy Shepherd
School Library Journal. 62.2 (Feb. 2016): p68+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
LIES, Brian. Gator Dad. illus. by Brian Lies. 32p. HMH. May 2016. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780544534339.
PreS-Gr 2--A fun-loving and vivacious alligator dad embraces the tasks of the day with his three little gators in tow. He knows how to make errands exciting and the little things in life robust. Gator Dad sets off on a day of imaginative adventure through the grocery store, the park, and the neighborhood and even back at home. Gator Dad's energy knows no limits, and kids will love seeing how he tackles the everyday occurrences in life. The illustrations are colorful and fun, adding a great deal of humor to the story. The hues are rich and vibrant, and the characters' expressions are Rill of joy. The concise prose is lyrical but not rhyming. "I'll be your raff on a sea of grass,/a tree for you to climb./I might even agree to do something/ that maybe we shouldn't have done." The content of the story will pull listeners in and keep them engaged. VERDICT This is great fun as a read-aloud, and early readers will enjoy the challenge of independent reading as well.--Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE
Shepherd, Amy
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Shepherd, Amy. "Lies, Brian. Gator Dad." School Library Journal, Feb. 2016, p. 68+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A442780517/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=430bba54. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A442780517
Beck, W.H.: Malcolm Under the Stars
Amy Holland
School Library Journal. 61.8 (Aug. 2015): p83.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
BECK, W.H. Malcolm Under the Stars. illus. by Brian Lies. 272p. HMH. Aug. 2015. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9780544392670.
Gr 3-6--Malcolm the Rat and his animal pals in the Midnight Academy are back, trying to save McKenna Elementary School from closure due to its deteriorating physical condition. This seemingly insurmountable task takes Malcolm and his friends on a sprawling quest to discover secrets left by the school's founder, Walton McKenna--secrets that may be the key to keeping the school open. Malcolm is courageous and resourceful, weaving in and out of the school to find and connect the many puzzle pieces of its complex past. Fortunately, Malcolm is able to read English as well as communicate with the young human "nutters" at McKenna, skills that are essential in order for the valiant rat to be an effective hero. He has a particularly special relationship with a nutter named Amelia, and their bond helps Malcolm accomplish more than he'd be able to by himself. Twists and turns abound, including a forgotten time capsule, buried treasure, secret codes, and hidden identities. The conclusion is satisfying and illustrates that the world can't always be divided into black and white. Soft grayscale pencil drawings by Lies breathe life into the motley cast of animal characters. VERDICT For middle grade readers who enjoy animal adventure tales with many twists and turns.-Amy Holland, Irondequoit Public Library, NY
Holland, Amy
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Holland, Amy. "Beck, W.H.: Malcolm Under the Stars." School Library Journal, Aug. 2015, p. 83. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A424106035/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d9220372. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A424106035
Malcolm Under the Stars
Children's Bookwatch. (Sept. 2015):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
Full Text:
Malcolm Under the Stars
W.H. Beck
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003
9780544392670 $16.99 www.hmhco.com
Malcolm Under the Stars tells of Malcolm the rat and a variety of Academy classroom animals who are looking forward to a calm semester at school. The only trouble? Malcolm's been causing most of the trouble and the school board is considering closing their school home, as a result. It's up to Malcolm to follow up on an old legend that might just hold the resources for saving the school. Intrigue, mystery, and resourceful actions on a rat's part make this a fun animal story for kids in grades 4-6.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Malcolm Under the Stars." Children's Bookwatch, Sept. 2015. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A430168614/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=76f1003c. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A430168614
Beck, W.H.: MALCOLM UNDER THE STARS
Kirkus Reviews. (May 15, 2015):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Beck, W.H. MALCOLM UNDER THE STARS HMH Books (Children's Fiction) $16.99 8, 4 ISBN: 978-0-544-39267-0
The critters of the Midnight Academy must find a way to save McKenna Elementary School from destruction. The old building is in desperate need of repair, and funds are not available to take on the monumental task. The Midnight Academy, made up of a variety of unusual, intelligent, and eccentric "inside" animals, is a secret society that has both an immensely detailed collective memory and a deep love of the children and staff, past and present. Malcolm, the fifth grade's lovable pet rat, who can read and is able to communicate with the humans, takes the lead as the Academy works to find a solution that will save the school. Continuing the format of Malcolm at Midnight (2012), the narration again is in the guise of an anonymous report, complete with delightful asides and footnotes, sent to fifth-grade teacher Mr. Binney. Beck takes readers through a labyrinth of secret codes, hidden clues, clandestine meetings with outside animals, promises made and broken, hopeful leads, and crushing disappointments. A time capsule, a roof collapse, and the return of a former enemy add to the twists and turns of a fast-paced roller coaster of a plot. Malcolm's ponderings on the nature of revenge, compassion, loss, and friendship are seamlessly woven into the plot. Lies' gray-toned, textured pencil-and-graphite illustrations add dimension and personality to the creatures. Welcome back, Malcolm. (Animal fantasy. 9-12)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Beck, W.H.: MALCOLM UNDER THE STARS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2015. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A413234190/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ff95146e. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A413234190