SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: I’m Not Small
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://ninacrews.com/
CITY: Brooklyn
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: German
LAST VOLUME: SATA 274
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born May 19, 1963, in Frankfurt, Germany; U.S. citizen; daughter of Donald Crews (an author/illustrator) and Ann Jonas (an author/illustrator) Crews; married; children: one son.
EDUCATION:Yale University, B.A., 1985.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and illustrator of children’s books, and animator. Freelance animation artist/coordinator, 1986-94, and illustrator, 1991—. Ink Tank (animation studio), New York, NY, producer, 1995-97.
AWARDS:Bank Street College Best Books selection and Chicago Public Library Best of the Best selection, both 1997, both for Snowball; Chicago Public Library Best of the Best selection, 1998, for You Are Here; Charlotte Zolotow Highly Commended selection, Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, 2000, for When Will Sarah Come? by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard; Settlement House author residency, 2002; 100 Books for Reading and Sharing listee, New York Public Library, and Capitol Choices Noteworthy Book for Children, both 2004, and Notable Children’s Book designation, American Library Association (ALA), 2005, all for The Neighborhood Mother Goose; ALA Notable Children’s Book designation, 2007, for Below; Building Blocks selection, Bank Street College of Education, c. 2011, for The Neighborhood Sing-Along.
WRITINGS
Contributor of illustrations to periodicals, including Village Voice and Parenting.
SIDELIGHTS
The daughter of noted author/illustrators Donald Crews and Ann Jonas, Nina Crews has established a reputation of her own as a talented contributor to the field of children’s literature. Combining simple stories with arresting photographic collages, Crews creates picture books that are considered notable for reflecting the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of young children. Celebrating the urban environment is also characteristic of her works, which include Sky-High Guy, Jack and the Beanstalk, and The Neighborhood Sing-Along.
(open new)In an interview with a contributor to the MINIPHLIT website, Crews discussed her artistic method and her inspirations. She stated: “I love how beautifully photographs render the surfaces of things with great detail and specificity. I love how looking at photographs helps us see the details in the world around us and to enjoy both the differences and similarities that we find in what we see. When I began illustrating children’s books, photography felt like the modern and fresh way to explore ideas.” Crews also noted: “I read a lot when I was a child. (I still do.) I loved myths, fairy tales and stories with a bit of magic, though the books that I saved from my childhood are mostly about contemporary children in the real world. Now that I am creating my own books, I find that I often try to combine these two genres through stories and images that add a bit of magic to the everyday.”(close new—more below)
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Crews was raised in Manhattan’s West Village, and she and her sister were encouraged to pursue art projects. She attended New York City’s Music and Art High School and then enrolled at Yale University where she majored in art and studied photography. While working as a freelance illustrator and animator, Crews wrote her first children’s book at the suggestion of her father. Reacting to friends’ disparaging remarks about New York City not being a good place to raise children, she created the concept book One Hot Summer Day. “I wanted to do a book about an urban child’s existence,” she recalled to Publishers Weekly interviewer Shannon Maugham. “I wanted to reflect the energy of the city environment, the texture of it.”
Using a family friend as a model for her collage photographs, Crews’ One Hot Summer Day depicts a lively, happy African-American girl dressed in purple overalls who describes her city neighborhood as she plays outside on a sweltering day. Engaging in activities ranging from eating Popsicles and playing on the swings to attempting to fry an egg on the sidewalk, the narrator finally dances amid the raindrops cast by a sudden thunderstorm. In her review of One Hot Summer Day for Horn Book, Mary M. Burns commented that Crews’ illustrations are an “intriguing combination of realistic images imaginatively redefined in unexpected juxtaposition…. In this context, the camera is as much a painter’s tool as palette and brush.”
In her concept book I’ll Catch the Moon Crews uses toned black-and-white background photos to create a dreamlike fantasy about climbing a ladder to the moon. Narrated by a seven-year-old girl with a missing front tooth, the story describes the child’s fantasy as she looks out her window at New York City by night. She imagines herself climbing a ladder to the moon and dancing among the stars before heading home to bed. Crews’ photo-collage illustrations mix NASA photos of space with her own pictures. Writing in Horn Book, Elizabeth S. Watson called I’ll Catch the Moon a “knockout in both concept and execution” and added that both “the photographs themselves and their placement in the overall design are outstanding.”
In The Neighborhood Mother Goose Crews takes familiar nursery rhymes and illustrates them in a modern-day, urban setting; for example, photographs of real children among brownstones and expansive parks are used to illustrate such traditional poems as “Little Miss Muffet.” According to Booklist critic Hazel Rochman, “Preschoolers will enjoy seeing kids like themselves in pictures that make the familiar rhymes part of imaginative fun on the city sidewalk.” In a companion volume, The Neighborhood Sing-along, Crews pairs her bright, energetic photos with lyrics from more than thirty traditional children’s tunes, among them “I’m a Little Teapot” and “Take Me out to the Ball Game!” A Publishers Weekly reviewer described The Neighborhood Sing-along as “a jubilant and contemporary treatment of well-known classics.”
Inspired by a newspaper article about a youngster who grew gigantic bushes of beans in his urban backyard, Crews’ Jack and the Beanstalk offers an inventive take on a well-known tale. After planting some colorful beans given to him by a neighbor, Jack watches as the huge vine sprouts and rises above the city skyline. When he climbs to the top, he is met by a giant and his wife who want to put him to work. After escaping from the couple and toppling the beanstalk, Jack makes a surprising discovery about the giant’s true identity. “Crews’ fans will be delighted; others will be drawn in by the nifty mix of folktale and photo-collage,” a contributor remarked in appraising Jack and the Beanstalk for Kirkus Reviews.
Crews combines her simple text with digitally enhanced photos and line drawings in Below, which follows the adventures of another boy named Jack. At his favorite play spot, a narrow staircase in Jack’s home, the boy and his trusty action-figure friend Guy scale mountains and explore forests until Guy falls through a hole and disappears into the darkness. Jack mounts a daring rescue effort in a tale that, as Lempke noted in Horn Book, examines “the inner play-life of a child and the way the child takes those imaginings and acts them out in the world.” According to Marianne Saccardi in School Library Journal, Below “will surely inspire young readers to see everyday objects in a new light.”
