SATA
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WEBSITE: www.tomie.com
CITY: New London
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 330
http://www.tomiesblog.blogspot.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomie_dePaola
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PERSONAL
Surname pronounced “da-pow-la”; born September 15, 1934, in Meriden, CT; son of Joseph N. and Florence dePaola; married briefly c. late 1950s (marriage dissolved).
EDUCATION:Pratt Institute, B.F.A., 1956; California College of Arts and Crafts, M.F.A., 1969; Lone Mountain College, doctoral equivalency, 1970.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and illustrator of books for children. Professional artist and designer, and teacher of art, 1956—. Whitebird Books (imprint), G.P. Putnam’s Sons, creative director. Newton College of the Sacred Heart, Newton, MA, instructor, 1962-63, assistant professor of art, 1963-66; San Francisco College for Women (now Lone Mountain College), San Francisco, CA, assistant professor of art, 1967-70; Chamberlayne Junior College, Boston, MA, instructor in art, 1972-73; Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH, associate professor, designer, and technical director in speech and theater department, writer and designer of sets and costumes for Children’s Theatre Project, 1973-76; New England College, Henniker, NH, associate professor of art, 1976-78, artist-in-residence, 1978-79. Painter and muralist, with many of his works done for Catholic churches and monasteries in New England. Designer of greeting cards, posters, magazine and catalog covers, record album covers, and theater and nightclub sets. Workshop conductor; guest artist on Barney television program. Executive producer, Jim Henson’s Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola, Hallmark Channel, beginning 2001. Member of national advisory council, Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis, MN; member of board, Ballet of the Dolls Dance Company, Minneapolis. Exhibitions: Works exhibited in one-man and group shows in galleries, museums, libraries, and other venues in throughout the United States, Italy, and Japan, and included in private collections.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers (member of board of directors), Authors Guild.
AWARDS:Boston Art Directors’ Club awards for typography and illustration, 1968; Child Study Association children’s book of the year citations, 1968, for Poetry for Chuckles and Grins, 1971, for John Fisher’s Magic Book, 1974, for David’s Window and Charlie Needs a Cloak, and 1975, for Strega Nona and Good Morning to You, Valentine, 1986, for Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons, Tattie’s River Journey, Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose, and The Quilt Story, 1987, for Teeny Tiny and Tomie dePaola’s Favorite Nursery Tales; Franklin Typographers Silver Award for poster design, 1969; American Institute of Graphic Arts exhibit of outstanding children’s books inclusion, 1970, for The Journey of the Kiss, 1973, for Who Needs Holes?, and 1979, for Helga’s Dowry; Friends of American Writers Award for best illustrator of a children’s book, 1973, for Authorized Autumn Charts of the Upper Red Canoe River Country; Children’s Book Showcase inclusion, 1973, for Authorized Autumn Charts of the Upper Red Canoe River Country, and 1975, for Charlie Needs a Cloak; Brooklyn Art Books for Children Award, Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Public Library, 1975, for Charlie Needs a Cloak, and 1977, 1978, and 1979, for Strega Nona; Caldecott Honor Book, 1976, and Nakamore Prize (Japan), 1978, both for Strega Nona; Chicago Book Clinic Award, 1979, for The Christmas Pageant; Children’s Choice designation, International Reading Association/Children’s Book Council (CBC), 1978, for Helga’s Dowry, 1979, for The Popcorn Book, Pancakes for Breakfast, The Clown of God, Four Scary Stories, Jamie’s Tiger, and Bill and Pete, 1980, for Big Anthony and the Magic Ring and Oliver Button Is a Sissy, 1982, for The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog, 1983, for Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons, 1984 for The Carsick Zebra and Other Animal Riddles, and 1985, for The Mysterious Giant of Barletta; Garden State Children’s Book Award for Younger Nonfiction, New Jersey Library Association, 1980, for The Quicksand Book; Golden Kite Award for Illustration, Society of Children’s Book Writers, 1982, for Giorgio’s Village, and 1983, for Marianna May and Nursey; Boston Globe/Horn Book Award Honor Book for Illustration designation, 1982, and Critici in Erba commendation, Bologna Biennale, 1983, both for The Friendly Beasts; Notable Book designation, Association of Library Service to Children (American Library Association), 1984, for Mary Had a Little Lamb; Notable Film designation, 1984, for The Clown of God; Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies designation, National Council of Social Studies/CBC, 1984, for Sing, Pierrot, Sing, and 1985, for The Mysterious Giant of Barletta; Bookbuilders West Book Show award, 1985, for Miracle on 34th Street; Horn Book Honor List citation, 1986, for Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose; Golden Kite Honor Book for Illustration, 1987, for What the Mailman Brought; American nominee for Hans Christian Andersen Award illustration medal, International Board on Books for Young People, 1990; New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award, 1999; Newbery Honor Award, 2000, for 26 Fairmont Ave; Jo Osborne Award for Humor, Ohio Library Foundation, 2003; Sara Josepha Hale Award for distinction in writing by a New Englander, 2007. Awards for body of work include Kerlan Award, University of Minnesota, 1981; Regina Medal, Catholic Library Association, 1983; David McCord Children’s Literature citation, 1986; Smithson Medal, 1990; Helen Keating Ott Award, 1993; University of Southern Mississippi Medallion, 1995; Milner Award, Atlanta Fulton Public Library, 1996; Keene State College Children’s Literature Festival Award, 1998; I Migliori Award, Pirandello Lyceum Institute of Italian-American Studies, 2000; Colby-Sawyer College Town Award, 2000; Jeremiah Ludington Award, 2000; Granite State Award, Plymouth State College, 2001; and New Hampshire Writers’ Project Lifetime Achievement Award, 2003. Honorary degrees from Colby-Sawyer College, 1985, Saint Anselm College, 1994, Notre Dame College, 1996, Emerson College and University of Connecticut, both 1999, and Georgetown University and New England College, both 2003; named “one of the top 125 Pratt icons of all time,” Pratt Institute, 2012; Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Illustrators, 2012.
RELIGION: Roman Catholic.WRITINGS
Author’s work has been published in many countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and Sweden.
The Wind and the Sun was released as a sound filmstrip by Xerox Films/Lumin Films, 1973; Andy was released as a sound filmstrip by Random House, 1977; Charlie Needs a Cloak was released as a filmstrip with cassette, 1977, by Weston Woods; Strega Nona was released as a filmstrip with cassette by Weston Woods, 1978, on videocassette by OC Studios, 1985, and was adapted as a musical by Dennis Rosa (based on Strega Nona, Big Anthony and the Magic Ring, and Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons), produced in Minneapolis, MN, 1987; Oliver Button Is a Sissy was released as a filmstrip by Imperial Education Resources, 1980; The Clown of God was adapted into a play by Thomas Olson and produced in Minneapolis, 1981, and as a motion picture, directed by Gary McGivney, Weston Woods, 1982; Pancakes for Breakfast was released as a filmstrip by Weston Woods, 1982; Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons and Other Stories, read by Tammy Grimes, was released on record and cassette by Caedmon, 1984; Big Anthony and Helga’s Dowry was produced as a radio play by the Children’s Radio Theatre, 1984; The Vanishing Pumpkin was released as a filmstrip with cassette by Random House, 1984; The Legend of the Bluebonnet: An Old Tale of Texas was released as a filmstrip directed by Forest Ann Miner, Listening Library, 1984, and as a filmstrip with cassette by Random House, 1985; Now One Foot, Then the Other was released as a video recording directed by Don MacDonald, FilmFair Communications, 1985; Sing, Pierrot, Sing was released as a filmstrip by Random House, 1985; The Mysterious Giant of Barletta was released on cassette by Random House, 1985; Mary Had a Little Lamb was released as a filmstrip with cassette by Weston Woods, 1985; The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush was released as a filmstrip with cassette by Listening Library, 1988; Tomie dePaola’s Christmas Carols was released on cassette by Listening Library, 1988; Merry Christmas, Strega Nona was released on cassette by Listening Library, 1988, and was adapted as a play by T. Olson and produced in Minneapolis, 1988; Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose was adapted into a play by Constance Congdon and produced in Minneapolis, 1990; Return to the Magic Library: A Giant Tale was released as a video recording by TVOntario, 1990; Big Anthony’s Mixed-up Magic was released as a computer file by Putnam New Media, 1993; the “Barker Bunch” characters were adapted as a book series by Ann Hackney, Gail Herman, and Michelle Poploff, and published by Grosset & Dunlap, beginning 2004. Charlie Needs a Cloak was adapted into braille. Filmstrips and videocassettes of Let’s Find Out about Houses, Let’s Find Out about Summer, The Surprise Party, The Unicorn and the Sun, Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution, and Tattie’s River Journey have been produced. Spin-off products based on dePaola’s books included a Strega Nona doll, released by Simon & Schuster, 1995.
SIDELIGHTS
Described as “one of the great masters of the picture book” by Marcus Crouch in Junior Bookshelf, Tomie dePaola is perhaps the most prolific and popular creator of books for children in the elementary grades. Best known for his ability to capture genuine emotion with simplicity in his writing and for his articulate, formidable, and Romanesque style of illustration, de Paola has captivated young readers with his multifarious themes in works that span a number of genres. “Whether original story, autobiographical vignette, folktale, informational book, or anthology, the books dePaola creates are child-centered and inviting,” observed a contributor to the St. James Guide to Children’s Writers. “Through all, the child dePaola once was shines brightly, captivating readers and enriching the field of children’s books.”
DePaola’s artistic style reflects his interest in pre-Renaissance Italian art and folk art, as well as films and the theater. His stylized illustrations are easy to recognize, with their cats, birds, hearts, flowers, and tousle-haired, round-cheeked children, and he sometimes sets his images within decorative borders composed of doorways, windows, and other frames. He uses a variety of media, including pen and ink, charcoal pencil, acrylic paint, colored pencil, and etching. “There is a clarity to the way he draws characters that is very accessible, unlike some artists who call attention to their art,” children’s book editor Leonard Marcus told David Mehegan in the Boston Globe. “He pares it down to a level that communicates with children.”
As a writer, dePaola uses a straightforward, direct prose style that includes clever wordplay and smatterings of foreign phrases. Although many of his books are humorous and whimsical, he often addresses serious themes, such as family bonds, spirituality, disability and death, personal courage, respect for the environment, and valuing each person’s uniqueness. While his texts have sometimes been criticized as simplistic, dePaola is generally viewed as a writer and artist of uncommon talent who is, in the words of a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “as original as he is prolific.” “Of all the zillions of things that could be said about Tomie dePaola,” observed Robert D. Hale in Horn Book, “the one that comes most strongly to mind is his exuberance. He is joyful, ebullient. His exhilaration fills all the spaces around him, wrapping everyone present in rare high spirits. The books he creates radiate this quality of good cheer, even when they have serious messages to impart. … Everything Tomie does is done with gusto and zest—which is why his work appeals to all generations.”
DePaola was born in Meriden, Connecticut, to a father of Italian descent and a mother of Irish descent. His mother, Florence, read aloud to Tomie and her older son every night; as dePaola once recalled to SATA, this ritual “had a lot to do with my decision to become an artist. She would read the old fairy tales and legends, especially during World War II, when my father was working the graveyard shift at a war plant job.” From the age of four, dePaola knew that he wanted to become an artist, noting that his teachers and classmates recognized his talents by the time he was in second grade. In sixth grade, dePaola began writing poetry in addition to continuing his art, and in 1952, he entered New York’s Pratt Institute, having earned a scholarship to the prestigious art school.
At Pratt, dePaola studied drawing, design, and painting and discovered such artists as Matisse and Picasso. “Matisse is my favorite,” he told Mehegan, “because he didn’t want the viewer to see the hard work that went into his painting. He would start out with a rendering, then simplify and simplify. I try to be as clear and simple as I can be in my illustrations, so that the child can tell what is going on and what the emotions are.” DePaola also developed a strong appreciation for religious artists Fra Angelico, Giotto, and Botticelli, as well as for folk art. In addition to taking classes, he went to art galleries and fell in love with Greenwich Village. In 1955 he won another scholarship, this time to the Skowhegan School of Painting and Illustration in Maine. There he studied with artist Ben Shahn, who, he explained to SATA, “probably had the most impact on me of any of the teachers I had. He told me that being an artist was more than the kind of things you do. ‘It’s the way you live your life,’ he said. I’ve never forgotten that.”
After graduating from Pratt in 1956, dePaola spent six months in a small Benedictine monastery in Vermont, where he continued to practice his art. After returning to secular life, he began his career as a professional artist and designer and worked in summer theater. In 1962 he began teaching art and theater at the university and junior-college levels, a career he combined with his painting and illustration for the next seventeen years. Two years later, he illustrated his first book, Lisa Miller’s Sound.
In 1966 dePaola created his first original picture book, The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin, a tale about a young princess, a page, and a pink dragon with a talent for breathing fire. Writing in School Library Journal, Ann Currah predicted that “little girls who adore dragons and princesses will probably enjoy this,” while Kenneth Marantz noted in the Chicago Tribune Books that the “tale [is] a bit above ordinary.” For the next six years, dePaola continued to create picture books featuring child and animal characters, illustrate books of other authors, and teach. He also earned his master’s degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts and a doctoral equivalency from Lone Mountain College.
In 1971 dePaola returned to the East Coast, settling in a small town in New Hampshire. Two years later he published the first of his autobiographical books, Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs. The author’s personal favorite, this picture book is based on dePaola’s relatives on his father’s side. It features four-year-old Tommy, Tommy’s great-grandmother, and Tommy’s grandmother, who all live in the same house—great-grandmother upstairs and grandmother downstairs. Nana Upstairs is bedridden, and when she passes away, Tommy sees a shooting star; his parents tell him that the star may be Nana Upstairs sending him a kiss. Later, Nana Downstairs also dies. Reviewing the book for the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Zena Sutherland called Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs commendable as a story “for very young children that shows the love between a child and a grandparent and pictures the child’s adjustment to death.”
