SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: SISTER WISH
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.gisellepotter.com/
CITY: Kingston
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 317
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born May 28, 1970, in Cambridge, MA; daughter of puppeteers; married Kieran Kinsella (a furniture maker); children: Pia, Isabel.
EDUCATION:Rhode Island School of Design, B.F.A., 1994.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Illustrator and author. Exhibitions: Works included in exhibitions hosted by Society of Illustrators—Los Angeles, Society of Illustrators—New York, and Storyopolis, Los Angeles, CA.
AWARDS:Notable Book citation, American Library Association, 1997, for both Mr. Semolina-Semolinus and Gabriella’s Song, 2000, for Three Cheers for Catherine the Great, and 2001 for Kate and the Beanstalk; Marion Vanett Ridgway first place award, 1998, for Mr. Semolina-Semolinus; Parent’s Gold Choice Award, 2006, for The Boy Who Loved Words.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including New Yorker and the New York Times.
SIDELIGHTS
Shaped by a thoroughly unconventional childhood, Giselle Potter has followed her creative muse as an adult author and illustrator of children’s books. As the daughter of parents employed as traveling puppeteers, Potter spent a great deal of time on the road as a child, entertaining audiences of the Mystic Paper Beasts puppet theatre and amusing herself by drawing and keeping a journal. Her grandparents were painters and encouraged her when she spent long hours working on her art. “I drew a lot as a kid because that is what everyone around me did,” Potter recalled on the Random House website. In keeping with her experiences, her quirky pictures often grace stories about unusual, adventurous, and family-oriented heroines.
Potter studied traditional Balinese miniature paintings in Indonesia and spent her final year of formal study at the Rhode Island School of Design in Rome, painting images of the saints. This latter experience led to the publication of her first self-illustrated work, Lucy’s Eyes and Margaret’s Dragon: The Lives of the Virgin Saints. As a fledgling professional with a unique illustration style, Potter landed freelance work with the New Yorker and New York Times before moving into children’s books, where she has illustrated works by authors ranging from Cari Best, Mary Pope Osborne, and Ursula Hegi to poet Gertrude Stein and musician Suzzy Roche.
During her career as an illustrator, Potter has collaborated with Best on the “Catherine the Great” books: Three Cheers for Catherine the Great! and When Catherine the Great and I Were Eight! These stories look back lovingly at Best’s Russian grandmother who lived in New York City. In her Booklist review of Three Cheers for Catherine the Great!, Shelle Rosenfeld commended Potter’s “festive, whimsical artwork” for the story, writing that it is “filled with rich detail and diverse, expressive characters.” Another collaboration with Best, Beatrice Spells Some Lulus and Learns to Write a Letter, sparks enthusiasm over writing in its story of a girl who finds a novel way to share her excitement over word-creation.
Potter’s naïf-style illustrations enhance Osborne’s text in the fractured fairy tales Kate and the Beanstalk and The Brave Little Seamstress. These humorous stories offer a feminist spin on standard folk tales, giving the hero’s role to plucky heroines who use their wits to save the day. A Publishers Weekly critic wrote of Kate and the Beanstalk that “there’s much to enjoy in this spunky picture book, which puts a fresh face on an old favorite.” In Booklist, Julie Cummins noted that Potter’s mixed-media illustrations “affix just the right amount of sauciness to the cheeky heroine.”
Osborne and Potter were joined by Osborne’s husband, Will Osborne, for another fairy tale with a twist: Sleeping Bobby. Like the heroine in “Sleeping Beauty,” an infant prince named Bob is cursed when only twelve of the kingdom’s thirteen wise women are invited to celebrate his birth. Although his parents ban spindles and spinning wheels, Prince Bob’s sense of adventure makes being cursed appealing; when his enchantment takes effect, only a princess with a spirit of adventure to match his own will be able to forge through the brambles surrounding the royal castle. “Potter’s mixed-media paintings suggest destined romance and humble magic between the well-matched couple,” noted a contributor to Publishers Weekly. Considering the illustrations to be a high point of the book, a Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that “Potter continues the style set by the two earlier books—flat gouache-and-watercolor artwork in earth tones.” In Horn Book Robin Smith wrote that the artist’s “wide-sweeping illustrations perfectly complement the droll retelling,” and Booklist critic Gillian Engberg maintained that “Potter’s richly costumed, expressive characters amplify both the humor and sense of magic.”