Jack and Guy return in Sky-High Guy, which also features Crews’ photo-collage artwork. In this tale Jack must call upon his brother Gus to help save Guy, who has become stranded in a tree while “sky-diving.” “The authenticity of Crews’ illustrations makes it easy for readers to access Jack’s imagination,” Lisa Glasscock commented in reviewing Sky-High Guy for School Library Journal, and a Publishers Weekly contributor noted that, as in Below, Crews “remains able to capture the way that the most everyday of locations … are ample fodder for children’s imaginations.”
(open new)A young Black boy compares his size to things that are larger than him and things that are smaller than him in I’m Not Small. The book ends with the child being picked up by his loving mother and brought inside for breakfast. At that point, the boy is happy he is small after all. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised Crews’s “vividly sketched, textural digital collage.” Miriam Aronin, contributor to Booklist, remarked: “Crews captures the joy of early childhood exploration in a book that adults and children can both enjoy.”
In addition to releasing self-illustrated books, Crews has lent her artistic skills to books by other writers, including Angela Johnson. One of her most significant works of this type is Seeing into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright, in which Crews selects and illustrates haiku poetry by Wright, a celebrated Black writer who died in 1960. In an interview with James Preller on Preller’s self-titled blog, Crews explained: “There were really two main criteria that a poem had to meet for me to add it to my shortlist. First, I looked for poems that could resonate with children emotionally and second, for poems that could be portrayed through relatable everyday scenes.” Regarding her inspiration for the photo-illustrations in the book, Crews told Preller: “I read a great essay about haiku that talked about how the poems should have a sense of movement in them. There are a number of ways one can show movement in photography—motion blurs or sequential images for instance. This approach is another way of showing movement and I liked how shapes of the collage could create a gesture on the page with the child portrayed acting as an anchor.” Suzanne Costner, writer in School Library Journal, called Seeing into Tomorrow “a must for all children’s collections.” A Kirkus Reviews critic described it as a “loving, welcoming introduction to one of the most important American writers of the 20th century.”
In Johnson’s A Girl Like Me, Crews includes photo collages supporting the story of three Black girls who overcome negativity and follow their dreams. In an interview with Elizabeth Bird, contributor to the School Library Journal blog, Crews explained: “The poem is narrated in first person, making the experiences, both real and dreamed, subjective. This gave me room to be more playful and less realistic on the pages that were not dreams. I made sure to include elements that would be familiar sights for most kids (a laundromat sign, a fire house, a busy store window, a cat) and the kinds of details that they might include in a drawing or story about themselves.” Anna Haase, contributor to School Library Journal, commented: “Crews’s signature photo-collage style is the perfect artistic choice for this book.” A Kirkus Reviews critic suggested that the book was “a great way to spark real-world conversations with other girls ‘like me.'”(close new)
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, June 1, 1995, Julie Yates Walton, review of One Hot Summer Day, p. 1776; December 1, 1997, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Snowball, p. 640; October 15, 1998, Susan Dove Lempke, review of You Are Here, p. 416; February 15, 2001, Henrietta M. Smith, review of Snowball, p. 1160; December 1, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of The Neighborhood Mother Goose, p. 668; March 1, 2006, Jennifer Mattson, review of Below, p. 99; April 15, 2011, Diane Foote, review of The Neighborhood Sing-Along, p. 48; March 1, 2022, Miriam Aronin, review of I’m Not Small, p. 61.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, May, 1996, Deborah Stevenson, review of I’ll Catch the Moon, p. 297; September, 2011, Hope Morrison, review of Jack and the Beanstalk, p. 14.
Horn Book, July-August, 1995, Mary M. Burns, review of One Hot Summer Day, p. 448; May-June, 1996, Elizabeth S. Watson, review of I’ll Catch the Moon, pp. 321-322; May-June, 2004, Susan Dove Lempke, review of The Neighborhood Mother Goose, p. 339; May-June, 2006, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Below, p. 291; May-June, 2010, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Sky-High Guy, p. 64; May-June, 2011, Robin L. Smith, review of The Neighborhood Sing-Along, p. 111; July-August, 2011, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Jack and the Beanstalk, p. 166.
Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 1996, review of I’ll Catch the Moon, p. 600; September 15, 2001, review of A Ghost Story, p. 1355; December 15, 2003, review of The Neighborhood Mother Goose, p. 1449; February 1, 2006, review of Below, p. 129; March 1, 2010, review of Sky-High Guy; April 1, 2011, review of The Neighborhood Sing-Along; June 1, 2011, review of Jack and the Beanstalk; December 15, 2017, review of Seeing into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright; December 1, 2019, review of A Girl Like Me.
New York Times, July 11, 2004, Elissa Schappell, review of The Neighborhood Mother Goose, p. 18.
Publishers Weekly, June 12, 1995, review of One Hot Summer Day, p. 60; July 3, 1995, Shannon Maughan, interview with Crews, p. 33; May 13, 1996, review of I’ll Catch the Moon, p. 75; November 10, 1997, review of Snowball, p. 73; April 5, 2010, review of Sky-High Guy, p. 59; March 21, 2011, review of Hello Stranger!, p. 74; January 10, 2022, review of I’m Not Small, p. 59.
School Library Journal, June, 1995, review of One Hot Summer Day, p. 79; May, 1996, review of I’ll Catch the Moon, p. 85; December, 2000, Jean Gaffney, review of From Paper Airplanes to Outer Space, p. 131, and Karey Wehner, review of We, the People: Poems, p. 162; September, 2001, Anne Knickerbocker, review of A Ghost Story, p. 186; January, 2004, Kate McClelland, review of The Neighborhood Mother Goose, p. 112; March, 2006, Marianne Saccardi, review of Below, p. 185; April, 2010, Lisa Glasscock, review of Sky-High Guy, p. 122; April, 2011, Lisa Egly Lehmuller, review of The Neighborhood Sing-Along, p. 158; August, 2011, Susan Scheps, review of Jack and the Beanstalk, p. 71; January, 2018, Suzanne Costner, review of Seeing into Tomorrow, p. 108; January, 2020, Anna Haase, review of A Girl Like Me, p. 57.