DePaola’s picture book Oliver Button Is a Sissy is also based on the author’s life. Oliver, who enjoys drawing, reading, and walking in the woods rather than playing sports, is teased and criticized. However, after he shows talent as a tap dancer, his schoolmates change the graffiti that read “Oliver Button Is a Sissy” to “Oliver Button Is a Star.” Writing in the New York Times Book Review, Natalie Babbitt noted that Oliver Button Is a Sissy “is a big and difficult story compressed into a small and simple story” that “presents a warm and positive picture of the power of love.”
With 1993’s Tom, dePaola recreates his close relationship with the paternal grandfather for whom he is named. Tom and Tommy are playful partners in crime; their boisterous laughter often causes Nana to banish them outside or to the cellar. Tom, a butcher, teaches Tommy to manipulate newly severed chicken feet; however, when the boy demonstrates this talent at school, he scares the other students and is sent to the principal’s office. Undaunted, Tom winks at his grandson and vows to find more adventures for them to share. Writing in Booklist, Deborah Abbott predicted that “youngsters will bask in the delicious conspiracy between grandfather and grandson,” while Horn Book critic Hanna B. Zeiger noted: “With gentle humor and his usual mastery of line and composition, dePaola conveys the strong bond of affection between Tom and Tommy.”
A budding young thespian is the subject of Stagestruck, another self-illustrated work inspired by events in dePaola’s childhood. When Tommy fails to land the lead role in his school’s production of Peter Rabbit, he decides to make the most of his time in the limelight. Assigned to portray Mopsy, who has no speaking lines, Tommy hams it up on stage, much to the delight of the audience. His actions, however, draw attention away from his fellow actors and prove disappointing to his mother, teacher, and classmates, and he eventually realizes the need to make amends. “Children will empathize with Tommy all the way, from ambition to temptation to reconciliation,” Carolyn Phelan stated in Booklist.
DePaola is perhaps best known for the series of picture books he has written about Strega Nona—Italian for “Grandmother Witch”—and her hapless helper Big Anthony, who live in a small village in Renaissance Calabria, Italy. The first book of the series, Strega Nona: An Old Tale, revolves around a magic cooking pot owned by the title character; the pot keeps on producing pasta until three kisses are blown to turn it off. When curious Big Anthony begins pasta production without knowing how to stop the pot, he fills the village with pasta until Strega Nona saves the day. For his punishment, Big Anthony has to eat all the pasta in town. Writing in Horn Book, Anita Silvey claimed that dePaola “has given new vitality to the magic cooking pot theme.”
Strega Nona: Her Story is a prequel to dePaola’s first book about the wise witch. This time the story takes young readers from Nona’s birth through her education as a village strega by her Grandma Concetta, including instruction on the secret ingredient: lots of love. When Concetta retires, she gives her practice, including her magic pasta pot, to her granddaughter; the story ends with the arrival of Big Anthony on Strega Nona’s doorstep. Writing in School Library Journal, Karen MacDonald predicted that “children will find many of the paintings hilarious.”
With Big Anthony: His Story, dePaola provides a companion piece to Strega Nona: Her Story and depicts the accident-prone but well-meaning Anthony from infancy—when he spills holy water all over himself and everyone else at his christening—to his arrival at Strega Nona’s door. Writing in School Library Journal, Sue Sherif concluded of Big Anthony that “Big Anthony and Strega Nona certainly qualify as celebrities in the realm of picture books, and this latest installment will bring smiles to the faces of their young fans.”
The adventures of the benevolent witch Strega Nona and the hapless Big Anthony continue in Big Anthony and the Magic Ring, wherein the teenage farm boy steals Strega Nona’s magic ring and is transformed into the village ladies’ man. However, when the local women become overly amorous, Anthony must be rescued by Strega Nona. In Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons, Big Anthony disguises himself as a girl in order to become Strega Nona’s apprentice. Dismayed when he thinks one of his spells has turned his teacher into a frog, Anthony promises to swear off magic before Strega Nona—who was simply in hiding—reappears. In Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, Anthony loses the shopping list for the Christmas feast Strega Nona is planning; since Christmas is the only time that Nona does not use her spells and potions, there is no way for her to prepare a last-minute feast. And in Strega Nona Takes a Vacation, the grandmotherly Italian witch leaves for the seaside, while assistants Big Anthony and Bambolona attempt to keep things on an even keel at home. Praising the “breezy” text, “peppered with Italian words,” a Publishers Weekly contributor also commended “dePaola’s sunny, airy” illustrations which “demonstrate his fondness for these favorite characters and the old-world setting.”
Craighton Hippenhammer, reviewing Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons for School Library Journal, wrote that “DePaola’s irrepressible illustrations add vibrancy and humor,” and a critic in Publishers Weekly noted of Merry Christmas, Strega Nona: “The joyful ending and sparkling illustrations make this one of the most warmhearted selections of the season.” Ilene Cooper, reviewing the same work for Booklist, claimed that “it’s especially satisfying to see a bona fide story centered on Christmas that is funny, accessible, and contains a gentle message tucked neatly inside.”
With Strega Nona’s Gift, Strega Nona is busy cooking for the December festivals and events between the Feast of San Nicola and the Feast of Epiphany. Writing in Horn Book, Martha V. Parravano asserted that “Strega Nona and Tomie dePaola know exactly what Christmas is all about.” In Strega Nona Does It Again, she looks after her cousin’s lovesick daughter. With some inspiration from the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle tale, Strega Nona fixes things for her. A Publishers Weekly contributor found it to be “a wryly funny story of love and entitlement.”
In addition to his “Strega Nona” books, dePaola has also received much acclaim for the individual titles for which he is both author and illustrator. His first informational book, Charlie Needs a Cloak, is considered one of the best examples of dePaola’s ability to make education fun. In this work, which tells the story of how shepherd Charlie makes himself a new red cloak, the author/illustrator provides information on shearing, carding, spinning, weaving, and sewing while also adding humor through the exploits of a mouse and a sheep.
Equally enjoyable are dePaola’s “Barker Bunch” books, which feature twin Welsh terrier pups Morgan and Moffat. In Meet the Barkers: Morgan and Moffat Go to School, the twins experience their first days at school, and their different personalities begin to shine as they meet new friends and confront new challenges. In Boss for a Day Moffat’s controlling personality is addressed by her mother, and the pup responds by letting her twin brother make the decisions for one day, while Hide and Seek All Week finds the twins and their classmates so caught up in setting down the rules of a playground game that recess is over before they can actually play. In A New Barker in the House dePaola has the opportunity to include some Spanish phrases in his text; in the story, the Barker family adopts a new pup named Marcos, who can speak only Spanish. Praising the series, Phelan noted that dePaola’s “Barker” stories “feature believable characters and situations familiar to children.”
The Clown of God: An Old Story is dePaola’s retelling of the legend of a juggler who offers his talent as a gift to the Christ Child and is rewarded with a miracle, while Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story places a traditional tale in a new setting, removing the magic and adding a dose of homespun reality. Like the fairy-tale heroine, Adelita has difficulty dealing with her mean-spirited stepmother and stepsisters. However, instead of a fairy godmother, help comes in the form of a family friend, and the storybook prince turns out to be a childhood friend. Cooper noted that in Adelita, dePaola’s “text has a fresh flair that is matched by the bright, airy artwork,” while in Publishers Weekly the reviewer praised the folk-art illustrations, the inclusion of Spanish vocabulary, and a story line “infused with Mexican warmth and color.” “Depth and brilliance in composition combine with economy of line to create a true tour de force,” concluded Ann Welton in her School Library Journal review of Adelita.
DePaola has received critical recognition for several other books with religious themes, particularly the history of several popular saints. Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi is a picture-book celebration of the 800th anniversary of the birth of the saint. Considered an outstanding presentation of the life of St. Francis, the work has, according to Natalie Babbitt in the Washington Post Book World, “a glow that can only come from the deepest concern for the subject.” In a similar vein, Christopher: The Holy Giant tells the story of the deposed saint Christopher, a man who in legend carried the Christ Child on his back across a raging river. In her review of the book for Horn Book, Mary M. Burns wrote that dePaola’s tales of the saints “are remarkable for innate spirituality without overt sentimentality. They are childlike—clear, precise, concrete—but never childish.”
In Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, dePaola returns to the lives of the saints, this time creating what School Library Journal contributor James K. Irwin dubbed a “delightful retelling” of the story of the Spanish boy who would grow up to be the patron saint of cooks and kitchens. Noting the gentle humor included in dePaola’s illustrations, a Publishers Weekly contributor praised the fact that the author/illustrator nonetheless “doesn’t lose sight of Pascual’s faith, demonstrating that a picture book can be worshipful and joyful at the same time.”
In 1999 dePaola published the first of a series of chapter books in the “26 Fairmount Avenue” series, titled after the address of the first home in which the dePaola family lived. Sally Lodge, interviewing the author for Publishers Weekly, commented that using words rather than pictures was a radical change for the illustrator. He himself said, “In picture books, the pictures move the story and the characters along, but with 26 Fairmount Avenue, I had to find all those adjectives I learned to leave out over the years. Where before I had to reduce, reduce, reduce, now with this series I have to add, add, add. It’s a very interesting process for me.” The first book in the series introduces the main characters, including young Tomie, while Here We All Are finds the youngster beginning tap dancing lessons and anticipating the arrival of a new baby sister. In On My Way the youngster visits the 1939 World’s Fair, starts the first grade, and has his first dance recital, while in What a Year he turns six in a surprise party and enjoys his family’s colorful Halloween and Christmas festivities.
The fifth volume in the “26 Fairmount Avenue” series, Things Will Never Be the Same, begins in January of 1941, and follows Tomie through dance recitals, a trip to see a Walt Disney film, and weathering, with his family, the tragedy that befell the United States when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the nation entered World War II. A reviewer for the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books observed that the series has “an understated, unassuming rhythm” and successfully brings people and events “to easy life,” while in Publishers Weekly a contributor noted that the “cheerful” line-drawn illustrations bring to life “Tomie’s considerable spunk and help bring his likeable family and friends into focus.” Praising the animated drawings of Things Will Never Be the Same, John Peters praised the work in his Booklist review, noting that dePaola ceates for young readers “a vanished, but somehow universal, world” through an easy-to-read text that conveys both a “childlike sensibility, and irrepressible spirit.”
DePaola continued his “26 Fairmount Avenue” series with I’m Still Scared: The War Years, “a child’s-eye view of America in World War II,” Linda M. Kenton noted in School Library Journal. The work opens on December 7, 1941, and centers on his community’s reaction to the Pearl Harbor bombing, which includes practicing air raid drills and using blackout curtains. A critic in Kirkus Reviews offered praise for the volume, calling it “a slice of real life, true in its history and emotional resonance.” In Why? The War Years, dePaola recounts the many ways that World War II affected day-to-day life on the home front, such as rationing and hoarding, while also chronicling the goings-on in his second grade classroom. He concludes his memoir on a sad note, noting the death of his cousin, Blackie, who was shot down over Europe. “As in his previous autobiographical books,” Pat Leach wrote in School Library Journal, “dePaola’s spot-on sense of what children find interesting hits the bull’s eye.”
Billed as a work for all ages, dePaola’s self-illustrated Christmas Remembered contains fifteen autobiographical vignettes that describe his most memorable holiday seasons. The author recollects his third Christmas, when his family purchased an artificial fireplace to accommodate Santa Claus; another holiday when he received a bevy of art supplies as presents; and a more recent Christmas at his home in the New Hampshire countryside. Though the work will appeal to adults, Roger Sutton observed in Horn Book that “young creative types also might see themselves in these stories of an artist growing up.” In Tomie dePaola’s Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers, the author, who has lived in rural New England for more than three decades, offers a host of stories, tall tales, and jokes about his adopted home. “Warm, good-humored artwork in dePaola’s signature style provides an inviting setting for this flavorful collection of regional humor,” commented Phelan.
DePaola has also received acclaim for the works he has done in nontraditional formats such as the pop-up book and wordless picture book. For example, his pop-up book Giorgio’s Village: a Pop-up Book, which portrays a medieval Italian village in three-dimensional detail, is considered one of the most successful examples of its genre. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly called it “spectacular, amusing as well as educational,” while in Booklist Barbara Elleman stated that the “look and feel of another country comes magically alive” in Giorgio’s Village. DePaola has also been credited for his compilations; for example, Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose, a collection of more than two hundred rhymes and songs, is now considered a standard source. Writing in Horn Book, Ann A. Flowers noted the book’s obvious role as “a classic,” while Junior Bookshelf critic M. Hobbs dubbed the book “arguably, the American illustrator’s best work to date” and “a classic of nursery illustration.” Both critics’ predictions have proved accurate: selections from Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose have continued to be reprinted decades since the book’s original 1985 publication.
With When Andy Met Sandy, Andy and Sandy initially ignore each other while playing on the playground. But when they ride the see-saw together, they realize that they can be good friends. Booklist contributor Shelle Rosenfeld proposed that “the scenario and supportive, insightful approach will likely resonate with many kids, especially shyer ones.” In Andy & Sandy’s Anything Adventure, the two play dress-up at Andy’s house. Writing in Horn Book, Julie Roach commented that “Andy and Sandy’s friendship—and this series—is off to a good start.” With Andy & Sandy and the Big Talent Show, Sandy teaches Andy how to dance so they can enter the talent show together. But when she gets stage fright, Andy takes the lead to help her. In a review in Horn Book, Robin Smith claimed that “new readers often need encouragement to try new things, and Andy and Sandy are perfect fictional buddies to encourage youngsters to do just that.”
