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ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: WHERE DO YOU POOP?
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Bologna
STATE:
COUNTRY: Italy
NATIONALITY: Italian
LAST VOLUME: SATA 349
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Italy in 1980; daughter of a typographer and a librarian.
EDUCATION:Urbino ISIA (Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche), degree (graphic design), 2004.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Illustrator, author, and graphic designer. Presenter at children’s workshops.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Italian illustrator Agnese Baruzzi works in a signature visual style that frequently incorporates elaborate feats of paper engineering. A graduate of the Higher Institute for Applied Arts in Urbino, Italy, Baruzzi has dozens of self-illustrated works to her credit, including Dining with … Monsters!, Play with Me, and Look, Look Again, and she has also contributed illustrations to books written by Hugh Lupton, Carlo Collodi, and others, including the work of Kim Norman in The Bot That Scott Built.
Among Baruzzi’s original, self-illustrated children’s titles is Dining with … Monsters!, a counting book that employs rhyming verse to catalog the number of animals devoured by Slimy-Sloppers, Grisly-Bess, and other fantastical beasts. According to a Kirkus Reviews writer, the story offers “[c]omfortably mild yucks” in which “leering cartoon creatures flash sharp teeth.”
Another detailed marvel, Look, Look Again was described as “a craftily engineered book,” by a critic in Publishers Weekly. Each spread contains a familiar object identifiable by young readers; opening a pair of half-page flaps reveals an enticing new image. “The chatty narrative and the sheer imaginative fun of the transformations create a charming guessing game,” the Publishers Weekly contributor explained.
Rhyming text and stunning artwork are highlights of Who’s Hiding? As in Look, Look Again, youngsters unfold gatefold flaps to discover startling pictures. In one spread, a carrot expands into the ears of a rabbit; in another, a tree’s branches morph into the antlers of a deer. Who’s Hiding? was lauded by a Publishers Weekly writer, who stated that “Baruzzi’s surreal, stylized illustrations have a haunting, mural-like quality.”
Opposite Surprise and Big Size Surprise both use gatefolded pages to reveal striking, unexpected images. In Opposite Surprise, Baruzzi presents “a cleverly designed board book that epitomizes the maxim ‘show, don’t tell,’” according to a Kirkus Reviews writer. Big Size Surprise was deemed “[s]prightly fun for the youngest transportation enthusiasts” by a critic in the same publication.
An interactive work, Play with Me invites youngsters to insert their fingers in die-cut holes to make one of Baruzzi’s boldly colored scenes come alive, their digits serving as the arms or legs of an astronaut, a juggler, and a swimmer, among other characters. A reviewer in School Library Journal predicted that “little ones are likely to giggle uproariously as they—or their grown-ups—wiggle and walk their fingers on each spread.”
Cutaway designs also play a role in Turnabout Shapes, in which a bowl is transformed into a turtle’s shell and a group of evergreens become an owl’s feathers with a simple flip of a page. A Kirkus Reviews writer called the book “a well-designed invitation to both recognize visual similarities and imagine the many different manifestations that a shape can take.”
Baruzzi’s artwork is also well matched with fairy-tale reboots and updates on children’s classics. For Lupton, who retells eerie folk stories from around the world in Tales of Mystery and Magic, Barruzi’s folk-art illustrations complement the tale. Booklist contributor Ilene Cooper stated that “as fine as the tales are, Baruzzi’s evocative artwork is what really elevates this.”
Baruzzi has also collaborated with fellow artist and children’s book specialist Sandro Natalini. Their joint projects include The True Story of Goldilocks, an update on the hoary old cautionary tale, and The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood.
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Baruzzi’s 2020 self-illustrated lift-the-flap board book, Dinosaur Surprise, provides toddlers with abundant surprises. What looks to be a small and very cute animal suddenly transforms into a much bigger dinosaur as young readers lift the flaps. For example, what seems to be a parrot, soon morphs into a Triceratops. A spider turns into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Baruzzi does not just include the usual cast of dinosaur characters, but also expands these to include less well-known dinosaurs, such as Kronosaurus and Parasaurolophus. “Things aren’t always as they seem in this inventive gallery of dinosaurs in disguise,” noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor of this title. The contributor further noted: “Interactive, prehistoric fun for the whole family.”