Potter’s work includes several picture-book stories cast in the style of folktales. Reviewing Roni Schotter’s The Boy Who Loved Words , a Kirkus Reviews critic noted that the author’s text is “enlivened by Potter’s distinctively naive figures,” and School Library Journal critic Joy Fleishhacker wrote that her “folk-art paintings echo the story’s whimsy and set the action in an idyllic-looking, early-20th-century past.” The tale of a misfit hero, Alan Madison’s unique story The Littlest Grape Stomper comes to life in “dryly funny paintings” by Potter that “emit a folklorish, Old World quality,” according to a contributor to Publishers Weekly. Martha Simpson, writing for School Library Journal, commented of the same story that “the stylized pencil, ink, gouache, gesso, and watercolor artwork is vintage Potter in all its quirky glory.”
Potter’s illustrations have also accompanied Ralph Covert’s Sawdust and Spangles: The Amazing Life of W.C. Coup, a biography of the circus man, Ann Ingalls and Maryann Macdonald’s The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend, and a collection of French folk tales titled The Hare and the Tortoise and Other Fables of La Fontaine. The Orphan: A Cinderella Story from Greece pairs a text by Anthony L. Manna and Soula Mitakidou with “flat, stylized watercolor illustrations [that] add a folkloric air,” according to Booklist contributor Diane Foote. Marilyn Taniguchi began her School Library Journal review of this “well-crafted” picture book by asserting that “simple yet lyrical storytelling combined with Potter’s masterful watercolors brings this tale to life.”
Potter’s unique illustration style has lent itself to some rather quirky tales over the course of her career, among them a new edition of Gertrude Stein’s 1957 children’s book To Do. Emily Jenkins’s Sugar Would Not Eat It, the story of a stray kitten and the boy who is worried when its dietary preferences do not align with his own, comes to life through Potter’s use of “unusual perspective and hot, bright colors [to] create visual tension,” according to a Kirkus Reviews writer. An unusual child in an unusual family finds a very unusual pet in Matthea Harvey’s Cecil the Pet Glacier, and here Potter’s “folk-art-style illustrations” give the story “a certain offbeat charm,” according to School Library Journal contributor Roxanna Berg. Another picture book, Roche’s Want to Be in a Band?, presents a child-friendly memoir of a well-known folk-rock musician that benefits from the artist’s contribution of what a Publishers Weekly critic described as “self-conscious, folk-naïf figures and whimsical asides” that “look like the Roches’ music visualized.”
Potter also added visual layers to the story in Independence Cake: A Revolutionary Confection Inspired by Amelia Simmons, Whose True History Is Unfortunately Unknown, a picture book by author and children’s literature critic Deborah Hopkinson. Set during the American Revolutionary War, Hopkinson’s book introduces readers to the young woman who wrote the first cookbook to be published in the United States. Positing that Simmons was possibly one of the thousands who came as indentured servants, the story focuses the author of the landmark American Cookery early in her adulthood as she happily toils in a bustling household anticipating a visit from newly elected U.S. president George Washington. “Potter’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations have the charm of folk art and … add action to the story,” reported Carolyn Phelan in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly contributor commended “her flattened perspectives, understated expressions, and creamy colors harking back to 18th-century portraiture.”