In The Birds of Bethlehem, various-colored birds report on the strange happenings in and around Bethlehem in this Nativity story. Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan lauded that “the illustrations are notable for their simplified forms, pleasing compositions, and subtle combinations of colors.” In Look and Be Grateful, a young boy becomes conscious of his immediate environment, giving appreciation for all that is there. Booklist contributor Kay Weisman reasoned that “although this is unlikely to immediately engage the casual browser, the presentation is beautifully rendered.”
With Little Poems for Tiny Ears, twenty-three poems are presented from the perspective of infants and toddlers. A Publishers Weekly contributor observed that DePaola completes the story with “his distinctively serene illustrations.” In Jack, the titular farm boy asks the king for a home in the city, where he then lives with his animal friends. Horn Book contributor Roger Sutton remarked that “story time audiences will enjoy the trip as well as the sly cameo appearances by nursery-rhyme favorites.”
With Patricia MacLachlan’s The Moon’s Almost Here, the rising of the moon gives space for a number of popular fairy tales to come together. Reviewing the book in Horn Book, Megan Dowd Lambert remarked that “all elements combine to offer a soothing, beautiful bedtime book that feels classic rather than derivative.” In Steppin’ Out: Jaunty Rhymes for Playful Times, nineteen original rhymes cover the experiences of the average toddler. Booklist contributor Kay Weisman insisted that “this child-friendly anthology should have broad appeal.”
In A Celebration of Beatrix Potter: Art and Letters by More Than 30 of Today’s Favorite Children’s Book Illustrators, thirty-two illustrators reflect on the impact Beatrix Potter had on them personally before creating an illustration in honor of her. A Publishers Weekly contributor suggested that “ambitious readers might take a cue from the collection and envision Potter’s heroes in new settings.” In The Legend of Old Befana: An Italian Christmas Story, Old Befana passes up a chance to follow three wise men to Bethlehem to witness the Nativity. Later she becomes part of the spirit of giving at Christmas time. Again writing in Horn Book, Parravano noticed that the “rustic details help define the Italian-village setting.” With In a Small Kingdom, a young prince inherits his father’s throne. His older half-brother vows to cause trouble. When the kingdom’s magical robe is destroyed, the young king rises to the occasion by showing that love is more powerful than force. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews labeled the book “a triumphant story celebrating the ability of love, community, and cooperation to overcome any obstacle.”
More than four decades after beginning his career as a children’s book author, dePaola remains popular with new generations of fans. In an interview with Phyllis Boyson for New Era, the author/illustrator commented: “I write a lot for children between three and seven years old, and young children can tell right away when you’re not being honest. If a message rings true, they will sit and listen. My guess is that children respond to my work because it’s simple and honest.” Writing in Books for Your Children, dePaola added, “It’s a dream of mine that one of my books, any book, any picture, will touch the heart of some individual child and change that child’s life for the better. I don’t even have to know about it. I hope it’s not a far-fetched dream. Meanwhile, I’ll keep working, doing the best I’m capable of.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Berg, Julie, Tomie dePaola, Abdo & Daughters (Minneapolis, MN), 1993.
Children’s Books and Their Creators, edited by Anita Silvey, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995, p. 196.
Children’s Literature Review, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 4, 1982, pp. 50-66, Volume 24, 1991, pp. 84-104.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 61: American Writers for Children since 1960: Poets, Illustrators, and Nonfiction Authors, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1987, pp. 15-26.
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 1, 1982, Barbara Elleman, review of Giorgio’s Village: A Pop-up Book, pp. 243-244; December 15, 1982, Barbara Elleman, review of Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons, p. 563; November 1, 1986, Ilene Cooper, review of Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, pp. 407-408; January 15, 1993, Deborah Abbott, review of Tom, p. 898; November 1, 1993, Carolyn Phelan, review of Strega Nona Meets Her Match, p. 528; September 1, 1999, Ilene Cooper, review of The Night of Las Posadas, p. 147; January 2, 2000, Tim Arnold, review of Jamie O’Rourke and the Pooka, p. 935; May 1, 2000, Carolyn Phelan, review of Here We All Are, p. 1660; October 15, 2000, Kay Weisman, review of Strega Nona Takes a Vacation, p. 444; December 15, 2000, Ilene Cooper, review of On My Way, p. 810; June 1, 2001, Linda Perkins, review of Meet the Barkers: Morgan and Moffat Go to School, p. 1890; February 1, 2002, Carolyn Phelan, review of Boss for a Day, p. 949; July, 2002, Linda Perkins, review of A New Barker in the House, p. 1856; August, 2002, Ilene Cooper, review of Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story, p. 1967; March 1, 2003, John Peters, review of Things Will Never Be the Same, p. 1193; April 1, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of Marcos Colors: Red, Yellow, Blue, p. 1401; August, 2003, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Trouble in the Barkers’ Class, p. 1987; January 1, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, p. 858; January 1, 2005, Carolyn Phelan, review of Stagestruck, p. 868; October 1, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of Christmas Remembered, p. 50; April 15, 2006, Gillian Engberg, review of I’m Still Scared: The War Years, p. 48; January 1, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of Why? The War Years, p. 107; November 1, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of Tomie dePaola’s Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers, p. 45; December 15, 2011, Hazel Rochman, review of Strega Nona’s Gift, p. 61; November 1, 2012, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Birds of Bethlehem, p. 75; August 1, 2014, Thom Barthelmes, review of Jack, p. 80; September 1, 2015, Kay Weisman, review of Look and Be Grateful, p. 120; January 1, 2016, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of When Andy Met Sandy, p. 102; February 15, 2016, Lolly Gepson, review of Andy & Sandy’s Anything Adventure, p. 77; April 15, 2016, Lolly Gepson, review of The Moon’s Almost Here, p. 54; December 15, 2016, Kay Weisman, review of Steppin’ Out: Jaunty Rhymes for Playful Times, p. 40; March 15, 2017, Kay Weisman, review of Andy & Sandy and the Big Talent Show, p. 62; December 15, 2017, Kay Weisman, review of In a Small Kingdom, p. 100.
Books for Your Children, June 22, 1980, Tomie dePaola, “Involved with Dreams,” pp. 2-3.
Boston Globe, December 10, 2007, David Mehegan, “He Simply Knows His Audience.”
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, October 1, 1973, Zena Sutherland, review of Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, pp. 24-25; June 1, 1974, Zena Sutherland, review of Charlie Needs a Cloak, p. 156; November 1, 1975, Zena Sutherland, review of Strega Nona: An Old Tale, p. 42; May 1, 1981, Zena Sutherland, review of Now One Foot, Now the Other, pp. 168-169; March 1, 1989, Roger Sutton, review of The Art Lesson, pp. 168-169; December 1, 1993, Carol Fox, review of Strega Nona Meets Her Match, p. 119; June 1, 1999, review of 26 Fairmount Avenue, p. 349.
Chicago Tribune Books, May 8, 1966, Kenneth Marantz, review of The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin, p. A9.
Children’s Bookwatch, April 1, 2017, Lin Oliver, review of Little Poems for Tiny Ears.
Horn Book, October 1, 1975, Anita Silvey, review of Strega Nona: An Old Tale, pp. 458-459; November 1, 1985, Robert D. Hale, “Musings,” pp. 770-772; January 1, 1986, Ann A. Flowers, review of Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose, p. 66; July 1, 1993, Hanna B. Zeiger, review of Tom, p. 441; November 1, 1993, Hanna B. Zeiger, review of Strega Nona Meets Her Match, p. 730; May 1, 1994, Mary M. Burns, review of Christopher: The Holy Giant, pp. 333-334; January 1, 2000, Roger Sutton, review of Jamie O’Rourke and the Pooka, p. 64; May 1, 2000, review of Here We All Are, p. 311; March 1, 2001, Roger Sutton, review of On My Way, p. 228; March 1, 2002, Roger Sutton, review of What a Year, p. 228; November 1, 2006, Roger Sutton, review of Christmas Remembered, p. 690; November 1, 2011, Martha V. Parravano, review of Strega Nona’s Gift, p. 68; November 1, 2012, Roger Sutton, review of The Birds of Bethlehem, p. 57; September 1, 2014, Roger Sutton, review of Jack, p. 81; November 30, 2015, “Five Questions for Tomie dePaola”; September 1, 2015, Roger Sutton, review of Look and Be Grateful, p. 78; November 1, 2015, Roger Sutton, review of Michael Bird-Boy, p. 115; March 1, 2016, Julie Roach, review of Andy & Sandy’s Anything Adventure, p. 88; May 1, 2016, Megan Dowd Lambert, review of The Moon’s Almost Here, p. 85; July 1, 2017, Robin Smith, review of Andy & Sandy and the Big Talent Show, p. 131; November 1, 2017, Martha V. Parravano, review of The Legend of Old Befana: An Italian Christmas Story, p. 59; November 1, 2017, Roger Sutton, review of Oliver Button Is a Sissy, p. 136.
Instructor, March 1, 1980, Dennis Andersen, “Tomie dePaola: Tough and Tender Storyteller,” pp. 32-38.
Junior Bookshelf, October 1, 1983, Marcus Crouch, review of The Legend of the Bluebonnet, p. 197; February 1, 1986, M. Hobbs, review of Tomie dePaola’s Mother Goose, p. 14.
Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1974, review of Watch out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup, p. 1057; February 15, 1996, review of The Baby Sister, p. 294; January 1, 2002, review of What a Year, p. 43; March 15, 2002, review of A New Barker in the House, p. 409; September 1, 2002, review of Adelita, p. 1307; November 1, 2002, review of Four Friends at Christmas, p. 1617; January 15, 2003, review of Things Will Never Be the Same, p. 141; July 1, 2003, review of Trouble in the Barkers’ Class, p. 908; December 15, 2003, review of Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, p. 1449; January 15, 2005, review of Stagestruck, p. 119; January 15, 2006, review of I’m Still Scared, p. 83; December 15, 2006, review of Why?, p. 1266; September 15, 2007, review of Tomie dePaola’s Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers; September 1, 2011, review of Strega Nona’s Gift; September 1, 2012, review of The Birds of Bethlehem; July 1, 2014, review of Jack; August 1, 2015, review of Look and Be Grateful; April 1, 2016, review of The Moon’s Almost Here; November 15, 2016, review of Steppin’ Out; April 1, 2018, review of Andy & Sandy and the Big Talent Show; February 1, 2018, review of In a Small Kingdom.
Library Journal, August 1, 2003, Coop Renner, review of The Baby Sister, p. 60.
New Era, May 1, 1981, Phyllis Boyson, interview with dePaola, pp. 76-80.
New York Times Book Review, December 10, 1978, Harold C.K. Rice, review of The Clown of God: An Old Story, pp. 72-73, 93; April 29, 1979, Harold C.K. Rice, review of Big Anthony and the Magic Ring, p. 47; September 20, 1981, Natalie Babbitt, review of Now One Foot, Now the Other, p. 30.
Publishers Weekly, October 7, 1974, review of Watch Out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup, p. 64; November 19, 1979, review of Flix, p. 78; June 18, 1982, review of Giorgio’s Village, p. 74; September 26, 1986, review of Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, p. 74; February 19, 1996, review of The Baby Sister, p. 214; March 15, 1999, Sally Lodge, “Tomie dePaola Mines His Childhood Memories”; September 27, 1999, review of The Night of Las Posadas, p. 60; January 17, 2000, review of Jamie O’Rourke and the Pooka, p. 55; May 15, 2000, review of Here We All Are, p. 118; August 21, 2000, review of Strega Nona Takes a Vacation, p. 72; July 2, 2001, review of Meet the Barkers, p. 75; August 6, 2001, Shannon Maughan, “It’s Tomie Time,” p. 24; August 27, 2001, review of The Holy Twins, p. 82; July 1, 2002, review of Adelita, p. 79; January 26, 2004, review of Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, p. 251; January 17, 2005, review of Stagestruck, p. 55; September 25, 2006, review of Christmas Remembered, p. 68; October 15, 2007, review of Tomie dePaola’s Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers, p. 59; September 26, 2011, review of Strega Nona’s Gift, p. 72; September 10, 2012, review of The Birds of Bethlehem, p. 57; August 26, 2013, review of Strega Nona Does It Again, p. 72; November 4, 2013, review of Little Poems for Tiny Ears, p. 66; 2014, review of Jack, p. 34; May 19, 2014, review of Jack, p. 66; October 2, 2015, Sally Lodge, “Tomie dePaola Is ‘Grateful’ for a Storied Career”; July 20, 2015, review of Look and Be Grateful, p. 188; December 7, 2015, review of When Andy Met Sandy, p. 85; March 14, 2016, review of The Moon’s Almost Here, p. 73; October 3, 2016, review of A Celebration of Beatrix Potter: Art and Letters by More Than 30 of Today’s Favorite Children’s Book Illustrators, p. 122; December 2, 2016, review of The Moon’s Almost Here, p. 44; January 22, 2018, review of In a Small Kingdom, p. 84.