With another board book from 2020, Trap the Monster!, Baruzzi employs die cuts to help young readers feel empowered. Numerous rather scary creatures are presented, including a bad wolf, a dragon, or a hungry vampire. But turning the page on each of these, the readers is able to trap the creature. The wolf ends up behind bars; the dragon lands in a pot to be cooked with potatoes; and the vampire is launched in a rocket ship. A Kirkus Reviews critic noted of this work: “Children turn the tables on an impressive array of not-too-scary monsters in this interactive celebration of toddler empowerment.” The critic further called the book a “comforting lesson for kids.”
Baruzzi offers young readers literal insight to predatory eating with A Very Hungry Wolf. The big black wolf in the book has a varied diet of a bird, squirrel, and frog. Lifting the flaps, young readers see these ‘meals’ traveling into the wolf’s stomach. But when the hungry wolf eats a hedgehog, trouble ensues, as the quills of the hedgehog irritate the wolf’s stomach. The wolf vomits up his meals, and these animals are all alive and well. Then the reader chooses what the wolf should ingest next from a gathering of vegetables and fruits. A Kirkus Reviews contributor felt that Baruzzi’s “cartoons are lighthearted and playful … [in this] delightfully silly romp.”
In her 2021 interactive board book, Where Do You Poop?, Baruzzi offers an aid to potty training in a rhyming book about where various animals poop. Each animal is asked where it goes to the bathroom and each answers in a rhyming quatrain. Young readers then slide a tab to make each animal poop. While a bird does its business in the air and a dog does it on the lawn, a child does it on the potty. “A fun, new take on droppings,” remarked a Kirkus Reviews critic, who added, “Baruzzi’s art is droll and graphically clean.”
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 1, 2010, Ilene Cooper, review of Tales of Mystery and Magic, p. 50.
Horn Book Guide, spring, 2010, Patricia Riley, review of The True Story of Goldilocks, p. 15; spring, 2017, Martha Sibert, review of The Bot That Scott Built, p. 45.
Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2009, review of The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood; December 1, 2015, review of Dining with … Monsters!; July 1, 2017, review of Opposite Surprise; January 1, 2018, review of Big Size Surprise; April 15, 2019, review of Play with Me; July 15, 2019, review of Turnabout Shapes.
Publishers Weekly, June 11, 2012, review of Aesop’s Fables: A Pop-up Book, p. 50; July 6, 2015, review of Who’s Hiding?, p. 70; October 17, 2016, review of Look, Look Again, p. 58.*
School Library Journal, July 11, 2019, review of Play With Me.
AGNESE Baruzzi studied in Urbino, Italy. She lives in Bologna and since 2001 many children's books illustrated. She often works with schools and Libraries together.
QUOTE: "A fun, new take on droppings," "Baruzzi's art is droll and graphically clean."
Baruzzi, Agnese WHERE DO YOU POOP? Minedition (Children's None) $11.99 5, 11 ISBN: 978-1-66265-042-0
Youngsters can learn about where and how various animals, domestic and wild, relieve themselves.
Via a pull-tab embedded in each recto (not, thankfully, in the rectum) readers can see the before and after, and a goldfish in a bowl leaves a trail while swimming. The verso asks each creature where it does its business, and then a (sometimes-forced) rhyming quatrain, translated from Italian, answers the question: “And where do YOU poop, mouse? / When inside my tummy / Starts to feel not so good / It’s time for a poop / On these chips made of wood!” The final double-page spread queries readers: “And where do YOU poop?” A redheaded, White toddler’s face is visible below this question; the pull-tab on the right opens a bathroom to reveal a White toddler, this time with medium brown hair, happily and modestly sitting on a blue toddler potty. The accompanying quatrain provides some developmentally appropriate guidance for feeling the signs of a movement coming on. Baruzzi’s art is droll and graphically clean (inasmuch as the depiction of excrement can be described that way). Little fingers may need some help finding the relatively easy-to-open and sturdy pull-tabs, since they blend into each page. It works as both a biology lesson and potty-training encouragement.
A fun, new take on droppings. (Novelty board book. 18 mos.-3)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Baruzzi, Agnese: WHERE DO YOU POOP?" Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A661545944/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f1b93aa9. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.
QUOTE: "cartoons are lighthearted and playful ... [in this] delightfully silly romp."
Baruzzi, Agnese A VERY HUNGRY WOLF Minedition (Children's None) $11.99 9, 29 ISBN: 978-988-8342-05-1
A gluttonous wolf eats several critters in this lift-the-flap offering.