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Potter also provides illustrations for Amy Guglielmo’s How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine, a picture book that explores the first innovation of scientist Grandin, who is on the autism spectrum. As a child, Grandin sometimes needed hugs to comfort her, but found the human touch often over-stimulating. So, taking a hint from ranchers who used cattle chutes to calm the animals, she constructed a hugging machine out of wood and cushions. A Kirkus Reviews critic noted: “Potter’s watercolor illustrations are typical of her style, with flat faces (almost all of them white), realistic colors, and full-bleed spreads.” Writing in Horn Book, Martha V. Parravano also had praise for the artwork, noting: “Potter’s illustrations capture Grandin’s likeness well and frequently show her with tools in hand or near animals, reinforcing the text’s emphasis on these interests.”
Potter works with Jacky Davis for the artwork on Olive &Pekoe: In Four Short Walks, about two very different dogs with different energy levels but who are still best friends and enjoy four walks together. Writing in Horn Book, Parravano commented: “The illustrations capture the ups-and-downs of canine life and friendship with understanding and humor–especially when it comes to Pekoe’s innocent naivete. This book will touch the hearts and tickle the funny bones of dog-story readers and friendship-story readers alike.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor similarly noted: “The layout is consistent, presenting a full-page illustration opposite a page of text from spread to spread–until the final page, where the words and illustration are presented together; this clever design visually and textually summarizes the story’s theme of friendship’s togetherness.”
Potter supplies illustrations for Mara Rockliff’s Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat, a picture-book biography of a woman who introduced new types of produce to grocery stores in the 1950s. Booklist reviewer Maryann Owen observed of Potter’s work: “Illustrations in bright colors feature the produce and include people with various skin colors in the naive watercolors. This informative and engaging tide may encourage children to try unfamiliar fruits and veggies.” Similarly, a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted: “Potter … brings out the vivid colors of tropical fruits, and her market scenes give the spreads a sense of abundance.”
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Potter’s self-illustrated picture book This Is My Dollhouse shares a first-person tale in which a young girl shows readers the cardboard-and-found object domestic sphere she has created in miniature form. The narrator has visited friend Sophie’s home and seen the girl’s store-bought dollhouse, and she decides to hide her imaginatively constructed opus when Sophie arrives for a reciprocal playdate. Sophie discovers the handmade dollhouse by accident and is enchanted as the narrator explains the madcap design, replete with rooftop pool and a working elevator.
“The first-person, present-tense narration captures the voice of an introspective, imaginative child,” commented Shoshana Flax in Horn Book, while a writer for Kirkus Reviews delighted in Potter’s “downright charming watercolor-and-ink illustrations, which invite close inspection.” School Library Journal contributor Julie Roach enthused of This Is My Dollhouse that “this peek into a handmade miniature world provides an irresistible prompt to create fun and make things out of found objects.”
When she was seven years old, Potter took a year off from school to travel with her parents and baby sister to Italy, where they toured from town to town, performing puppet shows and living in a carnival truck. Potter kept a journal that included not only her observations of the country and its customs, but also her sketches of the people and places she visited along the way. The Year I Didn’t Go to School uses a first-person narrative and mixed-media illustrations to recall that somewhat-less-than-idyllic year in Italy, and snippets from Potter’s journals appear in the endpapers. In School Library Journal, Wendy Lukehart called the book “a madcap journey from a gifted storyteller,” and a Publishers Weekly critic wrote that the “captivating account makes the exotic setting come alive.” Carol Doup Muller concluded in her review of The Year I Didn’t Go to School for the New York Times Book Review that, “while Potter’s text makes clear the emotional ambivalence inherent to awfully big adventures, her artwork tips the book’s balance toward delight.”