School Library Journal, May 1, 1966, Ann Currah, review of The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin, p. 178; September 1, 1973, Melinda Schroeder, review of Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, p. 56; May 1, 1979, Marjorie Lewis, review of Big Anthony and the Magic Ring, p. 50; October 1, 1979, Marilyn R. Singer, review of Oliver Button Is a Sissy, p. 138; January 1, 1983, Craighton Hippenhammer, review of Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons, p. 58; October 1, 1986, Judith Gloyer, review of Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, pp. 109-113; April 1, 1989, Patricia Dooley, review of The Art Lesson, p. 80; October 1, 1996, Karen MacDonald, review of Strega Nona: Her Story, p. 91; November 1, 1998, Sue Sherif, review of Big Anthony: His Story, p. 83; March 1, 2000, Ginny Gustin, review of Jamie O’Rourke and the Pooka, p. 194; June 1, 2000, Darcy Schild, review of Here We All Are, p. 130; October 1, 2000, Catherine T. Quattelbaum, review of Strega Nona Takes a Vacation, p. 120; February 1, 2001, Gay Lynn Van Vleck, review of On My Way, p. 99; August 1, 2001, Wanda Meyers-Hines, review of Meet the Barkers, p. 146; September 1, 2001, Patricia Pearl Doyle, review of The Holy Twins, p. 220; February 1, 2002, Debbie Stewart, review of Boss for a Day, p. 98; June 1, 2002, Shara Alpern, review of A New Barker in the House, p. 92; September 1, 2002, Ann Welton, review of Adelita, p. 210; February 1, 2003, Patricia Manning, review of T-Rex Is Missing!, p. 104; May 1, 2003, Elaine Lesh Morgan, review of Things Will Never Be the Same, p. 135; July 1, 2003, Kathie Meizner, review of Four Friends in Summer, p. 89, and Ann Welton, review of Marcos Colors, p. 121; October 1, 2003, Tracy Bell, review of Trouble in the Barkers’ Class, p. 116; February 1, 2004, James K. Irwin, review of Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, p. 104; January 1, 2005, Kelley Rae Unger, review of Stagestruck, p. 90; October 1, 2006, Virginia Walter, review of Christmas Remembered, p. 96; November 1, 2006, Linda M. Kenton, review of I’m Still Scared, p. 118; April 1, 2007, Pat Leach, review of Why?, p. 121; November 1, 2007, Gay Lynn Van Vleck, review of Tomie dePaola’s Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers, p. 106.
Washington Post Book World, May 9, 1982, Natalie Babbitt, review of Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi, pp. 16-17.
ONLINE
Brightly, http://www.readbrightly.com/ (May 18, 2018), author interview.
EDU Place, https://www.eduplace.com/ (May 18, 2018), author profile.
KidLit411, http://www.kidlit411.com/ (February 13, 2015), author interview.
Kids Reads, https://www.kidsreads.com/ (May 18, 2018), author profile.
Library Place, http://www.librarypoint.org/ (May 18, 2018), Virginia Johnson, “Tomie dePaola Writes of Family and Faith.”
Thought Co, https://www.thoughtco.com/ (March 18, 2017), Elizabeth Kennedy, author profile.
Tomie dePaola Website, http://www.tomie.com (May 18, 2018).
Tomie dePaola (video), directed by R. Davies, J.S. Weiss, 1984.
Visit with Tomie dePaola (video), 1997.*
Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.
He had written and/or illustrated over 270 books, including Strega Nona, Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose, Oliver Button Is a Sissy, and 26 Fairmount Avenue. Nearly 25 million copies of his books have been sold.
His newest books are Quiet, Wings, by Cheryl B. Klein, and I WILL TALK TO YOU, LITTLE ONE, by Phyllis E. Grann. FIGHT THE NIGHT, first published in 1968, was published in a new edition this spring as was GOD IS GREAT, GOD IS GOOD, by Sanna Anderson Baker, first published in 1987 (former title: WHO’S A FRIEND OF THE WATER-SPURTING WHALE?).
Tomie dePaola and his work have been recognized with the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, and the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award. The American Library Association honored him with the Caldecott Honor and Newbery Honor awards, and the Children's Literature Legacy Award (called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award until June, 2018) for "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."
Pratt Institute and Georgetown University, among others, have granted him honorary doctoral degrees. Pratt Institute, in 2012, named him "one of the top 125 Pratt icons of all time." In 1999, he was selected for the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.
Tomie dePaola lived in New Hampshire, and worked in a 200-year-old renovated barn. He died on March 30, 2020.
Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy de-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.
He had written and/or illustrated over 270 books, including Strega Nona, Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose, Oliver Button Is a Sissy, and 26 Fairmount Avenue. Nearly 25 million copies of his books have been sold.
His newest books are Quiet, Wings, by Cheryl B. Klein, and I WILL TALK TO YOU, LITTLE ONE, by Phyllis E. Grann. FIGHT THE NIGHT, first published in 1968, was published in a new edition this spring as was GOD IS GREAT, GOD IS GOOD, by Sanna Anderson Baker, first published in 1987 (former title: WHO’S A FRIEND OF THE WATER-SPURTING WHALE?).
2015 marked Tomie dePaola's 60th year as a professional artist, and 50th year as an illustrator of children's books. 2015 was also the 40th anniversary of the publication of Strega Nona.
Born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1934, dePaola received his BFA from Pratt Insitute in Brooklyn, New York, and his MFA from the California College of Arts in Oakland, California. He received his doctoral equivalency in fine arts from Lone Mountain College in San Francisco.
In addition to writing and illustrating children's books, dePaola taught for several years in art and theater departments in colleges in California, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
DePaola had received many awards, including the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota, the Regina Medal from the Catholic Library Association, and the Sarah Josepha Hale Award, a prestigious distinction in writing by a New Englander.
He was also the United States nominee in 1990 for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award in illustration. The American Library Association named Strega Nona a Caldecott Honor Book, and 26 Fairmount Avenue a Newbery Honor Book. He was the 2011 Children's Literature Legacy Award recipient (called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award until June, 2018) for "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." He received the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
The University of Connecticut, Georgetown University, and Pratt Institute, among others, have granted him honorary doctoral degrees. Pratt Institute, in 2012, named him "one of the top 125 Pratt icons of all time." In 1999, he was selected for the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.
Tomie dePaola lived in New Hampshire, and worked in a 200-year-old renovated barn. He died on March 30, 2020.
Q: What is your favorite color?
A: White. All of the other colors look great against it.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Popcorn. OF COURSE!
Q: What is your favorite book of your own?
A: I used to say that my favorite book of my own was the book I was working on at the time I was asked that question. When the new full-color, redrawn edition of Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs was published, I realized that Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs was my favorite book of my own.
Q: Do you have any pets?
A: I no longer have pets. Some of my cats were named Satie, Foshay, Token, Kahlo, Rosalie, Conrad and Bomba. Some of my dogs were named Bingley, Madison, Markus, Morgan, Moffat, and Bronte.
Q: What is your favorite holiday?
A: Christmas. My second favorite holiday is my birthday!
Q: Do you have a wife?
A: No.
Q: Do you have children?
A: No.
Q: Dude, how old are you?
A: My 83rd birthday was on September 15, 2017.
Q: What are some of your hobbies?
A: Cooking, reading, gardening, traveling, watching movies, SHOPPING!
Q: What was your favorite book as a child?
A: HITTY, HER FIRST HUNDRED YEARS, by Rachel Field (the original edition)
Q: What is your favorite book as an adult?
A: KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER, by Sigrid Undset
Q: Why doesn't your last name start with a capital letter?
A: It's just the way my last name is spelled...with a lower case "d".
Q: Why do you sign your name with a heart, and why do you draw hearts in your books?
A: The heart has become a sort of symbol for me. I also use it as shorthand, or an abbreviation, for "love."
Q:Who is your favorite SiriusXM "On Broadway" host?
A: I like them all, but I especially like Christine Pedi. Some of her family are from Calabria.
American Library Association (ALA)
1976 Caldecott Honor Award for Strega Nona
2000 Newbery Honor Award for 26 Fairmount Avenue
2011 Children's Literature Legacy Award (called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award until June, 2018)
New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award
1999 Living Treasure
Honorary Doctoral Degrees
1985 - Colby-Sawyer College, New London, New Hampshire
1994 - Saint Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire
1996 - Notre Dame College, Manchester, New Hampshire
1999 - Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts
1999 - University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
2002 - Georgetown University, Washington, DC
2003 - New England College, Henniker, New Hampshire
2009 - Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York
2018 - New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire
TIMELINE...
1952
Francis T. Maloney Memorial Scholarship
Meriden, Connecticut
1976
Caldecott Honor Award for Strega Nona
American Library Association
1981
Kerlan Award
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
1982
Golden Kite Award for Illustration for Giorgio's Village
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
1983
Regina Medal
Catholic Library Association
1983
Community Citizen Award
Wilmot Grange
Wilmot, New Hampshire
1985
Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters, honoris causa
Colby-Sawyer College
New London, New Hampshire
1986
David McCord Children's Literature Citation
Framingham (MA) State College and Nobscot Reading Council of the International Reading Association
1987
Golden Kite Honor Award for Illustration for What the Mailman Brought, by Carolyn Craven
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
1988
Citizen-of-the-Year Award
New London Chamber of Commerce
New London, New Hampshire
1990
James Smithson Medal
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
1990
USA nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in Illustration
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)
1994
Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa
Saint Anselm College
Manchester, New Hampshire
1995
University of Southern Mississippi Medallion
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
1996
Milner Award
Atlanta Fulton Public Library
Atlanta, Georgia
1996
Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa
Notre Dame College
Manchester, New Hampshire
1998
Children's Literature Festival Award
Keene State College
Keene, New Hampshire
1999
Named one of "100 People Who Shaped the Century" in New Hampshire
CONCORD MONITOR newspaper
Concord, New Hampshire
1999
Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa
Emerson College
Boston, Massachusetts
1999
Honorary Degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
1999
Living Treasure Award
Governor's Arts Awards
New Hampshire
2000
Newbery Honor Award for 26 Fairmount Avenue
American Library Association
2000
I Migliori Award
The Pirandello Lyceum Institute of Italian American Studies, Research and Cultural Dissemination
Greater Boston, Massachusetts Area
2000
Town Award
Colby-Sawyer College
New London, New Hampshire
2000
Jeremiah Ludington Award
Educational Paperback Association
2001
Granite State Award
Plymouth State College
Plymouth, New Hampshire
2002
Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
2003
Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters, honoris causa
New England College
Henniker, New Hampshire
2003
Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature
The Ohio Library Foundation
2003
Lifetime Achievement Award
New Hampshire Writers' Project
2007
Sarah Josepha Hale Award
a prestigious distinction in writing by a New Englander
Richards Free Library
Newport, New Hampshire
2007
Distinguished Service Award
Northeast Children's Literature Collection
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
2008
New England Book Award
New England Independent Booksellers Association
2009
Honorary Degree
Pratt Institute
Brooklyn, New York
2011
Children's Literature Legacy Award (called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award until June, 2018)
for "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children"
American Library Association
2012
"one of the top 125 Pratt icons of all time"
Pratt Institute
Brooklyn, New York
2012
Lifetime Achievement Award
Society of Illustrators Original Art Show
New York, New York
2018
Honorary Degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa
New Hampshire Institute of Art
Manchester, New Hampshire
Tomie dePaola, His Art & His Stories, by Barbara Elleman. "Tomie dePaola is among the best known, best loved artist-authors creating books for children today. His art and his stories, filled with imagination, humor, elegance, and curiosity, emanate from a love of life reflected in everything he does. Barbara Elleman, a critic in her own right, explores Tomie dePaola as artist and storyteller. The result is this fascinating, high readable account which looks first at dePaola's life, complete with family photographs, and then at the extraordinary scope of his work - autobiographical picture books, folktales, Christmas themes, religious stories, collections, and more. She explores patterns and motifs that thread through his illustrations from the beginning; discusses major influences on his art; gives a rare glimpse at his fine art and his "non-book" designs; provides an intriguing step-by-step account of the development of a picture book, Big Anthony, His Story, from the original draft of the manuscript to finished art. Ms. Elleman's thoughtful narrative brings a fresh appreciation of this unique artist-author. Tomie dePaola followers and those discovering him for the first time will find this remarkable volume filled with over 200 illustrations a feast for the eye to be looked at again and again." (Ages 8 and up) 1999
Tomie dePaola was born on September 15, 1934, to Florence (Downey) and Joseph dePaola, in Meriden, Connecticut. He died on March 30, 2020, at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, from complications of surgery after a fall in his home in New London, NH.
He attended Meriden, Connecticut, public schools, and received advanced degrees from Pratt Institute, California College of Arts and Crafts, and Lone Mountain College. He taught at various institutions over the years, including Newton College of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco College for Women (Lone Mountain College), Chamberlayne Junior College, Colby-Sawyer College, and New England College.
He entered Weston Priory in Weston, Vermont, in 1956, and although he left after six months, he maintained a lifelong association with this monastery.
He married Monique Cheret, of Paris, in 1959, in Chester, Vermont. They divorced in 1961.
He was preceded in death by his parents and by his brother, Joseph. He is survived by sisters Judith Bobbi and Maureen Rogers, and by family and friends, and millions of admirers of his work.
Tomie announced at age four that when he grew up, he would write and draw stories for children, and sing and tap dance on the stage. As an adult, he proudly declared that he had done all of those things, and even gotten paid for the latter.
In his 20s, he was active creating liturgical art for churches and monasteries in New England, and artwork for galleries.
But, he is best known for his books for children: over 270 written and/or illustrated, twenty-five million, or so, sold, and numerous awards and recognitions. He was particularly delighted when the American Library Association honored him with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now known as the Children’s Literature Legacy Award) for his lasting and substantial contribution to children’s literature.
His passing has been devastating for many. “Our collective hearts are broken.”
Tomie was a very social person. Although he was not infected with Covid-19 (he had been tested in the hospital, and his results were negative), he couldn’t have visitors in the hospital. So, it was particularly sad that because of the virus, he died alone.
If you’re motivated to make a donation in his honor, consider giving a book to someone, or a school, or a library.