A large black wolf with pointy ears and teeth looms over and stares down his prey on the recto of each spread. This page is also a gatefold; when it’s opened, readers see, spread by spread, a bird, a squirrel, a frog, and more travel into the wolf’s gullet, accompanied by the repeated refrain “CHOMP, CHOMP, down it went!” As the pages progress, the wolf’s belly grows larger after each subsequent meal. That all changes when the wolf consumes a hedgehog and the quills don’t agree with him. He soon vomits them up—all alive and well—and feels much better. Readers are encouraged to guess what the wolf should eat next from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, despite his carnivorous nature, likely in an attempt to get readers to follow suit. While predatory eating may not sound like the most natural topic for board-book–reading toddlers, Baruzzi’s cartoons are lighthearted and playful. The simply rendered characters in bold colors are alive with cheeky expressions, and the silly repeated refrain echoes many a children’s classic. The gatefold flaps are sturdy despite the thinner-than-typical board pages.
A delightfully silly romp. (Board book. 1-3)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Baruzzi, Agnese: A VERY HUNGRY WOLF." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A638165858/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6a7bbe58. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.
QUOTE: "Children turn the tables on an impressive array of not-too-scary monsters in this interactive celebration of toddler empowerment."
"comforting lesson for kids."
Baruzzi, Agnese TRAP THE MONSTER Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (Children's None) $8.99 9, 1 ISBN: 978-1-72820-945-6
Children turn the tables on an impressive array of not-too-scary monsters in this interactive celebration of toddler empowerment imported from France.
Young readers show a big bad wolf, a toothy sea serpent, a furry four-eyed monster, a vampire, and a growling ogre who’s boss in this clever board book. Each four-page encounter begins, on verso, with the question, “If you are afraid of this [wolf/monster/etc.]…”; this is followed by the instruction to “…turn the page…” on recto. On the page to be turned is a die-cut pattern. Four rectangular cutouts that serve as tree trunks on recto prove to be the bars of a jail cell in which the wolf from the previous spread is imprisoned on verso, for example. The facing page exclaims, “You sent it to jail! Now lock the door with the key.” Similarly, an enormous “sea dragon” menaces a boat with a die-cut sail in one scene, but after a turn of the page, the dragon’s startled head peers out from under the lid of a simmering pot on a stovetop. “Good job! You put it in a pot! Now you can cook it with potatoes!” Cartoonishly rendered characters with big eyes, outsized jaws and teeth, and lots of personality provide the perfect blend of ferocity and silliness. Bright colors and the clever cutout gimmicks add visual appeal.
A comforting lesson for kids that the things that we fear are only as large or small as we make them. (Board book. 2-5)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Baruzzi, Agnese: TRAP THE MONSTER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A623602739/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=756743b7. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.
QUOTE: "Things aren't always as they seem in this inventive gallery of dinosaurs in disguise,"
"Interactive, prehistoric fun for the whole family."
8341-95-5
Things aren't always as they seem in this inventive gallery of dinosaurs in disguise.
Those caregivers who remember Mad magazine's Fold-Ins will appreciate the central device of this fun and colorful board book. In Mad, when a large illustration of a seemingly ordinary scene was folded on the dotted lines, the folded elements came together to create a new picture illustrating the punchline to the joke. In this book, unfolding a seemingly innocuous picture reveals a bevy of dinosaurs to delight dinophiles of all ages. "Look," opens the text, "isn't that a beautiful butterfly?" But once readers pull out the accordion-folded page they see: "No, that's a Pteranodon." A page of text on verso faces a very nonthreatening image on recto until little readers extend the folded pages full length, revealing the hidden reptiles. "Oh no, it's a spider! / Wait, it's a Tyrannosaurus Rex…Run!" The text and the accompanying reveals lend themselves to call-and-response readings and squeals of laughter. The artwork is cartoonish and decidedly nonthreatening; some dinosaurs are more recognizable than others. The book scores points with an eclectic mix of dinosaurs, including some fairly obscure creatures--Kronosaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Europlocephalus, for instance--with points deducted for depicting Triceratops with a double row of spikes on its back and without the essential third horn on its beak by which it gets its name.
Interactive, prehistoric fun for the whole family. (Board book. 1-4)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Baruzzi, Agnese: DINOSAUR SURPRISE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A613750857/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=51abe88e. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.