Potter continues to draw on her own life experiences for Chloe’s Birthday … and Me, a sequel to The Year I Didn’t Go to School. In a story of sibling rivalry, young Giselle wishes it were her birthday instead of that of little sister Chloe. Chloe is too young to appreciate the attention, and it is only after an almost-disastrous attempt to sabotage the younger girl’s present that Giselle begins to feel guilty about her ungracious response. Repentant, she starts celebrating Chloe’s birthday in earnest, appreciating her little sister’s special day. “Potter’s tale will be much appreciated by readers of all ages who have suffered the pangs and pleasures of sibling relationships,” predicted a contributor to Kirkus Reviews. Referencing the story’s Paris setting, Jane Barrer wrote in School Library Journal that the book’s “illustrations bring the setting to life and provide glimpses of the local culture.” A Publishers Weekly critic also complimented Potter’s art for Chloe’s Birthday … and Me, writing that her “moon-faced characters, with their sidelong glances and Mona Lisa grins, convey a subtle range of feelings.” Noting that the book includes a free birthday card, Horn Book critic Christine M. Heppermann added that “the real bonus is the sisterly affection that, in the end, seems just as genuine as—and stronger than—the rivalry.”
Potter’s autobiographical picture books were complimented by Barbara Auerbach as works that could potentially encourage reluctant writers. Both Chloe’s Birthday … and Me and The Year I Didn’t Go to School “encourage kids to record their experiences in journals, and the addition of ticket stubs, postcards, sweet wrappers, etc., might make the prospect more appealing,” the critic wrote in School Library Journal. On the BookPage website, Potter described the experience of using her childhood journal as creative inspiration. “It’s great to look at my childhood from this perspective,” she said, “and it’s so nice to work with material that I created myself way back when.”
Sisterly bonds are reinforced in another self-illustrated book from Potter, Tell Me What to Dream About. Two siblings share a bedroom and the younger of the pair pleads with her older sister for inspiration that will ease the transition to sleep. The older girl offers vistas that include waffles, horses, clouds, and swings, but the more fretful sibling finds a potential downside in each scenario. “Potter’s classic watercolor-and-ink illustrations have a quirkiness that perfectly mirrors the fantasy element of the dreams,” reported School Library Journal contributor Teri Markson; a writer for Kirkus Reviews waxed rhapsodic about the “primitive, fantastical, surreal watercolor-and-ink illustrations,” comparing them to the work of Marc Chagall. At the core of the story, noted a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, is the way Potter’s “artwork presents comical contrasts “between beguiling images of the older sister’s fancies … and the same visions filtered through the younger sister’s gloom.”
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Sisterhood is again the theme of Potter’s 2021 self-illustrated picture book, Sister Wish. The two sisters talk about the different challenges each deals with as a younger or older sister, but ultimately decide they need and admire each other. “Watercolor and ink paintings by Potter feature classic props of domestic play–tea sets and high-heeled dress-up shoes–in an intimately observed, grass-is-greener distillation of two siblings’ experience,” noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. A Kirkus Reviews critic also had praise for this picture book, observing: “A warm, eye-catching shade of pink, the same that adorns the book’s title, appears sparingly on nearly every spread. The sisters present White, rendered in Potter’s inimitable folk art-like style. … Sisterly devotion beyond compare.”
In an interview on the The Illustration Department website, Potter remarked on her choice of career: “My parents are artists and seemed to make a living that way; even though they did occasionally run out of money. But growing up with parents who did what they wanted for a living made me believe I could too.”
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklinks, May, 2005, Tricia Volore, review of Kate and the Beanstalk, p. 35; July, 2005, Pat Scales, review of Shrinking Violet, p. 34; January, 2007, KaaVonia Hinton, review of The Honest-to-Goodness Truth, p. 60.