Tomie dePaola
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Tomie dePaola
Tomie dePaola.jpg
Born Thomas Anthony dePaola
September 15, 1934
Meriden, Connecticut
Died March 30, 2020 (aged 85)
Lebanon, New Hampshire
Occupation Writer, illustrator
Nationality American
Period 1965–2020
Genre Children's picture books, folklore, educational paperbacks
Notable works Strega Nona
Notable awards Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal
2011
Signature
Thomas Anthony "Tomie" dePaola (/ˈtɒmi dəˈpaʊlə/; September 15, 1934 – March 30, 2020) was an American writer and illustrator who created more than 260 children's books such as Strega Nona.[1][2] He received the Children's Literature Legacy Award for his lifetime contribution to American children's literature in 2011.[3][4]
Contents
1 Early life and education
2 Career
2.1 Teaching
2.2 Writing
2.3 Television
3 Exhibitions
4 Personal life and death
5 Awards and honors
6 Works
6.1 Strega Nona series
6.2 Memoir series (first chapter book)
6.3 Big Books
6.4 About growing up and his family
6.5 Bill and Pete books
6.6 The Barkers
6.7 Board books for the very young
6.8 Video (in DVD format)
6.9 Legends, folktales and stories
6.10 Religious or holiday stories
6.11 Fine art
7 See also
8 References
9 Notes
10 External links
Early life and education
DePaola was born in Meriden, Connecticut, to a family of Irish and Italian heritage, the son of Joseph and Florence May (Downey) DePaola.[5][6] He had one brother, Joseph (nicknamed Buddy), and two sisters, Judie and Maureen. His paternal grandparents originated from Calabria, where he set his well-known book Strega Nona.[7] His book The Baby Sister is about Maureen being born.[8] DePaola was attracted to art at the age of four,[7] and credited his family with encouraging his development as an artist and influencing the themes of his works.[9]
After high school, dePaola studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and graduated in 1956 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.[9]
Career
Teaching
DePaola taught art at Newton College of the Sacred Heart outside Boston from 1962 to 1966, then moved to California, where he taught at San Francisco College for Women from 1967 to 1970. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from California College of Arts and Crafts in 1969 and a doctoral equivalency from Lone Mountain College in San Francisco.[10] DePaola relocated to New England in the 1970s, teaching art at Chamberlayne Junior College in Boston from 1972 to 1973. From 1973 to 1976 he worked at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire, as an associate professor, designer, and technical director in the speech and theater department and as writer and set and costume designer for the Children's Theatre Project. He taught art at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire, from 1976 to 1978. DePaola retired from full-time teaching in 1978 to devote his time to writing and illustrating books.[9] He provided illustrations for Maggie and the Monster Baby (Holiday House, 1987) by Elizabeth Winthrop.[11]
Writing
The first published book that dePaola illustrated was a 1965 volume in the Coward-McCann series "Science is what and why": Sound, written by Lisa Miller.[9][12] The first that he wrote and illustrated was The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin, published by Bobbs-Merrill in 1966.[9][13] His writing career spanned over 50 years during which he worked on more than 270 books. Close to 25 million copies of his books were sold worldwide, and were translated into over 20 languages. Perhaps his most well-known work, Strega Nona, was first published in 1975 and was a finalist for the coveted Caldecott Medal for best illustrated work.[7]
Television
DePaola appeared in several episodes of Barney & Friends as himself.[14] In 2017 he also appeared as himself in the Jim Henson Company series Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola.[15]
Exhibitions
DePaola had two exhibitions in 2013-2014 at the Colby-Sawyer College. The first, called "Then" showed his early work during his formative years at the Pratt Institute and the influence Fra Angelico, George Roualt and others had on him. The second exhibition was of his later work, called "Now," came out close to dePaola's 80th birthday.[7]
Personal life and death
DePaola was gay.[16] He came out later in his life, telling The New York Times Magazine in 2019 that, for much of his career, "If it became known you were gay, you’d have a big red ‘G’ on your chest... and schools wouldn’t buy your books anymore.”[17]
DePaola had resided in New London, New Hampshire, where he taught from 1973 to 1976.[18]
DePaola died at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center on March 30, 2020, in Lebanon, New Hampshire, according to his literary agent, Doug Whiteman. He was badly injured in a fall in his barn studio the previous week and died of complications following surgery. He was survived by his two sisters Judith and Maureen (the latter being his best friend) and many nieces and nephews. [19]
Awards and honors
In 2011 dePaola received the biennial Children's Literature Legacy Award from the U.S. children's librarians, which recognizes a living author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made "a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children".[3] The committee noted the wide range of his stories and his "innate understanding of childhood, a distinctive visual style, and a remarkable ability to adapt his voice to perfectly suit the story." It called Strega Nona, the wise Grandma Witch, "an enduring character who has charmed generations of children."[4]
The Pratt Institute honored him with an honorary doctorate on May 18, 2009. The New Hampshire Institute of Art honored him with an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts on May 20, 2018. [20]
For his contribution as a children's illustrator, dePaola was the U.S. nominee in 1990 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition for creators of children's books.[21][22]
For single works he has won the 1983 Golden Kite Award, Picture Book Illustration, from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for Giorgio's Village, which he also wrote.[23] He won the 1994 Aesop Prize from the American Folklore Society for Christopher, the Holy Giant[23] and the 2000 Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association for Night of Las Posadas.[24]
DePaola received a Caldecott Honor in 1976 (Strega Nona), the 1982 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (The Friendly Beasts: An Old English Christmas Carol), the 1987 Golden Kite Award (What the Mailman Brought), and the 2000 Newbery Medal (26 Fairmount Avenue).[23] The Caldecott and Newbery Medals are the premier annual American Library Association awards for picture book illustration and children's book writing respectively.
He won the 2000 Jeremiah Ludington Memorial Award from the Educational Paperback Association for his cumulative "significant contribution to the educational paperback business".[9][25]
Works
[icon]
This section needs expansion with: This list omits most nonfiction.. You can help by adding to it. (April 2020)
Strega Nona series
Strega Nona
Strega Nona Her Story
Strega Nona Meets Her Match
Strega Nona Takes a Vacation
Strega Nona's Magic Lessons
Brava, Strega Nona!
Strega Nona's Harvest
Big Anthony His Story
Big Anthony and the Magic Ring
Merry Christmas, Strega Nona
Strega Nona's Gift
Memoir series (first chapter book)
26 Fairmount Avenue
Here We All Are
On My Way
What a Year
Things Will Never Be the Same (The War Years)
I'm Still Scared (The War Years)
Why? (The War Years)
For the Duration (The War Years)
Big Books
Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers
Christmas Remembered
Tomie dePaola's Big Book of Favorite Legends
Tomie dePaola's Book of Bible Stories
Tomie dePaola's Favorite Nursery Tales
Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose
About growing up and his family
The Art Lesson
The Baby Sister
Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs
Stagestruck
Tom
Tony's Bread
Watch Out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup
Bill and Pete books
Bill and Pete
Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile
Bill and Pete to the Rescue
The Barkers
Boss for a Day
Hide and Seek All Week
Meet the Barkers
Morgan and Moffat Go to School
A New Barker in the House
Trouble in the Barker's Class
Board books for the very young
I Love You Sun, I Love You Moon
Marcos Counts
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Mice Squeak We Speak
Tomie's Little Book of Love
Tomie's Baa Baa Black Sheep
Tomie's Little Book of Poems
Tomie's Little Mother Goose
Tomie's Mother Goose Flies Again
Tomie's Three Bears and Other Tales
Video (in DVD format)
Tomie Live in Concert
Oliver Button is a Star
Legends, folktales and stories
Adelita A Mexican Cinderella Story, a version of Cinderella
Alice Nizzy Nazzy: The Witch of Santa Fe
Andy That's My Name
Charlie Needs a Cloak
The Cloud Book
Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard
Cookie's Week
Days of the Blackbird
Erandi's Brainds
Fin M'Coul
Four Friends at Christmas
Four Friends in Autumn
Four Friends in Summer
Four Stories for Four Seasons
Helga's Dowry
Hey Diddle Diddle and Other Mother Goose Rhymes
Hunter and the Animals
I Love You, Mouse
Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato
Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka
Knight and the Dragon
Legend of the Bluebonnet
Legend of the Indian Paintbrush
Legend of the Persian Carpet
Little Grunt and the Big Egg
Mice Squeak We Speak
Michael Bird-Boy
Mr. Satie and the Great Art Contest
Mysterious Giant of Barletta
Now One Foot, Now the Other
Oliver Button is a Sissy
Pancakes for Breakfast
The Popcorn Book
The Quicksand Book
The Quilt Story
Smart about Art: Frida Kahlo
Shh, We're Writing the Constitution
T-Rex Is Missing
The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote
The Wind and the Sun, a retelling of the fable The North Wind and the Sun
Religious or holiday stories
Angels Angels Everywhere
Christopher the Holy Giant
The Clown of God
Francis Poor Man of Assisi
Get Dressed Santa
Guess Who's Coming to Santa's for Dinner?
The Holy Twins
Legend of Old Befana, concerning a witch (known as Befana) who brings presents to good children on Epiphany Eve (the night of January 5)
Legend of the Poinsettia
Miracles of Jesus
Miracle on 34th Street, illustrator, 1984
My First Chanukah
My First Christmas
My First Easter
My First Halloween
My First Passover
My First Thanksgiving
The Night before Christmas
Night of Las Posadas
Parables of Jesus
Pascual and the Kitchen Angels
Patrick Patron Saint of Ireland
The Song of Francis
Tomie's Little Christmas Pageant
The Friendly Beasts: An Old English Christmas Carol
The Lady of Guadalupe
Jingle the Christmas Clown
Fine art
Station of the Cross (Set of 14) in Abbey Church of Our Lady of Glastonbury, Hingham, Massachusetts
Depiction of St. Benedict in Abbey Church of Our Lady of Glastonbury, Hingham, Massachusetts
Frescoes in Refectory of Glastonbury Abbey, Hingham, Massachusetts
Dominican Retreat and Conference Center Chapel Mural, Niskayuna, New York
Tomie dePaola, Beloved Children's Author And Illustrator, Has Died
March 30, 20208:19 PM ET
Anastasia Tsioulcas
ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS
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Author Tomie dePaola, at a book signing in New York City in 2008.
Jonathan Fickies/Getty Images
The beloved children's author and illustrator Tomie dePaola, whose imaginative and warm-hearted work crossed generations and continents, died Monday at age 85. His death was announced, without details, on social media by his assistant, Bob Hechtel.
The Associated Press has reported that he died at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., from complications from surgery that followed a bad fall last week.
DePaola's work stretched over many realms of his imagination, from a magical faux-folk tale centered on a kindly and crafty Calabrian grandmother — Strega Nona, which won the Caldecott Honor Award in 1976 — to retelling the inspiring Comanche story of The Legend of the Bluebonnet. In 2000, he won a Newbery Honor for his book 26 Fairmount Avenue, which was one of his more autobiographical projects that recounted his early childhood. By dePaola's own count, he worked on some 27o books, as the author, illustrator or both — the first in 1965, and the most recent published last year.
In 2011, he won a lifetime prize, the Children's Literature Legacy Award (which, until 2018, was called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award), which hailed his "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." In all, nearly 25 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.
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Born in Meriden, Conn., on Sept. 15, 1934, dePaola earned a BFA from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn before earning higher degrees from the California College of Arts in Oakland and Lone Mountain College in San Francisco.
Along with his work as an author and illustrator, dePaola taught art and theater at various colleges in California, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. For many years, he made his home in New London, N.H.
In 1998, dePaola told All Things Considered that he hoped to recognize children for all their capabilities. "As a grownup," he said, "I want to give children the credit for everything I can: their courage, their humor, their love, their creative abilities, their abilities to be fair, their abilities to be unfair. But I do wish that we grownups would give children lots of credit for these ephemeral kind of qualities that they have."
The Delight and Sadness of Tomie dePaola
By Naomi Fry
April 6, 2020
Tomie dePaola
Tomie DePaola was highly attuned to ambivalence and to characters who experience small flares of delight and longer stretches of disappointment.Photograph by Jim Cole / AP
There are books that you read and love as a child that, when you pick them up years later, seem suddenly like near-strangers. For reasons of age or taste, what was once adored no longer resonates. Then, there are Tomie dePaola’s books. DePaola, the prolific, celebrated writer and illustrator—who died, last Monday, at age eighty-five, due to complications from surgery after a head injury caused by a fall—created more than two hundred and seventy works for children. The books have an unusual emotional and artistic power, which I immediately sensed when I read them as a girl. Even under the best of circumstances, navigating one’s way through childhood can be brutal, like clearing a path in a jungle’s thicket. Though I surely wouldn’t have been able to articulate this at the time, to encounter, as a child, dePaola’s visual and writerly voice—clear-eyed, sympathetic, gently sly—felt like coming across an ally with whom to brave that jungle.
The universe of dePaola’s books is moral but not moralistic. There is disarray in it, and people are imperfect and can make mistakes, but there is goodness, too, and a larger sense that, since an omniscient narrator is often able to shepherd the books’ protagonists to safety, the same might perhaps prove true, by extension, for the lives of these books’ readers. As the years went on, I discovered that this hope kept animating my reading of dePaola. Adulthood, after all, is a jungle, too. I could say that I rediscovered these books when I had my own daughter and began reading them to her a few years ago, but that wouldn’t be exactly true. Though there was a distinct pleasure in introducing my child to my own special favorites, I had, in fact, never really stopped reading dePaola’s works. When I moved to the U.S. in my early twenties from my native Israel, nearly two decades ago, a few well-loved dePaolas made the journey with me, like talismans.