ONLINE
African American Literature Book Club, https://aalbc.com/ (April 27, 2022), author profile.
James Preller blog, http://www.jamespreller.com/ (February 13, 2018), James Preller, author interview.
Lerner Books website, https://lernerbooks.com/ (April 27, 2022), author interview.
MINIPHLIT, https://miniphlit.hypotheses.org/ (April 27, 2022), author interview.
National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Web site, http://www.nccil.org/ (February 18, 2005), “Nina Crews.”
Nina Crews website, https://ninacrews.com/ (April 27, 2022).
Nina Crews blog, http://ninacrews.wordpress.com (July 15, 2014).
School Library Journal blog, https://blogs.slj.com/ (August 13, 2019), Elizabeth Bird, author interview.
Seven Impossible Things before Breakfast, http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/ (June 21, 2011), Julie Danielson, interview with Crews.
Nina Crews creates energetic stories about young children. Her career as an author and illustrator began in 1995 with One Hot Summer Day which was hailed by Kirkus Reviews as “the debut of a welcome new voice and vision.” Her books include Seeing Into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright, The Neighborhood Mother Goose and Below. Her most recent book is A Girl Like Me, written by Angela Johnson. Nina’s work has explored a variety of themes. She has updated classic material in The Neighborhood Mother Goose, The Neighborhood Sing-Along and Jack and the Beanstalk. She has written stories of children’s imaginary adventures in Below, Sky-High Guy, You Are Here and I’ll Catch the Moon. She has explored simple experiences of urban childhood in One Hot Summer Day and Snowball.
“I chose to make photographic books because photography was and is my favorite medium to work in. I write the story first, though most often a visual idea motivates me to start a book. Once the story is in place, I start to work with my models. The interaction between us always adds something to the project; their performances often generate new ideas. “As I’ve read my work to children, I have found that they really respond enthusiastically to “real” pictures. They love hearing about the children who pose for the books – their names, ages and where they live. All of my subjects are family, friends and friends of friends. The books tell stories I’ve created, but also record these children at certain ages – they are stars.” She is the daughter of children’s book authors Donald Crews – Freight Train; Truck; Ten Black Dots;Shortcut and Ann Jonas – Round Trip; The Quilt; Splash; Color Dance.
Nina is a graduate of Yale University, where she received a BA in art. She also participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program. Nina lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and son. Nina is represented by Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency.
Nina Crews is a children’s book author and illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York. She uses photographs and collage to create energetic stories that center on the experiences of young children. She is the daughter of author-illustrators Donald Crews and Ann Jonas. Her work has been recognized by the ALA Notable Committee, National Council of Teachers of English, Cooperative Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild, Bank Street College of Education and numerous others. Nina’s books include Seeing Into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright, One Hot Summer Day, and The Neighborhood Mother Goose.
Her most recent book (February, 2020), A Girl Like Me was written by Angela Johnson and encourages all children to embrace their individuality and follow their dreams.
Nina Crews takes photographs and makes collages to create her distinctive picture books. Her stories draw inspiration from the children and neighborhoods of Brooklyn – her home for over 25 years. She is the daughter of children’s book author and illustrators Donald Crews and Ann Jonas. Her first book was One Hot Summer Day, published in 1995. Other books include The Neighborhood Mother Goose, 2004, which was selected as an ALA Notable Book for 2004, Kirkus and School Library Journals Best Books of 2004, and The New York Public Library's 100 Books for Reading and Sharing. Her book, Below, was an ALA Notable Book for 2006 and Junior Library Guild Selection. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, her son and one cat.
Author and illustrator, Nina Crews uses collage to create distinctive picture books. Her first book, One Hot Summer Day, was published in 1995 and is still in print today. Her titles include A Girl Like Me, Seeing Into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright, The Neighborhood Mother Goose, and Below. Her work has been selected by ALA’s Notable committee, the Junior Library Guild, NCTE, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Bank Street College of Education, and others. She is the daughter of children’s book authors and illustrators Donald Crews and Ann Jonas. Nina lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and son.
Book Me
view all bookable authors
INTERVIEW
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
I had many favorite books and I still do. Here are a few: A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, Little Bear by Else Homelund Minarik, CDB by William Steig, Nothing Ever Happens on My Block by Ellen Raskin
What’s your favorite line from a book?
I can’t name a single favorite as there are so many books with so many great lines. Here is one: “I have told him it’s very easy, anyone can fly. All you need is somewhere to go that you can’t get to any other way.”—Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
Why did you want to become an author or illustrator?
I love stories and I love making art. Picture books are a magical combination of both.
Do you have any advice for future authors or illustrators?
Be optimistic. Be focussed. Be true to yourself.
QUOTED: "There were really two main criteria that a poem had to meet for me to add it to my shortlist. First, I looked for poems that could resonate with children emotionally and second, for poems that could be portrayed through relatable everyday scenes."
"I read a great essay about haiku that talked about how the poems should have a sense of movement in them. There are a number of ways one can show movement in photography—motion blurs or sequential images for instance. This approach is another way of showing movement and I liked how shapes of the collage could create a gesture on the page with the child portrayed acting as an anchor."
5 QUESTIONS with Nina Crews, illustrator of “Seeing Into Tomorrow”
February 13, 2018 / jimmy / No comments
–
SITannounce.C-450x259
The first time I met Nina Crews, I was eating on the hallway floor of a school in Albany, NY. Just sitting there on the tiles, catching a few minutes for lunch during a book festival. Nina sat down across from me and, putting two and two together, I asked, “Are you the daughter of Donald Crews?” We had a nice chat that afternoon; a number of years passed; and now with the publication of her quietly remarkable book, Seeing Into Tomorrow, I reached out to Nina again. She’s an easy person to like, an artist with a deep commitment to children’s literature. I don’t have a powerful spotlight here at James Preller Dot Com, but this is an artist who merits our attention.
Here comes Nina now . . .
–
Crews_041915_0171sm
–
Congratulations on your new book, Seeing Into Tomorrow. I’ve been waiting for this one since we first discussed it via Facebook about a year ago.
Thanks so much! I am so happy to have it out in the world!