Booklist, September 15, 1999, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Three Cheers for Catherine the Great!, p. 258; April 1, 2002, Julie Cummins, review of The Brave Little Seamstress, p. 1335; November 1, 2002, Karin Snelson, review of The Year I Didn’t Go to School, p. 500; August, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of When Catherine the Great and I Were Eight!, p. 1986; January 1, 2006, Gillian Engberg, review of Sleeping Bobby, p. 118; February 1, 2006, Michael Cart, review of The Boy Who Loved Words, p. 57; March 15, 2009, Ian Chipman, review of Sugar Would Not Eat It, p. 49; June 1, 2011, John Peters, review of Moo, Moo, Brown Cow! Have You Any Milk?, p. 97; October 15, 2011, Diane Foote, review of The Orphan: A Cinderella Story from Greece, p. 42; September 15, 2012, Ilene Cooper, review of Cecile the Pet Glacier, p. 73; November 1, 2002, Daniel Kraus, review of Want to Be in a Band?, p. 198; March 15, 2015, Jeanne McDermott, review of Tell Me What to Dream About, p. 80; April 1, 2017, Carolyn Phelan, review of Independence Cake: A Revolutionary Confection Inspired by Amelia Simmons, Whose True History Is Unfortunately Unknown, p. 81; December 1, 2020, Maryann Owen, review of Try It!: How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat, p. 38.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, July-August, 2004, Janice Del Negro, review of Chloe’s Birthday … and Me, p. 479; February, 2006, Hope Morrison, review of Sleeping Bobby, p. 280; May, 2007, Hope Morrison, review of The Littlest Grape Stomper, p. 376; June, 2016, Jeannette Hulick, review of This Is My Dollhouse. p. 540.
Horn Book, March, 1999, review of When Agnes Caws, p. 188; November, 1999, Margaret A. Bush, review of Three Cheers for Catherine the Great!, p. 727; July-August, 2004, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Chloe’s Birthday … and Me, p. 441; September-October, 2005, Robin Smith, review of Sleeping Bobby, p. 566; January-February, 2007, Joanna Rudge Long, review of The Hare and the Tortoise and Other Fables of La Fontaine, p. 77; May-June, 2016, Shoshana Flax, review of This Is My Dollhouse. p. 51; April 1, 2017, Carolyn Phelan, review of Independence Cake, p. 81; January-February, 2019, Martha V. Parravano, review of How to Build a Hug, p. 114; March-April, 2019, Martha V. Parravano, review of Olive & Pekoe: In Four Short Walks, p. 56.
Horn Book Guide, fall, 2015, Nell Beram, review of Tell Me What to Dream About, p. 48.
Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2004, review of Chloe’s Birthday … and Me, p. 497; September 15, 2005, review of Sleeping Bobby, p. 1032; March 1, 2006, review of The Boy Who Loved Words, p. 238; January 15, 2007, review of The Littlest Grape Stomper, p. 77; August 1, 2007, review of Sawdust and Spangles: The Amazing Life of W.C. Coup; May-June, 2008, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, p. 334; April 1, 2009, review of Sugar Would Not Eat It; September-October, 2011, Betty Carter, review of Moo, Moo, Brown Cow, Have You Any Milk?, p. 65; November-December, 2011, Joanna Rudge Long, review of The Orphan, p. 121; September-October, 2012, Thom Barthelmess, review of Cecil the Pet Glacier, p. 63; January 15, 2015, review of Tell Me What to Dream About; March 15, 2016, review of This Is My Dollhouse; July 15, 2018, How to Build a Hug; December 15, 2018, review of Olive & Pekoe; April 15, 2021, review of Sister Wish.
New York Times Book Review, December 22, 2002, Carol Doup Muller, review of The Year I Didn’t Go to School, p. 19.