DePaola was born in 1934, in Meriden, Connecticut, to a barber father and a homemaker mother. His family was close-knit, and his paternal grandparents hailed from the region of Italy where he set his best-known series of picture books. “In a town in Calabria, a long time ago, there lived an old lady everyone called Strega Nona, which meant ‘Grandma Witch’ ”—so begins the first of the dozen or so books in the Strega Nona series, which all feature a kindly and knowing old woman, faithfully serving her townspeople as half medicine woman, half sorceress. If the books have the air of folk tales that take place in an unspecified, vaguely Renaissance-ish historical era, where people dance the tarantella in the town square, milk their goats, and wear britches and tunics, Tudor caps and cloaks, the emotional landscape that dePaola depicted is nevertheless keenly identifiable to contemporary readers. At the start of the first, and most famous, of the books, published in 1975, Strega Nona, whose skills include healing warts, concocting effective love potions, and curing headaches “with oil and water and a hairpin,” finds that, since she is getting older, she needs someone “to help her keep her little house and garden.” She posts a sign in the town square, and the plot’s catalyzing figure enters the picture: “And Big Anthony, who didn’t pay attention, went to see her.”
What a spare but perfect description is given in that seemingly offhand clause! Anthony isn’t evil, but his mind wanders. He is crafty, but because he has an inability to think things through, his craftiness fails to hit its mark. Strega Nona has a magic pasta pot, and Anthony overhears the spell she chants to set it aburble with noodles. Unfortunately, he misses the three kisses she blows to the pot to halt the pasta’s production. When Strega Nona goes away to visit her friend Strega Amelia, over the mountain, Anthony sees his chance to prove the pot’s powers to the jeering townspeople who have long doubted what they saw as his tall tales. This attempt, of course, inevitably leads to disaster, as the pasta overflows, filling Strega Nona’s home to its rafters, and rushing down the town’s streets and into its square in a glorious avalanche. (“ ‘We are lost,’ said the people. And the priest and the sisters of the convent began praying.”)
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This would make for a stressful read if it weren’t for dePaola’s gentle humor, and his gorgeous watercolor illustrations, whose muted hues and pleasingly neat outlines seem to reflect his sympathy toward the book’s characters. Anthony, bony and wild-haired and awkward in too-large shoes and a pumpkin-colored tunic, might be no match for the pasta’s milky, overwhelming undulations. (When I was a child, the book always aroused my hunger, as, I’d like to contend, all the best books do.) The thickset, clever Strega Nona, however, arriving back home from her sojourn just in time, not only stops the noodles from destroying the town but also gives Anthony the punishment he deserves. “ ‘I want to sleep in my little bed tonight,” she says, handing him a fork, and commanding him to “start eating!” (“And he did—poor big Anthony.”)
Poor Big Anthony, indeed! He might be a fool, but dePaola made you feel for him. In what is perhaps my favorite Strega Nona book, “Big Anthony and the Magic Ring,” from 1979, the lovable dolt once again attempts to snatch some of his employer’s magical powers for himself, slipping on a golden ring that turns him into a thick-maned, cleft-chinned hunk whom all the women at the village dance want to couple with. When these ladies threaten to overwhelm him, however (“ ‘Help! Save me! Help!’ he cried”), Anthony realizes that it is, perhaps, better to remain humble-looking and untrammelled. But is it? The final page of the book shows him being pursued by Bambolona, the baker’s friendly but plain-faced daughter, who hands him a tatty bunch of flowers. For better or worse, the dream is over—but that, after all, is life.
Tomie dePaola's books on a shelf
The Strega Nona series features a kindly and knowing old woman, faithfully serving her townspeople as half medicine woman, half sorceress.Photograph by Jim Cole / AP
DePaola was highly attuned to such ambivalence, and to characters who experience everyday existence as a thing made of small flares of delight and longer stretches of disappointment and sadness. Though he was married briefly to a woman in the nineteen-sixties, dePaola was gay, and a special sensitivity to the plight of the socially marginalized undergirds his work. In the autobiographical “Oliver Button Is a Sissy,” also from 1979, he tells the story of a boy who “didn’t like to do things that boys are supposed to do,” and instead “liked to read books and draw pictures” and “sing and dance and make believe he was a movie star.” (With his dark, shaggy hair and sweet smile, Oliver is a stand-in for the young dePaola, and a double for other avatars of the author, in books such as “The Art Lesson,” or the “26 Fairmount Avenue” chapter-book series.) His parents agree to send him to tap-dancing class (“ ‘Especially for the exercise,’ Papa said”). Though some of the girls protect him, the other boys tease him, and someone graffitis the words “Oliver Button Is a Sissy” on the schoolyard wall. The adjoining illustration, which depicts Oliver standing mutely, with his hand covering his mouth, and is rendered, like the rest of the book, in a beautifully melancholic palette of light blue, brown, and white, is a real heartbreaker.
But Oliver doesn’t give up, and prepares a routine for the talent show, which he ends up losing. (“ ‘Never mind,’ said Papa, ‘we are taking our great dancer out for a great pizza. I’m so proud of you.’ ”) On Monday morning he trudges listlessly to school, where he is shocked to see that the word “Sissy” was crossed out and the word “Star” written in its place. This is a quintessential dePaola ending. The good hasn’t come to completely replace the bad—the word “Sissy” is still visible—but it has come to reside next to it. The warmth of family and friends, or even of strangers, and the pleasurable reprieve that art provides, is occasionally enough to carry us through.
SMARTNEWS Keeping you current
Children’s Book Author and Illustrator Tomie dePaola Dies at 85
Over his five-decade-plus career, the “Strega Nona” author contributed to more than 270 books
Tomie dePaola
Tomie dePaola signing books at the fourth annual "Scribbles to Novels" gala to benefit Jumpstart in 2008 (Jonathan Fickies / Getty Images)
By Katherine J. Wu
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
APRIL 1, 2020
When he was 4 years old, Tomie dePaola already knew how he would leave his mark on the world.
“Oh, I know what I’m going to be when I grow up,” he told his family, as recounted in a 2002 interview. “Yes, I’m going to be an artist, and I’m going to write stories and draw pictures for books, and I’m going to sing and tap dance on the stage.”
Over the next eight decades, dePaola accomplished each of those goals. His death on Monday at the age of 85 marks the close of a celebrated career as the author and illustrator of hundreds of children’s books, including the famous Strega Nona series, which chronicles the tales of a kindly Italian witch, reports Kathy McCormack for the Associated Press.
DePaola died at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, after suffering complications from a surgery to treat an injury sustained during a fall in his barn, according to a statement released by literary agent Doug Whiteman, as reported by Rebekah Riess and Hollie Silverman of CNN. Due to quarantine restrictions imposed to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the hospital, dePaola died in isolation.
Born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1934, dePaola pursued the arts from an early age. He went on to receive degrees from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, the California College of Arts in Oakland and Lone Mountain College in San Francisco.
By 1965, he had finished work on the book Sound by Lisa Miller—the first of more than 270 titles he’d have a hand in as an author, illustrator or both over the next 54 years, according to Anastasia Tsioulcas of NPR.
Spanning topics both lighthearted and profound, dePaola’s books often featured young children grappling with troubles he himself had experienced in youth, including bullying and the deaths of loved ones, reports Iliana Magra of the New York Times. One of his works from 1979, Oliver Button Is a Sissy, features a young boy who is persecuted by his peers for his love of dancing and reading—a gentle mirroring of the gay author’s own conflicted childhood love of tap dancing.
Strega Nona and Oliver Button
Strega Nona (left) and Oliver Button Is a Sissy (right) (Amazon)
Tormented by the stereotyped expectations of others, both dePaola and his fictional protagonist took solace in the kindness of a stranger, who crosses out the word “sissy” scrawled on a wall and replaces it with a far more apt term: “star.”
Oliver Button’s lessons weren’t loved universally, however: At least one school in Minneapolis banned the book for being “anti-sport,” according to the New York Times.
In almost all other instances, dePaola’s work, which drew inspiration from folklore and legends, was met with critical and popular acclaim. Particularly well-received was Strega Nona, a colorful, grandmotherly character who featured in more than a dozen of his books, with storylines based in Italy, where dePaola’s grandparents once lived.
Throughout his career, dePaola garnered multiple prestigious awards, including the Smithsonian Institution's Smithson Medal and the 2011 Children’s Literature Legacy Award, given in recognition of his “substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.” The author’s books have cumulatively sold almost 25 million copies worldwide.
In a statement quoted by the New York Times, Chris Sununu—governor of New Hampshire, where dePaola lived out his last years—described the author and illustrator as “a man who brought a smile to thousands of Granite State children who read his books, cherishing them for their brilliant illustrations.”
DePaola’s legacy, then, is perhaps fittingly commemorated in the imaginations of the children who will enjoy his books for decades to come.
“As a grownup, I want to give children the credit for everything I can,” he told NPR in 1998. “Their courage, their humor, their love, their creative abilities, their abilities to be fair, their abilities to be unfair … I do wish that we grownups would give children lots of credit for these ephemeral kind of qualities that they have.”
Obituary: Tomie dePaola
By Shannon Maughan | Mar 31, 2020
Comments Click Here
Laurent Linn
Tomie dePaola.
Award-winning author-illustrator Tomie dePaola, widely known for his stylized folk-art illustrations and vast catalogue of popular picture books, died March 30 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., of complications from surgery following a fall. He was 85.
Thomas Anthony “Tomie” dePaola was born September 15, 1934 in Meriden, Conn. He credited his mother’s consistent reading aloud to him every night as a great influence, stating in an interview with Something About the Author that the experience “had a lot to do with my decision to become an artist. She would read the old fairy tales and legends, especially during World War II, when my father was working the graveyard shift at a war plant job.”
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DePaola recounted many episodes from his childhood—and his colorful Italian and Irish family members—in picture books like Nana Upstairs and Downstairs (Putnam, 1973) and in his 26 Fairmount Avenue series of autobiographical chapter books. The first of those, 26 Fairmount Avenue (Putnam, 1999) was awarded a 2000 Newbery Honor.
He had a love for drawing early on and also began writing poetry during middle school. He pursued his talent for both throughout his school years and earned a scholarship to Pratt Institute in New York. While in art school he discovered an appreciation for such artists as Matisse as well as for such iconic religious artists as Botticelli, and for folk art as well—all of which can be seen as influences on his children’s book illustration.
DePaola graduated from Pratt in 1956 with a B.F.A. and then went to Vermont where he continued his art while living in a small Benedictine monastery. Following his time there, dePaola embarked on an art career, which including teaching art and theater to college students and doing design, painting, and illustration projects. In 1965, he published his first book as the illustrator of Sound by Lisa Miller (Coward McCann, 1965). The first book he both wrote and illustrated followed a year later, The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin (Bobbs-Merrill,1966). These titles kicked off what would be a very prolific career.
In the midst of producing his early picture books, dePaola had headed west and earned his M.F.A. at California College of Arts and Crafts in 1969 as well as a doctorate equivalency from Lone Mountain College. By 1971 he had crossed the country again and settled in a small town in New Hampshire, which was his home base for many years, where he worked out of a renovated 200-year-old barn.
Strega Nona: An Old Tale (Prentice-Hall, 1975) launched what was perhaps his best known series of picture books, and follows the humorous adventures of kindly Italian witch Strega Nona and her hapless assistant Big Anthony. That title won a Caldecott Honor in 1976.
DePaola at the Simon & Schuster offices.
In all, dePaola created more than 270 books for children which have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. Among the copious accolades he received over the years are the New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award for Living Treasure the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota.
DePaola produced much of his work during a 20-year exclusive global contract with Putnam, and following that term had embarked on a new, very full chapter of his career. In 2015, he celebrated his 50th year in publishing and in a PW interview marking that milestone, he spoke of his book Look and Be Grateful (Holiday House, 2015) and shared information on a burst of projects including The Magical World of Strega Nona treasury (Putnam, 2015) and a slate of new and reissued picture books from Simon & Schuster, including the Andy & Sandy series, his first-ever early reader books. In October 2018, his S&S title Quiet hit the New York Times bestseller list. At least 12 of dePaola’s books are being published in new or refreshed editions in 2020 by a variety of publishers. Among those is The Cloud Book, which was originally published in 1975 and reissued by Holiday House earlier this month.
In the same PW interview, dePaola reflected on his life and career. “With [Look and Be Grateful], I want to show children what gratefulness is, because I’m concerned that it has become lost at the moment,” he said “I’ve made so many great friendships and relationships along the way, and now, in my sage years, I am thankful every day for being where I am.”
Doug Whiteman, dePaola’s agent, former publisher, and longtime friend, offered this remembrance: “My memories of times spent with Tomie could quite literally fill a book, although perhaps not one intended for children. Plucking a fairly recent one from the air, I was visiting Tomie’s house shortly after his mini-tour for Quiet, which had made the New York Times bestseller list. Tomie didn't like to brag, but in close company he could let it be known that he was well-pleased with such an accomplishment. At this time he was often wheeled around in a wheelchair, even to go across the courtyard from his studio to his house. As we talked late into the night, I mentioned the incredible autumn he had just experienced: a show at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, a presentation at the Guggenheim in New York, a sold-out signing tour, and that Times bestseller. Tomie literally got up from his chair, danced across the room, and skipped up some steps to get me another drink. Diminished as he was physically, sheer joy and spirit lifted him and made him young again—and Tomie never really grew old.”
For a collection of tributes to Tomie dePaola by his friends and colleagues in the industry, click here.
Tomie dePaola, ‘Strega Nona’ Author and Illustrator, Dies at 85
Mr. dePaola wrote or illustrated more than 270 books, notably the beloved stories of a “grandma witch” with an eternally full pasta pot.
Tomie dePaola in his studio in New London, N.H., in 2013. Of the many books he wrote and illustrated, he said the ones that resonated most with children were inspired by his own life.
Tomie dePaola in his studio in New London, N.H., in 2013. Of the many books he wrote and illustrated, he said the ones that resonated most with children were inspired by his own life.Credit...Jim Cole/Associated Press
By Iliana Magra and Julia Carmel
Published March 31, 2020
Updated April 2, 2020
Tomie dePaola, the celebrated author and illustrator whose scores of children’s books nurtured and delighted several generations of readers, died on Monday in Lebanon, N.H. He was 85.