Lately I’ve been on a major haiku kick of my own, reading and writing a little bit each morning. I’ve been reading through a collection of more than 800 of Richard Wright’s haikus. I enjoy taking them slow, savoring each poem, just a few pages before I start the day. I originally took Wright’s book out of the library, but soon realized that I needed to have my own copy, write in it, keep it on my shelf. How did you select the poems included here? That seems like an impossible process.
shoppingI know the Wright book very well! It was the source for the haiku included in my book. I read through it numerous times and also used a lot of post-its. Each review brought new discoveries, and also helped me clarify the direction of the project. There were really two main criteria that a poem had to meet for me to add it to my shortlist. First, I looked for poems that could resonate with children emotionally and second, for poems that could be portrayed through relatable everyday scenes.
I’m moved by the idea of Richard Wright turning to haiku late in his life, at a time when he was struggling through a long illness, sliding toward death. I sense that the process of writing these poems –- and seeing the world through them — comforted him. There’s terrible beauty in these poems.
Yes. I know what you mean. It was also a period of mourning for him. His daughter writes in the introduction to the haiku book that two close friends passed away in 1958. Even more significantly, his mother died in 1959. I imagine these losses put him in a very reflective mindset. His daughter calls his writing of haiku “self-nurturing.”
That’s a nice phrase, much better than “self-medicating.” With haiku, like yoga in a way, I believe the experience of writing them, of being present in the world, is more personally meaningful than the end product. Anyway, Nina, tell me about your cut-up approach to the photographs. I’m not a visual artist, but I used to fool around with that technique years ago, inspired by the work of David Hockney. It’s a lot of fun.
–
09_yellow_kite
–
I am a fan of David Hockney’s photocollages and studied them closely while I was working on this book. For the most part, my images were not created by cutting up a single image, but by closely cropping the scenes as I photographed. I’d start at one end of a scene and move my camera, over bit by bit, up and down, to the left or to the right to cover the entire area. I liked the movement that this technique created and wanted the additional variation that would come from shifts in perspective or focus as I moved around. If you look closely at Hockney’s images, you’ll see that he does this, too. I think it gives the final image a bit more “breath.”
Oh, I get it now. I assumed it involved scissors, a lot of cutting and snipping and pasting. Why did you feel that approach was right for this book?
I read a great essay about haiku that talked about how the poems should have a sense of movement in them. There are a number of ways one can show movement in photography –- motion blurs or sequential images for instance. This approach is another way of showing movement and I liked how shapes of the collage could create a gesture on the page with the child portrayed acting as an anchor.
I appreciated how the book begins with a haiku about a name written in the snow, which to me is a declaration of existence, “I am” . . . and how a signature returns later in the book . . . and you close with a hopeful vision of, or for, tomorrow. Nicely curated, Nina.
Thanks!
You focused your camera exclusively on African American boys for this book. Why boys?
–
06_dirt_road
–
There were a few things that factored into this decision. Early on in my work on the book, I read Black Boy, Wright’s autobiography. In it, he describes how he experienced nature as a young child and the language he uses in those passages is similar to the language in his haiku. My exploration of shopping-1these poems became an exploration of Wright’s biography and photographing African-American boys made sense to me. It also struck me that there are not a lot of “nature” books with children of color, in general, and African American boys, in particular. I am pleased to give this “picture space” to young brown boys.
Am I right in recognizing Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, in some of these images.
Yes. I did photograph some scenes in Prospect Park. It is really an extension of my studio. Because the images for this book really depended on the right light and the right weather, I took advantage of every opportunity I had to get shots I might use. I also photographed extensively in upstate New York – Bear Mountain and the Hudson Valley.
You dedicated this book to your family. You certainly have talented parents, in Ann Jonas and Donald Crews. No pressure, Nina, just be amazing!
51Lz8Nj7V+LYes, they set a high bar. They also provided a lot of support and have been great role models. But beyond my parent’s role in my development as an author illustrator, I feel a great deal of gratitude to my family for many less tangible lessons. For instance, I am thanking my grandparents who told me about their childhoods on farms in the South and my parents for taking my sister and I on many walks in nature.
That’s your father, isn’t it, admiring the freight train. I see what you did there, since his book, Freight Train, was a Caldecott Honor Book. He always brought a great sense of design to his work.
Yes, I asked my father to do a cameo for this page. It’s a nod to his work -– Freight Train and Short Cut and also inspired by the fact that he enjoys watching trains with his grandchildren. That’s my son with him.
–
10_railroad
–
I actually interviewed your father many years ago, in the early 90s, for a book I did with Deborah Kovacs, the out-of-print classic, Meet the Authors and Illustrators. He struck me as a calm, gentle, elegant, highly-cerebral kind of guy. I picture him in a bowtie.
He owns many bowties, though does wear standard neckties as well. He’s very stylish and one of my favorite people!
Well, Nina, I’m really glad we were able to share this time together. You have a lot to be proud of with this beautiful book. Well done!
Thank you! I have enjoyed our chat!
——-
To learn more about Nina Crews, visit her website. Nina’s book includes substantial biographical information on Richard Wright, adding depth and layers to a reader’s experience of the poems.
QUOTED: "The poem is narrated in first person, making the experiences, both real and dreamed, subjective. This gave me room to be more playful and less realistic on the pages that were not dreams. I made sure to include elements that would be familiar sights for most kids (a laundromat sign, a fire house, a busy store window, a cat) and the kinds of details that they might include in a drawing or story about themselves."
Cover Reveal and Interviews: Talking with Nina Crews and Angela Johnson
AUGUST 13, 2019 BY ELIZABETH BIRD
Here, in no particular order, are some things that I like: Creative books for kids featuring poetry in some way. Photography. Strong girls. Here are two people I like, to go along with that list. Nina Crews. Angela Johnson. Ms. Crews you already know since she’s pretty much the only game in town when it comes to fictional picture books illustrated with photography. And just last year she blew us all away with her adaptation of Richard Wright’s haikus in the book Seeing Into Tomorrow. Angela Johnson, meanwhile, has more than forty books to her name and she can write the gamut from board books to YA. This year, she’s giving us a poem-turned-book called A Girl Like Me, with illustrated photography by Crews. Naturally I’d like to show you the cover, but first I had some questions for the creators:
Betsy Bird: Angela, I’d like to start with you, if that’s all right. Where did this poem originate? And how did it surface now?