Publishers Weekly, August 11, 1997, review of Gabriella’s Song, p. 400; December 21, 1998, review of When Agnes Caws, p. 67; July 19, 1999, review of Three Cheers for Catherine the Great!, p. 194; September 4, 2000, review of Kate and the Beanstalk, p. 106; April 2, 2001, review of Ghost Wings, p. 64; March 25, 2002, review of The Brave Little Seamstress, p. 63; June 24, 2002, review of The Year I Didn’t Go to School, p. 56; June 30, 2003, review of When Catherine the Great and I Were Eight!, p. 78; July 5, 2004, review of Chloe’s Birthday … and Me, p. 54; September 12, 2005, review of Sleeping Bobby, p. 67; February 20, 2006, review of The Boy Who Loved Words, p. 156; January 8, 2007, review of The Littlest Grape Stomper, p. 50; February 2, 2009, review of Sugar Would Not Eat It, p. 49; December 14, 2009, review of The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend, p. 58; April 25, 2011, review of Moo, Moo, Brown Cow! Have You Any Milk?, p. 134; June 4, 2012, review of Cecil the Pet Glacier, p. 50; November 26, 2012, review of Want to Be in a Band?, p. 51; February 9, 2015, review of Tell Me What to Dream About, p. 64; February 15, 2016, review of This Is My Dollhouse, p. 65; March 6, 2017, review of Independence Cake, p. 59; November 23, 2020, review of Try It, p. 110; April 12, 2021, review of Sister Wish, p. 75.
School Library Journal, October, 2000, Kate McClelland, review of Kate and the Beanstalk, p. 151; April, 2002, Susan Pine, review of The Brave Little Seamstress, p. 118; July, 2004, Jane Barrer, review of Chloe’s Birthday … and Me, p. 86; May, 2005, Jennifer Ralston, review of Shrinking Violet, p. 49; October, 2005, Susan Scheps, review of Sleeping Bobby, p. 144; April, 2006, Joy Fleishhacker, review of The Boy Who Loved Words, p. 117; December, 2006, Margaret Bush, review of The Hare and the Tortoise and Other Fables of La Fontaine, p. 120; April, 2007, Martha Simpson, review of The Littlest Grape Stomper, p. 112; May, 2009, Kara Schaff Dean, review of Sugar Would Not Eat It, p. 81; February, 2010, Barbara Auerbach, review of The Little Piano Girl, p. 87; June, 2011, Gay Lynn Van Vleck, review of Moo, Moo, Brown Cow! Have You Any Milk?, p. 84; August, 2011, Roxanne Burg, review of To Do: A Book of Alphabets and Birthdays, p. 122; September, 2011, Marilyn Taniguchi, review of The Orphan, p. 125; August, 2012, Roxanne Burg, review of Cecil the Pet Glacier, p. 76; February, 2015, Teri Markson, review of Tell Me What to Dream About, p. 76; April, 2016, Julie Roach, review of This Is My Dollhouse. p. 138; April, 2017, Joanna K. Fabicon, review of Independence Cake, p. 127.
Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), March 26, 2006, Mary Harris Russell, review of The Boy Who Loved Words, p. 7.
ONLINE
BDDW GALLERY, https://bddwgallery.com/ (August 25, 2021), author profile.
BookPage, http://www.bookpage.com/ (February 8, 2008), Heidi Henneman, “Skipping Class with Giselle Potter.”
Giselle Potter website, http://www.gisellepotter.com (August 25, 2021).
Random House website, http://www.randomhouse.com/ (February 8, 2008), “Giselle Potter.”
The Illustration Department, https://illustrationdept.com/ (November 3, 2018), author interview.
When I was three, my parents started a puppet theater company called “The Mystic Paper Beasts” and my sister and I traveled and performed with them through out the United States and Europe. My memories and journals from our travels led to the children's books, “The Year I Didn’t Go To School” and “Chloe’s Birthday… and me.”
I graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1994 and spent my last year in Rome with RISD’s European Honors Program. Chronicle Books then published “Lucy’s Eyes and Margaret’s Dragon; Lives of the Virgin Saints,” a book of saint paintings and stories I made while I was in Rome.
After moving to Brooklyn, I got my first freelance illustration job with the New Yorker. My New Yorker illustrations inspired a lucky chain of work with many magazines and children’s books.
My first children’s book, “Mr. Semolina-Semolinus; a Greek folk tale” was published in 1997, and I have illustrated more than thirty books since then. I have illustrated my own stories and stories by such authors as Toni Morrison, Mary Pope Osborne, Ursula Hegi, Mathea Harvey and Gertrude Stein.