His literary agent, Doug Whiteman, said the cause was complications of an operation that Mr. dePaola had after a fall.
Mr. dePaola, whose best-known work was the “Strega Nona” series, wrote or illustrated more than 270 books. The ones that resonated most with children, he told The Times in 1999, were the ones inspired by his own life.
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A grandmother and great-grandmother of his formed the basis of the characters in “Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs” (1973), one of his most widely read books, which dealt with the death of each woman. The homecoming of his baby sister Maureen inspired “On My Way” (2001). His grandparents were from Calabria, the region in southern Italy where Mr. dePaola chose to set his “Strega Nona” books.
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Mr. dePaola’s grandparents were from Calabria, the region in southern Italy where he set “Strega Nona” (1975) and its sequels, which told the story of a kindly witch.
Mr. dePaola’s grandparents were from Calabria, the region in southern Italy where he set “Strega Nona” (1975) and its sequels, which told the story of a kindly witch.
“Strega Nona” (1975) and its sequels tell the story of a kindly “grandma witch,” the title character, who helps her fellow Calabrian townspeople with magic and an eternally full pasta pot.
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“DePaola’s illustrations aptly capture the whimsy of this ancient tale,” Norma Malina Feld wrote in her review of the first book in The New York Times. “And while his simple line drawings clearly reveal the agony and ecstasy of pasta power, the muted colors create just the right ambience for a quaint Mediterranean village.”
The book went on to win the Caldecott Medal, which recognizes the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Thomas Anthony dePaola was born on Sept. 15, 1934, in Meriden, Conn., to Joseph and Florence (Downey) dePaola. His father was a barber, and his mother was a homemaker.
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He studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn (which named him “one of the top 125 Pratt icons of all time” in 2012, according to his website), the California College of Arts in Oakland and Lone Mountain College in San Francisco. He taught in the art and theater departments of colleges in California, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Mr. dePaola was married briefly in the 1960s, but later in life he spoke openly about being gay.
“If it became known you were gay, you’d have a big red ‘G’ on your chest,” he said in a 2019 interview for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, “and schools wouldn’t buy your books anymore.”
Mr. dePaola’s “Oliver Button Is a Sissy” (1979), inspired by his own life, was the first picture book to come close to using the word “gay.” The book, about a young boy who is bullied by his peers for preferring dancing and reading to playing sports, was briefly banned by a suburban Minneapolis school, Mr. dePaola recalled in the 1999 interview, “because they felt it was anti-sport.”
Like Oliver Button, Mr. dePaola was a tap dancer when he was young. To the chagrin of his father, he insisted on dangling his tap shoes from his shoulder. But after he started performing, he added, his father took pride in his abilities.
Echoing Mr. dePaola’s experience, Oliver Button was rescued by an unknown helper who crossed out the word “sissy,” scribbled on a wall, and replaced it with another S-word, “star.”
“I was called sissy in my young life,” Mr. dePaola said in 1999, “but instead of internalizing these painful experiences, I externalize them in my work.”
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Mr. dePaola spoke openly about being gay. His book “Oliver Button Is a Sissy” (1979) was inspired by his own life.
Mr. dePaola spoke openly about being gay. His book “Oliver Button Is a Sissy” (1979) was inspired by his own life.
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Mr. dePaola received multiple awards, including the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota. He was the United States nominee for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award in illustration in 1990. In 2011, he won the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, given by the Association for Library Service to Children, for his “substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”
Despite almost universal admiration for Mr. dePaola’s books, some were briefly banned. Before “Oliver Button Is a Sissy” briefly met that fate, “Strega Nona” had been banned by a number of American libraries for painting magic in a positive light.
Later in life, Mr. dePaola lived and worked in a renovated 200-year-old barn with his beloved Welsh terriers, Madison, Markus, Morgan and Moffat. After his terriers died about 2010, he got an Airedale named Bronte, who died several years ago.
According to his agent, Mr. Whiteman, the book Mr. dePaola was working on at his death was titled “Where Are You, Bronte?”
Mr. dePaola is survived by two sisters, Maureen Rogers and Judie Bobbi. His older brother, Joseph, died in 1973.
In a 2002 interview with the website Reading Rockets, Mr. dePaola said he had known he would be an artist since he was 4.
“‘Oh, I know what I’m going to be when I grow up,’” he recalled telling his family. “‘Yes, I’m going to be an artist, and I’m going to write stories and draw pictures for books, and I’m going to sing and tap dance on the stage.’”
“And,” he added, “I’ve managed to do all those things.”
An Interview With ‘Strega Nona’ Artist Tomie dePaola, Who Died Today At Age 85
Tomie DePaola, from “The Art Lesson," 1989.
ARTMARCH 30, 2020 Greg Cook 0
Tomie dePaola—the New Hampshire artist and children’s book creator who won the Caldecott Honor for his 1975 book “Strega Nona” about a kindly witch—died today at age 85.
The Associated Press reported: “DePaola died at the Dartmouth-Hancock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, according to his literary agent, Doug Whiteman. He was badly injured in a fall last week and died of complications following surgery.” Coronavirus was not a factor, according to R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, where dePaola exhibited his artworks.
Tomie dePaola was born in Meridien, Connecticut, in 1934. His stories often drew on his own life—his childhood and family, his Catholic faith, his family’s roots in Italy. Since illustrating his first children’s book in 1965, he authored and illustrated more than 270 books including his 2000 Newbery Honor Award book “26 Fairmount Avenue” and his pioneering 1979 book about a young gay child, “Oliver Button Is a Sissy.”
I telephoned dePaola at his home in New London, New Hampshire, in fall 2009 to interview him on the occasion of his career-survey exhibition, “Drawings from the Heart: Tomie dePaola Turns 75,” at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.
He was then recuperating from carpal tunnel surgery on his drawing hand and various other ailments that forced him to very reluctantly cancel his fall book tour. We spoke about his process; about his fascination with folk tales and legends of Europe, Mexico, Native America, and the Catholic church; about his faith; about what it’s like to be a gay children’s book author and illustrator; and about his love of New England. Below are some excerpts:
Tomie DePaola, c. 2009.
Tomie DePaola, c. 2009.
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Tomie dePaola: “In those early days, picture books, we weren’t able to use full colors. It was just too expensive. So the books were printed in what was called pre-separation. It would be a black base plate and then overlays. The color would be chosen in either line application or half-tone application. If you were lucky you got three colors. The average was two colors – black and one color. On many of the books, there was black and white on one page and on the following page black and the color. So I was getting messages from little kids saying, ‘You forgot to color in the whole book.’”
“I use acrylic. Years ago I was doing watercolor. I don’t think I’ve done anything in watercolor since after the first ‘Strega Nona’ [1975]. Because ‘Clown of God’ [1978] is in acrylic. They developed an acrylic that was strong enough that you didn’t have to put it on thickly. You could water it way down and it would still hold its integrity. And it was light fast. That became very important because back in the ‘70s there was a beginning of the growing market– which is still growing – of original children’s book illustration as art. And people buying it as art. Like the Michelson Gallery in Northampton, and the Cove Gallery in Wellfleet and certain other galleries across the country that actually sell original children’s book illustration. So that’s when I switched to acrylic … On top of that I do paintings and drawings that are non-books. A lot of people don’t even know I do that except the people who go to see my gallery shows at various places. I’ve always shown in art galleries as well as through the book publications.”
Tomie DePaola, autographed title page of "Strega Nona," 1975.
Tomie DePaola, autographed title page of “Strega Nona,” 1975.
“I don’t have any secrets of working. I get an idea. I discuss the idea with my editor. It goes around and around. Then I sit down and write the text. Sometimes the text comes very easy. And sometimes it’s a real struggle. There are different kinds of texts that just are cranky and others that just flow out onto paper. And then always the editorial process, which is a very interesting process for me, discussing it with the various editors that I work with. In the meantime, we kind of are settled on the size. That, of course, is all agreed upon by sales and marketing these days. And bookstores, because bookstores don’t like books that are too big, that they can’t shelve. So there are sort of standard sizes. And I discuss that with my art director. Then I start to fool around and see how I want to express the art in this particular book coming up and what technique I’m going to use and what materials I’m going to use. Quite often, if the book is one of my autobiographical picture books or a ‘Strega Nona’ the style is pretty well set. The ‘Strega Nona’ books all look alike, and they should. The same with the books about myself as a little kid. Then I have a chance to branch off into things like ‘Adelita’ [2002], the Mexican Cinderella story that I created. Then I branched out recently into some little forays into collage. There’s a book called ‘Song of Francis’ [2009] and I did that all in collage.”
“Years ago the great artist Ben Shahn, I heard him give a lecture called ‘The Shape of Content.’ He strongly felt that the old masters and the pre-Medieval painters, like Giotto and Fra Angelico, their shapes and their style were really in sync with the content of their images. Fra Angelico used the Romanesque rounded arch over and over again to set up a rhythm of calmness. And he only painted calm scenes. There’s very few Fra Angelico crucifixions. They’re mostly annunciation or birth of Christ, etcetera. For me that’s part of my personal training. … Certainly if I’m going to do a New England group of folk tales or folk sayings I’m going to make the landscape and people look as New Englandy as possible, and the same with Mexican or Italian.”
“I hate to do sketches. So I go from little tiny thumbnails on toilet paper to pencil drawing on my expensive watercolor paper and go right to finishes. I give them the option, I say, ‘I’ll do it over if you insist.’ But, of course, they don’t ask me to do it over very much. Every once in a while. Not too often. I found out there’s some people that thrive on doing these elaborate sketches, layered sketches. I find that my art dies. I lose the spontaneity of the spirit of my hand, my signature, my calligraphic line.”
“I think one of the most important things for the visual artist is to have self-criticism. Most artists I know know when they do something really lousy. And if they don’t know they’ve done something lousy the kids will tell them. They’re not shy about it at all.”
Tomie DePaola, from "The Clown of God," 1978.
Tomie DePaola, from “The Clown of God,” 1978.
In the 1950s, you considered becoming a monk? “Yes, at the Benedictine community and Western Priory in Weston, Vermont. The monastery is still there. There’s 12 men. They’re very good friends of mine. As well as the Benedictine nuns at Regina Laudis Abbey in Bethlehem, Connecticut. I think it was more that there were other things for me to do with my life, and one of them was to really and truly be a full-fledged artist. If you’re a monk artist, you’re really divided in your priorities. But I’ll never regret any of the minutes I spent in the monastery, or my wanting to explore it, because it certainly added to my own personal spiritual life. I consider myself a good Benedictine in my soul. As I say, I’m still very friendly with the Benedictines. I was only there about six months the first time. I tried three times – 1956, 1966 and then a very brief couple weekends in ’70, ’71. I gave it the good old school try.”
On Sister Corita Kent: “We showed at the same gallery [Botolph Gallery in Boston]. We became friends. We were kind of in the same Catholic liberal [group]. This was during the Vietnam War, and there was a whole group of us, and a lot of contemporary liturgical artists. From the time I was in art school I was always interested in contemporary liturgical art, because I always thought the art of the contemporary Catholic church was horrible, sentimental. And when you compared it with the beautiful pre-Renaissance, the beautiful Gothic cathedrals and the Romanesque carvings, spirituality had gone out of the buildings and the artwork. I’m talking about the kind of church I went to as a child. It was all the glass-eyed statues and all this over-decorated stuff and these sappy stained glass windows. You go compare a window at Chartres or Notre Dame de Paris to Boston Cathedral, one is schlock and one is art. That is not to say there aren’t some beautiful contemporary [churches]. In fact if you want to see some incredible contemporary stained glass windows go to St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Their abbey church was built by Marcel Breuer. And several of his friends, including Josef Albers, did the windows.”
Tomie DePaola, from "The Legend of Old Befana" 1980.
Tomie DePaola, from “The Legend of Old Befana” 1980.
“That was a very interesting time to be a liberal Catholic. The Berrigan brothers were alive and well. I was teaching at Newton College of the Sacred Heart at that time, the early ‘60s. I was actually teaching in the Boston area and living in New York. So I was commuting. It was a quite interesting time because of the Berrigan brothers and the Immaculate Heart Sisters in Los Angeles and Corita and a wonderful man named Norman Laliberté, who still lives in the Boston area.”
Laliberté “did these incredible banners. The bunch of us were all excited because suddenly the church – whatever that meant – had the opportunity to be a patron of the arts again. But it was short lived. It got very confusing. And I think what happened is there was stuff going on in the Vatican, they saw power slipping away and suddenly this whole thing came to a grinding halt.”
DePaola left the Catholic Church around this time. “The writing was on the wall that the political forces that were going to control the church were more conservative and more party line and not interested in maybe more social justice, etcetera. I think a lot of people did get very disillusioned. … Then the Vietnam War started and we kind of took our energies from trying to make our sacred spaces more sacred and less sentimental.”
Tomie DePaola, from "Strega Nona," 1975.
Tomie DePaola, from “Strega Nona,” 1975.
“‘Strega Nona’ was based on an old folktale called ‘The Porridge Pot Story.’ That was kind of de rigueur. Illustrators were doing a lot of folk tales because librarians loved them. I was brought up with my mother reading me folk tales and legends. I loved folk tales and legends. I think it’s just that it touches part of the soul of man.”
You’ve done big public lives of saints. “This is an interesting thing to me. I’ve gotten sort of pegged doing, you just said, ‘big lives of the saints.’ Now I’ve done four small picture books on the lives of certain saints. And they’re certain saints that are kind of appealing to non-Catholics as well as Catholics. And not a one of them has any proselytization in it. I did it because they were good stories.”