Angela Johnson: This poem originated on the porch of a friend many years ago. She used to joke that she wanted to be a superhero to right some wrongs she had experienced. (Actually, it was a bit R-rated about men who hit on women in bars and wouldn’t take no for an answer and how she wanted to punch them out). She was an elementary teacher and wanted girls to be powerful because she taught so many young girls whom she felt didn’t believe they had any agency.
It seems this poem was rediscovered. I had almost forgotten about it. Of course, then I remembered . . .
BB: Did you ever envision the poem as a book? Do you ever envision any of your poems as books?
AJ: I never envisioned this poem for anything but what it was. A poem.
It worked for what it was. But it is delightful that it has been turned into a book. I can say that I rarely envision poems as book—–but I like to write chapters of books as poetry.
BB: The call for strong girls has been around for a long time. Heck, I remember an old Sesame Street segment about it. What interests me is how the message changes over the years. I feel like it used to be saying that “women can do anything” and then that turned into “girl power” and then “STEM girls” and now it’s actually a complex amalgamation of all of these at once. Where does your poem fit into the messages that girls are receiving in our culture now?
AJ: I suppose A Girl Like Me fits wherever there is a space. The message is universal to me. In some way, we are all seeking power and a way forward. I find myself a bit sad at the notion that young girls and women still are having to demand equality, in pay, choice, and other life decisions.
BB: What are you working on next?
I am working on a book of poetry. Imagine that . . .
BB: Thank you, Angela. Nina, some questions for you. Your last book, SEEING INTO TOMORROW, was very much an exploration of young black boys interacting with nature. Now you’ve pivoted and are all about the girls. Can you talk a bit about the importance of singling out kids in books like these and why they need to see themselves, as themselves, in books for themselves, just themselves, sometimes?
Nina Crews: What does it mean to see yourself reflected in the pages of a book? It means that you are important—part of the culture, part of the conversation. Child development experts have commented on how quickly and readily young children interiorize the social hierarchy of the world around them. Picture books are a wonderful way to make a positive impact on young children by reflecting their worlds in positive ways. When a child reads a book that places someone like them in the center of the story, they can see that they are valued. What a simple way to create engaged readers and confident kids!
BB: You’ve been creating books where photographs of real kids are juxtaposed with surreal city elements for decades now. How has the technology changed for you? What’s easier and what, do you find, remains a challenge when you make a book like this?
NC: Technology has made the simple stuff quicker.
I started illustrating with photocollage before I owned a computer. For my first book, One Hot Summer Day, I made multiple trips to and from the color print lab before spending weeks in my studio, cutting and pasting my illustrations together by hand. With my second book, I’ll Catch the Moon, I montaged images in the darkroom and toned the black and white prints in big baths of blue dye in my Brooklyn kitchen. In my early years of working digitally, slower processors and smaller hard drives constrained the digital effects I used.
My workflow today is almost entirely digital. I download my photographs within hours of my photo shoots and get right to work. There’s almost no limit to the layers and effects I can use. This has encouraged me to create more ambitious, multilayered compositions. In A Girl Like Me, I created patterns, scanned hand-made textures and used vector shapes created in Photoshop and collaged these with my photographs. Keeping up with new technology can sometimes be a challenge. (Cue the online how-to videos.) But art making is essentially problem solving—a largely intuitive process only resolved by spending time on the work. That challenge remains the same whatever tools I use.
BB: How do you determine what to make real and what you make magical when creating art for a book like Angela’s? Too much reality and you lose the magic. Too much fantasy and kids can’t relate. Where do you draw the line?
NC: I took my cues from Angela’s text. It so elegantly moves between imagined and real spaces. The dreamscapes for the first half of the book were a lot of fun to create and I had lots of room to play. My biggest concern for the second half was to make sure that reality didn’t end up flat and dull. This wasn’t a problem in the end. The poem is narrated in first person, making the experiences, both real and dreamed, subjective. This gave me room to be more playful and less realistic on the pages that were not dreams. I made sure to include elements that would be familiar sights for most kids (a laundromat sign, a fire house, a busy store window, a cat) and the kinds of details that they might include in a drawing or story about themselves.
BB: Finally, what are you working on next?
NC: I’m not quite ready to share the next project publicly. Stay tuned!
QUOTED: "I love how beautifully photographs render the surfaces of things with great detail and specificity. I love how looking at photographs helps us see the details in the world around us and to enjoy both the differences and similarities that we find in what we see. When I began illustrating children’s books, photography felt like the modern and fresh way to explore ideas."
"I read a lot when I was a child. (I still do.) I loved myths, fairy tales and stories with a bit of magic, though the books that I saved from my childhood are mostly about contemporary children in the real world. Now that I am creating my own books, I find that I often try to combine these two genres through stories and images that add a bit of magic to the everyday."
Nina Crews ‘s books or how to add magic to everyday life
©Nina Crews
Les jeunes américains connaissent bien les livres de Nina Crews. Qu’elle choisisse de donner un nouveau visage aux comptines anglo-saxonnes traditionnelles ou aux haiku de Richard Wright, qu’elle crée ses propres histoires, ses livres aux photo-montages-collages colorés trouvent leur place depuis vingt-cinq ans sur les rayonnages de toutes les bibliothèques enfantines Nord-américaines.
Nina Crews a accepté de répondre à nos questions.
Young Americans are familiar with Nina Crews’ books. Whether she chooses to give a new face to traditional Anglo-Saxon nursery rhymes or to Richard Wright’s haiku, or whether she creates her own stories, her books with their colourful photo-montages and collages have found their place on the shelves of all North American children’s libraries for the past twenty-five years.
Nina Crews agreed to answer our questions.
Dear Nina Crews, What is your professional background?
I have been writing and illustrating children’s books for over 25 years. I worked in animation production for ten years and have also done some art teaching and freelance illustration work.
How long have you been interested in photography?
My interest in photography began early. Photographs and cameras were a part of family life. My dad took lots of family photos and printed them in a small darkroom in our home. He also incorporated photography into some of the graphic design work he and my mother (she is the daughter of Donald Crews and Ann Jonas) created and in some of his children’s book illustrations. Sometimes this work included photographs of me or my sister. In college, I decided to make photography the media I would focus on for my creative work. I began to experiment with photo collages soon after college.
Who are the photographers who influence you?
I’ve always been drawn to street/snapshot photography. I grew up in New York and have always been drawn to the energy and liveliness of photos of people, places and their things. I love the storytelling in this work and there is so usually much to look at. Mid 20th century photographers like Helen Levitt, Andre Kertesz and Roy DeCarava are a few favorites. Another huge influence has been the photocollage work of Hannah Hoch and Romare Bearden.
Photo illustration from ONE HOT SUMMER DAY © Nina Crews, Greenwillow Books , 1995
Chère Nina Crews, quel est votre parcours professionnel ?
J’écris et j’illustre des livres pour enfants depuis plus de 25 ans. J’ai travaillé dans la production d’animations pendant dix ans et j’ai également enseigné l’art et travaillé en tant qu’illustratrice indépendante.
Depuis combien de temps vous intéressez-vous à la photographie ?
Mon intérêt pour la photographie a commencé très tôt. Les photographies et les appareils photo faisaient partie de la vie familiale. Mon père prenait beaucoup de photos de famille et les imprimait dans une petite chambre noire à la maison. Il a également intégré la photographie dans certains travaux de conception graphique que ma mère et lui ( Nina Crews est la fille de Donald Crews and Ann Jonas, deux célèbres auteurs-illustrateurs américains de livres pour la jeunesse) ont réalisés et dans certaines illustrations de livres pour enfants. Ces travaux comprenaient parfois des photos de moi ou de ma sœur. À l’université, j’ai décidé de faire de la photographie le média sur lequel je me concentrerais pour mon travail créatif. J’ai commencé à expérimenter les collages de photos peu après l’université.
Quels sont les photographes qui vous influencent ?
J’ai toujours été intéressée par la photographie de rue et les instantanés. J’ai grandi à New York et j’ai toujours été attirée par l’énergie et la vivacité des photos de personnes, de lieux et de leurs objets. J’aime la narration dans ce travail et il y a généralement beaucoup de choses à regarder. Les photographes du milieu du XXe siècle comme Helen Levitt, André Kertész et Roy DeCarava sont quelques-uns de mes préférés. Le travail de photocollage de Hannah Höch et celui de Romare Bearden m’ont également beaucoup influencée.
Photo illustration from SEEING INTO TOMORROW , copyright Nina Crews, Haiku By Richard Wright, Milllbrook Press, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group? 2018
How many children’s books have you published?
Fifteen.
What was the title of your first book?
One Hot Summer Day. It was published in 1995 by Greenwillow Books.
What is your most recent book?
A Girl Like Me, written by Angela Johnson, published 2020 by Millbrook Press.
What are the subjects of your books?
The books that I have written and illustrated are fictional stories with child protagonists. Most of my books have been set in the city and my stories feature children in familiar everyday settings. I have illustrated two poetry books, and two collections of children’s nursery rhymes and songs. The photo illustrations in these books also depict children in familiar settings.
Combien de livres pour enfants avez-vous publiés ?
Quinze.
Quel était le titre de votre premier livre ?
One Hot Summer Day. Il a été publié en 1995 par Greenwillow Books.
Quel est votre livre le plus récent ?
A Girl Like Me, écrit par Angela Johnson, publié en 2020 par Millbrook Press.
Quels sont les thèmes abordés dans vos livres ?
Les livres que j’ai écrits et illustrés sont des histoires fictives avec des protagonistes enfants. La plupart de mes livres se déroulent en ville et mes histoires mettent en scène des enfants dans des contextes quotidiens familiers. J’ai illustré deux livres de poésie et deux recueils de comptines et de chansons pour enfants. Les illustrations photographiques de ces livres représentent également des enfants dans des environnements familiers.
Photo illustration from THE NEIGHBORHOOD MOTHER GOOSE ©Nina Crews, Publishers Greenwillow Books, 2004
Who are your readers?
This varies a bit from book to book, but for the most part, my books are for children ages 1 to 8.
What place does photography have in your books?
Photography and collage are been the principal tools I have used in my illustrations. I like to create layered images and play with scale. Sometimes I add drawing or other graphic elements. I find that collage is a great way to add humor, explore dreams and deepen emotional impact of a text.
Why photography rather than drawing?
I love how beautifully photographs render the surfaces of things with great detail and specificity. I love how looking at photographs helps us see the details in the world around us and to enjoy both the differences and similarities that we find in what we see. When I began illustrating children’s books, photography felt like the modern and fresh way to explore ideas. At that time artists like Cindy Sherman, Louise Lawler, and Carrie Mae Weems were big names in the NY art world and it seemed like people were finally taking photography more seriously as fine art. I thought the same thing could and should happen in picture book illustration.
Did you find it difficult to get your books with photographs accepted?
My first editor published many books with children’s photo illustrator Tana Hoban and was very open to my photo collage style. That first book, One Hot Summer Day, has been in print for over 25 years. Many of my books have sold well and been recognized by prestigious organizations in the US publishing world. That said, selling new projects can sometimes be hard and I have had editors reject proposals simply because they didn’t care for photo illustration work. I am currently exploring other illustration styles and am working on three new projects that are digitally drawn and collaged with just a few photographs included for texture.
Photo illustration from THE NEIGHBORHOOD MOTHER GOOSE ©Nina Crews, Publishers Greenwillow Books, 2004
Qui sont vos lecteurs ?
Cela varie un peu d’un livre à l’autre, mais la plupart du temps, mes livres s’adressent aux enfants de 1 à 8 ans.
Quelle place occupe la photographie dans vos livres ?
La photographie et le collage sont les principaux outils utilisés dans mes illustrations. J’aime créer des images en couches et jouer avec les échelles. Parfois, j’ajoute des dessins ou d’autres éléments graphiques. Je trouve que le collage est un excellent moyen d’ajouter de l’humour, d’explorer les rêves et d’approfondir l’impact émotionnel d’un texte.
Pourquoi la photographie plutôt que le dessin ?