“I see the legend of St. Christopher as a very beautiful legend. St. Christopher was thrown out of the calendar of saints during Pope Paul VI. When that happened I said, ‘Oh, come on, that’s ridiculous.’ It doesn’t matter whether he truly lived or not. The legend has a message to it and it’s a beautiful legend, and I’m going to rewrite it and re-illustrate it. … I’m interested in these saintly figures or Biblical figures or traditional figures that are gentle like this gentle giant [Christopher], like Benedict and Scholastica, who actually lived, and formed Western monasticism. And who knows whether Pascual lived or not. That’s another little legend, a Spanish saint, the patron saint of cooking. And the way these people become saints of whatever they’re doing is sometimes really interesting, kind of childlike, and it’s a good story. There was a great English spiritual writer of the late ‘30s, early ‘40s, her name was Caryll Houselander. I loved her writing very much. She was a very, very deep spiritual writer. She made the statement once that people should publish these wonderful legends and stories about the saints because they read like fairy tales. I said, ‘Oh, that’s a very interesting idea. I think I’m going to try that.’ And it’s part of my growing up. I heard those stories as a child. … And nobody seemed to care whether Christopher really lived or not. I loved it when he was thrown out of the calendar of the saints and several Jewish friends of mine said, ‘Well, I’m not getting rid of my St. Christopher medals.’ Everybody I knew had St. Christopher medals because he was the patron saint of travel.”
Tomie DePaola, from "Oliver Button Is a Sissy," 1979.
Tomie DePaola, from “Oliver Button Is a Sissy,” 1979.
What is it like to be a gay children’s book artist? “It’s probably one of the best fields to be gay in frankly. I found out right from the get-go it made absolutely no difference amongst the editors and the professionals. I imagine there’s some danger if some born-again Christian school out in Midwest finds out. ‘Oh my God, get him out of here.’ But I’ve never had any problems with it. And, of course, there’s so many gay and lesbian people in the field that it’s sort of a moot point. I think it allowed me the opportunity when I was a child not to waste my time batting my head against other people on the football team but to sit and draw. And to take tap dancing lessons and find out about the great world of the stage.”
Which comes up in your book “Oliver Button is a Sissy” (1979): “That book is still in print. But I have to say that personally I’ve never had anything really horrendous happen to me, that I’ve had to ‘face.’ And now I really do think it’s a moot point. Barbara Lucas, who was my editor for ‘Oliver Button,’ I think she was pretty brave to publish it back when it was published. It’s had a long life. And I don’t think it got pulled off shelves as much as the more politically-oriented books like ‘Heather Has Two Mommies.’ Because of the age of the character of the book, sexuality doesn’t play a part in it at all. … It was about being different.”
Tomie DePaola, from “Front Porch Tales & North Country Whoppers," 2007.
Tomie DePaola, from “Front Porch Tales & North Country Whoppers,” 2007.
How did you come to the New England tales in “Front Porch Tales & North Country Whoppers” (2007)? “I live here. It’s about time that some of these old New England shaggy dog stories are resurrected and put in a collection, at least the beginning of a collection. And, who knows, there may be another volume of those. I moved to New England in 1956. Right out of art school, I entered the monastery. Then left, and came back almost immediately to live in the town of Weston, Vermont, in the middle of the Green Mountains. It was a little mountain village. We were pretty isolated every winter. You’d have to drive all the way over to Bromley and Route 7 to get to Rutland from Weston. We really did have mud season. There was no such thing as paved roads. There were a lot of these wonderful Yankee stories. And a lot of them are getting lost.”
“Since I’ve lived in New London from ’72 I’ve seen a huge change. A lot of the old timers have died off. There are a lot of people moving in from Massachusetts and Connecticut. The kids don’t have farm work to do after school anymore. It’s a totally changed community from what it was when I first moved here. It was a very agricultural community. We do have a nice farm stand. We do have some sort of nice farms. It’s mostly a retirement community for people who have moved to the country for ‘the good life.’ And, of course, what they want is the good life that they used to have in Massachusetts. So I wanted to preserve some of those very funny stories. And I hadn’t seen anybody doing it in a way that I felt I could do it.”
Tomie DePaola, from "Little Grunt and the Big Egg," 1990.
Tomie DePaola, from “Little Grunt and the Big Egg,” 1990.
“They’re part of the fabric of the culture, of the place. If I express some of those things that are in ‘Front Porch Tales’: ‘Have you lived here all your life?’ ‘Not yet.’ I’ve never heard that joke from somebody in the Midwest. They have different jokes.”
“There’s that story in ‘Front Porch Tales’ of my friend Jack and I being invited to sit with Maude and Frank Stevens one Saturday night. And that’s an absolutely true story. We sat there. We didn’t say a word. Maude made fried doughnuts. We sat there. The clock ticked. Finally, Lonnie Fuller said, ‘Well, I’ve got to be going. Really nice sittin’ with you, Frank.’ We got in the car and I was like, ‘What the hell was that all about.’ We didn’t say a word. Nobody said a word. And I wasn’t about to because I was the youngest one there. I was 21. And I was an artist. And I had been with those monk fellows for a while. It was like going to the moon. But it was fascinating and it was fun.”
“There were really were these old timers that would sit on the front porch of the country store and just have comments about everything. I really did hear, my own ears, I heard an old farmer on the front porch of a store, when a tourist stopped and said, ‘Excuse me. Do you know the way to Rutland?’ he said, ‘Aiyah.’ And that was his answer.”
What keeps you in New England? “It’s that independence. It’s that hard working. It’s the change of the season. It’s the fact that we still have town meeting here. It’s the urban quality but it doesn’t have this frightening Plains huge expanse of prairie that I find a little disturbing. Whereas people that come from the Plains and come to a small New England town feel hemmed in. I said once to some school children, they said, ‘New Hampshire’s very small on the map.’ I said, ‘Well, no. It maybe looks small on the map, but there are a lot of mountains in New Hampshire and if you ironed it all flat it would be just as big as Minnesota.’”
Strega Nona author Tomie dePaola made a life of comforting strangers
Jeva Lange
March 31, 2020
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There are certain characters we meet in the pages of books who stay with us our entire lives. Saying so, though, is a bit of a cliché, the sort of sentimental aphorism you might find painted on the wall of a bookstore. Still, albeit hokey, it's true. And this past week, I was tapped on the shoulder by Strega Nona.
Prior, I hadn't thought about the children's book author and illustrator Tomie dePaola in probably a decade; I'm in the limbo of life between being a child and having my own. That means I (sadly) don't spend much time thinking about picture books, even the ones I deeply loved, like dePaola's tale of the "Grandmother Witch" and her magic pot of spaghetti. Yet randomly, unbidden, Strega Nona — and the third-grade school teacher who introduced me to her all those years ago — have been on my mind.
I do not find it particularly remarkable, however, that I was thinking about dePaola and his creation already when I heard the news on Monday that he had passed away at the age of 85 due to complications from surgery. While it is difficult to generalize about someone who wrote or illustrated more than 270 books in his lifetime, dePaola was, fundamentally, a nurturer. This is reflected in his preoccupation with characters who are caregivers — many of his stories, including the Strega Nona series, center on elderly women and their domestic or family lives — but also in his soft, pale color palettes that invite, but never insist on, your attention. With the world outside so confusing and scary, it seems only natural to turn inward to memories of simple, softer times, and to the characters who once were comforts and teachers.
Born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1934, dePaola's young life and family informed his stories and illustrations. Oliver Button Is a Sissy, "a book about a young boy who is bullied by his peers for preferring dancing and reading to doing sports, was inspired by his own experiences as a child," The New York Times writes. In 26 Fairmount Avenue, which won a 2000 Newbery Honor, dePaola shares his childhood memories from the year 1938, including mistaking his great-grandmother's chocolate laxative as a treat, and seeing Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in the theater.
But DePaola was an especially beautiful writer on the subject of death. The departed are shown by dePaola as serene and ever-present forces. In The Legend of the Bluebonnet, a retelling of a Comanche Nation legend, a young orphan describes her mother and father and the grandparents "she had never known" as being "all like shadows," with DePaola depicting the family members in a beige-and-pink wisp of memory. Perhaps his best known work on death, though, is Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, in which he illustrates losing both his great-grandmother and his grandmother. "She will come back in your memory whenever you think about her," the protagonist Tommy's mother says, and both women later visit him in the form of shooting stars.
DePaola's deep respect for matriarchs, both biographical and fictional, is what he will be most remembered for, though. In an oft-quoted interview with The Associated Press in 2013, dePaola said of Strega Nona's popularity, "I think it's because she's like everybody's grandmother. She's cute, she's not pretty, she's kind of funny-looking, but she's sweet, she's understanding. And she's a little saucy, she gets a little irritated every once in a while." It's hard to say it better than he does himself — while poor Big Anthony is the one who gets up to hijinks, it is the forgiving Strega Nona who sticks in the memory (and who flashed into my head this week, with her potato-nose, hunched back, and pot of endless spaghetti). Pancakes for Breakfast is a tender, textless book about another matronly woman, who lives alone with just her cat, dog, and farm animals (and amusingly mooches all her neighbors' pancakes away from them). But perhaps most emblematic of DePaola's love of matriarchs is when Tommy's brother, in Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, sees his great-grandmother with her hair down and runs from the room claiming she looks like a witch. To that, Tommy — really, Tomie — fumes: "She does not! She's beautiful."
Even his quirkiest tales are as intensely earnest. "It's not fun," is what DePaola insisted to America Magazine of his career in 2018. "It's very, very hard work and I take it very seriously." He added, as he had maintained all his life, that "only the very best is good enough for children." A Catholic, DePaola didn't often explicitly put religion into his work (although he did write several books about the Bible and saints). Still, his self-described "great reverence for life" glows through every page and every illustration, from the enormous animals that populate backgrounds to his auxiliary characters, like neighbors and townspeople, who you imagine he could have written entire books about, too.
I found myself thinking of DePaola the past few days, both because it's easy to retreat into memories right now, but also because there's a soothing rhythm to his stories that is still there as an adult. In the books, Tommy will always eat his grandmother's laxative, there will always be pancakes for breakfast, and my beloved Strega Nona will always forgive Big Anthony. DePaola understood that existence is made up of our foibles, follies, and imperfections, and his legacy will be the comfort he extends to each of us with his stories, the reassurance that however messily, things work out. "With the computer, it's so easy to fix your mistakes," DePaola once said. "I don't want that, at least not in this lifetime."
Klein, Cheryl B. WINGS Atheneum (Children's Fiction) $17.99 3, 5 ISBN: 978-1-5344-0510-3
In a narrative told with just 12 rhyming words and dePaola's bright collages, a fledgling takes its first flight.
"Wings!" the text proclaims as the chubby pink bird stretches its pinions. But: "Clings," it continues as the little bird looks down, claws gripping the nest. The bird "flings" itself out, then tumbles and falls into a puddle ("stings"), "wrings" itself dry, inspects its bruises (or "dings"), gazes at some "things" (a snail and some worms), one of which it resolves to "bring" back to the nest. It "springs" back into the air, "sings" in triumph, flies in "rings" through the air, and "zings" with its nest mates up to two parent birds. While it's a complete arc, the book feels more like a stunt than a story. Limiting the text to one-syllable "ing" words results in the not-really-apropos "stings" when the bird crash-lands, the at-first-inscrutable "dings" (children and adults alike will wonder where the dinging sound is coming from before the adult readers recall its alternate meaning), and the flabby "things." DePaola's illustrations too often fail to pick up the slack: The bird shakes the water off rather than "wring[ing]" itself dry; depicting the singular conjugation "sings" are the three nest mates with beaks open and the protagonist, its beak clamped shut on a worm--just who is singing?
An artful curiosity and perhaps a challenge for writing units, but not a great picture book. (Picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Klein, Cheryl B.: WINGS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2019. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A573768906/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=48ae65f2. Accessed 14 June 2020.
Wings.
By Cheryl B. Klein. Illus. by Tomie dePaola.
Mar. 2019.40p. Atheneum, $17.99 (9781534405103). PreS-Gr. 1.
Using minimal, rhyming text (no more than one word per spread), Klein (The Magic Words, 2016) and the prolific dePaola detail a baby bird's first tentative steps toward independence. A pinkish chick in a purple nest "clings" to the edge and finally "flings" himself over the side, landing in a shallow puddle, which "stings." He "wrings" water from his feathers, checks for "dings," examines "things" (earthworms), and then "springs" into the air as he "brings" a worm to his nest-bound siblings, each of whom "sings" with gratitude. Eventually all the nestlings try their own wings, joining their parents (who have been observing from the branch of a nearby tree) in a family flight. Klein's clever text offers just enough structure to keep the narrative going, while dePaola's collage and mixed-media illustrations fill in additional details. Sunny backgrounds (in pastel shades of yellow, orange, pink, purple, and green) offer pleasing contrasts to the birds and their surroundings. Reflective of the text, the artwork is uncluttered, focusing on the new fledgling and his immediate environment. The bird's eyes change from spread to spread, revealing his emotional status at every turn. Perfect for toddler storytimes, one-on-one sharing, or early emergent readers, this one sings to young and old alike. More, please?--Kay Weisman
YA RECOMMENDATIONS
* Young adult recommendations for adult, audio, and reference titles reviewed in this issue have been contributed by the Booklist staff and by reviewers Michael Cart, Laura Chanoux, Sara Martinez, Kathleen McBroom, Colleen Mondor, and Margaret Quamme.
* Adult titles recommended for teens are marked with the following symbols: YA, for books of general YA interest; YA/C, for books with particular curriculum value; YA/S, for books that will appeal most to teens with a special interest in a specific subject; and YA/M, for books best suited to mature teens.
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Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
Weisman, Kay. "Wings." Booklist, vol. 115, no. 6, 15 Nov. 2018, p. 61. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A563682678/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=25d64097. Accessed 14 June 2020.