J’aime la beauté des photographies qui rendent la surface des choses avec beaucoup de détails et de spécificité. J’aime le fait que regarder des photographies nous aide à voir les détails du monde qui nous entoure et à apprécier à la fois les différences et les similitudes que nous trouvons dans ce que nous voyons. Lorsque j’ai commencé à illustrer des livres pour enfants, la photographie m’est apparu comme un moyen moderne et original d’explorer des idées. À cette époque, des artistes comme Cindy Sherman, Louise Lawler et Carrie Mae Weems étaient des grands noms du monde de l’art à New York et il semblait que les gens prenaient enfin la photographie plus au sérieux en tant qu’art. Je pensais que la même chose pouvait et devait se produire dans l’illustration de livres d’images.
Avez-vous eu des difficultés à faire accepter vos livres avec des photographies ?
Mon premier éditeur a publié de nombreux livres avec l’illustratrice de photos pour enfants Tana Hoban et s’est montré très ouvert à mon style de collage de photos. Ce premier livre, One Hot Summer Day, a été publié pendant plus de 25 ans. Nombre de mes livres se sont bien vendus et ont été reconnus par des organisations prestigieuses du monde de l’édition américaine. Cela dit, il est parfois difficile de vendre de nouveaux projets et il est arrivé que des éditeurs rejettent des propositions simplement parce qu’ils n’aiment pas le travail d’illustration photographique. Je suis actuellement en train d’explorer d’autres styles d’illustration et je travaille sur trois nouveaux projets qui sont dessinés numériquement et collés avec seulement quelques photographies pour la texture.
Photo illustration from A GIRL LIKE ME , ©Nina Crews, publisher Millbrook Press, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, 2020
Do you produce them alone? Do you write the texts? Do you make the pictures alone?
I work with mainstream US trade publishers both as an author/illustrator and as an illustrator. With any book that I write, come up with a concept, create a manuscript and sketch, and then pitch the project to publishers. With the poetry or song collections, I gathered together previously published materials and pitched proposals to illustrate those texts.
Are they translated in other countries?
No. None have been translated or reprinted in other countries. I would be delighted if that could happen at some point!
Which reader were you as a child?
I read a lot when I was a child. (I still do.) I loved myths, fairy tales and stories with a bit of magic, though the books that I saved from my childhood are mostly about contemporary children in the real world. Now that I am creating my own books, I find that I often try to combine these two genres through stories and images that add a bit of magic to the everyday.
Photo illustration from A GIRL LIKE ME , ©Nina Crews, publisher Millbrook Press, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, 2020
Les produisez-vous seule ? Est-ce que vous écrivez les textes ? Réalisez-vous les images seule ?
Je travaille avec des éditeurs commerciaux américains grand public à la fois en tant qu’auteur/illustrateur et en tant qu’illustrateur. Pour chaque livre que j’écris, je trouve un concept, je crée un manuscrit et une esquisse, puis je présente le projet aux éditeurs. Pour les recueils de poèmes ou de chansons, j’ai rassemblé des documents déjà publiés et j’ai fait des propositions pour illustrer ces textes.
Sont-ils traduits dans d’autres pays ?
Non. Aucun n’a été traduit ou réimprimé dans d’autres pays. Je serais ravie si cela pouvait arriver un jour !
Quelle lectrice étiez-vous dans votre enfance ?
Je lisais beaucoup quand j’étais enfant. (Je le fais toujours.) J’aimais les mythes, les contes de fées et les histoires avec un peu de magie, bien que les livres que j’ai gardés de mon enfance concernent surtout des enfants contemporains dans le monde réel. Maintenant que je crée mes propres livres, j’essaie souvent de combiner ces deux genres à travers des histoires et des images qui ajoutent un peu de magie au quotidien.
Many Thanks, Dear Nina !
QUOTED: "loving, welcoming introduction to one of the most important American writers of the 20th century."
Wright, Richard SEEING INTO TOMORROW Millbrook/Lerner (Children's Poetry) $19.99 2, 1 ISBN: 978-1-5124-1865-1
Award-winning illustrator Crews breathes new life into the poetry of the late Wright, who found solace and wonder in the traditional Japanese haiku form before he died.
Wright is world-renowned as a master of language and chronicler of the African-American experience whose works remain discussed and relevant today. As his health began to fail him in 1959, Wright took to haiku as a way to try something new and to teach his teenage daughter about the natural wonders he remembered growing up among in the American South. In her photo-collage illustrations, Crews accents the haiku through the perspective of African-American boys, positioning readers to imagine the everyday sights and sounds of plants and animals, forests and farms through a young brown boy's eyes. Overlapping images fragment the landscapes but never the humans depicted, underscoring the longevity and permanence of the African-American people. Following that formula, the illustration for the titular haiku shows a young black boy with stick in hand and eye to the sky, which is so many blue squares, white space underneath promising a world without limits. The verse offers a warm natural optimism that may show an aging Wright's renewed hope: "A spring sky so clear / That you feel you are seeing / Into tomorrow."
This loving, welcoming introduction to one of the most important American writers of the 20th century centers young black boys as supreme observers and interrogators of the natural wonders that surround them. (biographical note, further reading) (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Wright, Richard: SEEING INTO TOMORROW." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A518491283/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=94151470. Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.
QUOTED: "a must for all children's collections."
*WRIGHT, Richard & Nina Crews. Seeing into Tomorrow, illus. by Nina Crews. 32p. further reading, photos. Millbrook. Feb. 2018. Tr $19.99. ISBN 9781512418651.
K-Gr 3-This book collects 12 of Wright's outstanding haiku, written 50 years ago and still available in the anthology, Haiku: The Last Poems of an American Icon. The poems offer a view of the world through the lens of his experience, but the appreciation of nature and the emotions felt in such moments have a universal appeal. Crews uses photo collage to illustrate each scene. She explains, "I photographed African American boys for this book, because I wanted the reader to imagine the world through a young brown boy's eyes." Crews shows familiar scenes of boys playing on a shady porch, walking a dog, or writing in snow with a mittened finger. Her chosen medium emphasizes how haiku creates snapshots of single instances or feelings. The final poem ends with the phrase "seeing into tomorrow," which inspired the book's title. On the page, readers will see a young boy gazing up into a brilliant blue sky as if he can glimpse the future. An archival photo of Wright reading to his young daughter accompanies the introduction, and a brief biography of Wright along with a list for further reading is included in the back matter. VERDICT A must for all children's collections. These verses are an introduction to haiku as well as an entry point into Wright's work; they can be read aloud to younger children or enjoyed independently by older readers -Suzanne Costner, Fairview Elementary School, Maryville, TN
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
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Costner, Suzanne. "WRIGHT, Richard & Nina Crews. Seeing into Tomorrow." School Library Journal, vol. 64, no. 1, Jan. 2018, p. 108. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A521876319/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a5a82aeb. Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.
QUOTED: "A great way to spark real-world conversations with other girls 'like me.'"
Johnson, Angela A GIRL LIKE ME Millbrook/Lerner (Children's Fiction) $19.99 2, 4 ISBN: 978-1-5415-5777-2
A book to inspire the next diverse generation of girls to keep working toward breaking glass ceilings no matter how often the world tells them, "A girl like you needs to stop."
Johnson and Crews are seasoned talents whose collaboration here shines. Johnson's spare words of encouragement are in harmony with Crews' large double-page spreads blending photos of black and brown girls into a collaged dreamworld. Each of three girls is a star in her own dream only to hear people shouting in the background that what she wants simply isn't possible. The illustrations show the three meeting on an urban playground and then encouraging other neighborhood girls of many races to join them in standing up to the doubters. There is much that Johnson doesn't say that Crews uses pictures to illustrate. Adult readers may need to help children understand what is taking place in the story, at the heart of which is the power of play. Each girl is seen using her imagination to make her reality "better than the dream." Illustrating this, a dozen girls in ebullient dress-up pose on the beach, all unapologetically themselves. A final spread allows each depicted girl to tell readers a little bit about herself--a sweet touch that drives home this reminder that girls should be supported in exploring their limitless imaginations, regardless of the naysayers.
A great way to spark real-world conversations with other girls "like me." (Picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Johnson, Angela: A GIRL LIKE ME." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A606964358/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7f701b93. Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.
QUOTED: "Crews's signature photo-collage style is the perfect artistic choice for this book."
JOHNSON, Angela. A Girl Like Me. illus. by Nina Crews. 32p. Millbrook. Feb. 2020. Tr $19.99. ISBN 9781541557772.
PreS-Gr 2--Black girls lead the way in this story about defining oneself and making the world a better place. Three girls take turns sharing their dreams about flying high, standing tall, and being free. Each girl's dream is scuttled by people telling her that "a girl like you" should not be doing the amazing things she does in her dreams, that "a girl like you" should be like everyone else. "Once I dreamed I swam/the ocean/and saw everything deep,/cool/ and was part of the waves. I swam on by the people/onshore hollering, 'A girl like you needs to/stay out of the water/ and be dry,/like everyone else.'" The three boldly take charge of their dreams. They gather the capes, hats, and scarves that represent them and expand their visions to include other girls as they proudly take up space in the world, sure of their value and confident in their power to create real-world change. Crews's signature photo-collage style is the perfect artistic choice for this book, using photos of real girls and beautiful cityscapes in combination with recurring shapes, textures, and symbols that tie the dreamy spreads in with the real-world ones. VERDICT An excellent addition for all collections.--Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Haase, Anna. "JOHNSON, Angela. A Girl Like Me." School Library Journal, vol. 66, no. 1, Jan. 2020, p. 57. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A610418385/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=16bb50de. Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.
QUOTED: "Crews captures the joy of early childhood exploration in a book that adults and children can both enjoy."
I'm Not Small. By Nina Crews. Illus. by the author. Mar. 2022. 32p. Greenwillow, $17.99 (9780063058262). PreS-K.
In this charming picture book, a young Black boy goes outside to play before breakfast. Encouraged by his clearly loving parents, who proclaim him a big kid, he goes out to the yard on his own. At first, he feels small compared to the sky, the trees, and the backyard. Then, he finds that he is bigger than many things: his dog and cat, his rabbit, a scary bee, and a busy ant. He enjoys observing his surroundings while feeling big and confident, if a bit nervous about the bee. And though he knows he can use his bigness to crush the ant with a foot, he decides not to and watches it work instead. At last, when he is lifted inside by his mother, the narrator is happy to still be small. The illustrations incorporate elements of collage that pop with color and texture. A blue-dotted sweatshirt, yellow boots, leafy trees, a tiny ant, and the little boy's hair are all depicted with charm and care. Crews captures the joy of early childhood exploration in a book that adults and children can both enjoy. Her relaxed portrayal of a loving family and the boy's universally relatable activities only add to the appeal.--Miriam Aronin
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Aronin, Miriam. "I'm Not Small." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 13, 1 Mar. 2022, p. 61. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A697177032/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0c461e0b. Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.
QUOTED: "vividly sketched, textural digital collage."
I'm Not Small
Nina Crews. Greenwillow, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-305826-2
A brown-skinned child encounters his family's backyard alone in this experiential exploration of relative size. "Sunshine! Daytime! Time to play outside," straightforward text reads as the child dons yellow boots and, after his mother declares simply, "You're a big kid now," heads into the yard--"on my own!" Despite his newfound autonomy, though, he quickly notices that his stature is small against the natural world, shown in a full spread whose perspective renders the protagonist tiny against tall trees and a vast sky. A second turnabout occurs on subsequent pages, which show the child's comparative size against the family's pets--a dog, cat, and rabbit--and diminutive birds and insects (an ant is "really, really, really small. I could crush it with my foot!"), all of which indicate to the protagonist that "I am big!" And when his mother comes out to offer breakfast, he realizes that though he might enjoy his bigness, "sometimes I am happy to be small." Crews (A Girl Like Me) renders her story of a kid finding his place in a variably sized world through vividly sketched, textural digital collage whose lens zooms in and out to portray moments of adventure, exploration, and safety in the wide world. Ages 4-8. Agent: Marietta Zacker, Gallt and Zacker Literary. (Mar.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"I'm Not Small." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 2, 10 Jan. 2022, p. 59. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A690146820/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=541c5d49. Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.