I live with my husband and two daughters in the Hudson Valley.
Giselle Potter has illustrated many books, including Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborne, an ALA-ALSC notable book; The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter, a Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner; and Cecil the Pet Glacier by Matthea Harvey. She is the author and illustrator of Tell Me What to Dream About and This Is My Dollhouse—both inspired by her daughters—and The Year I Didn’t Go to School, about traveling through Italy with her parents’ puppet troupe when she was eight. Giselle also illustrates “Ties,” a weekly column in the Well section of The New York Times. She lives in Rosendale, New York, with her husband and two daughters. Visit her online at GisellePotter.com.
WHEN GISELLE POTTER WAS THREE, HER PARENTS STARTED A PUPPET THEATRE COMPANY CALLED “THE MYSTIC PAPER BEASTS” AND HER AND HER SISTER TRAVELED AND PERFORMED WITH THEM THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE. HER MEMORIES AND JOURNALS FROM THEIR TRAVELS LED TO THE CHILDREN’S BOOKS, “THE YEAR I DIDN’T GO TO SCHOOL” AND “CHLOE’S BIRTHDAY…AND ME”.
POTTER GRADUATED FROM RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN IN 1994 AND SPENT HER LAST YEAR IN ROME WITH RISD’S EUROPEAN HONORS PROGRAM. CHRONICLE BOOKS THEN PUBLISHED “LUCY’S EYES AND MARGARET’S DRAGON: LIVES OF THE VIRGIN SAINTS”, A BOOK OF SAINT PAINTINGS AND STORIES SHE MADE WHILE IN ROME.
SHE THEN MOVED TO BROOKLYN AND GOT HER FIRST FREELANCE ILLUSTRATION JOB WITH THE NEW YORKER. THESE ILLUSTRATIONS INSPIRED A CHAIN OF WORK WITH NUMEROUS MAGAZINES AND CHILDREN’S BOOKS. HER FIRST CHILDREN’S BOOK, “MR. SEMOLINA-SEMOLINUS: A GREEK FOLK TALE” WAS PUBLISHED IN 1997 AND SHE HAS ILLUSTRATED MORE THAN THIRTY BOOKS SINCE. SHE HAS ILLUSTRATED HER OWN STORIES AND STORIES BY AUTHORS SUCH AS TONI MORRISON, MARY POPE OSBORNE, URSULA HEGI, MATHEA HARVEY, AND GERTRUDE STEIN. POTTER LIVES WITH HER HUSBAND, KIERAN KINSELLA, AND THEIR TWO DAUGHTERS IN THE HUDSON VALLEY.
GISELLEPOTTER.COM
INSTAGRAM - @GISELLEPOTTER
QUOTE: "My parents are artists and seemed to make a living that way; even though they did occasionally run out of money. But growing up with parents who did what they wanted for a living made me believe I could too."
Interview with Giselle Potter
This is our first in an on-going Interview series—in which we ask contemporary illustrators to share their experiences. Today’s guest is Giselle Potter.
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Where were you born?
I was born on May 28th, 1970, in Cambridge Massachusetts.
When did you realize that drawing could be a living?
My parents are artists and seemed to make a living that way; even though they did occasionally run out of money.
But growing up with parents who did what they wanted for a living made me believe I could too.
What was your first work-life experience?
After I graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994, I moved to Brooklyn and brought my portfolio around to magazines.
My first editorial illustration job was with the New Yorker. The day I went the New Yorker it was pouring. I was carrying a box of original paintings instead of prints; and I had dyed my dress blue, and all the dye was running down my legs.
So it was a little embarrassing when the art director actually came out to meet me. I was so surprised that he actually bought art right from my portfolio; and then he hired me to do more.
What was your first start in children’s books? Did you sign with an agent?
Anne Schwartz, the children’s book editor I still work with now, saw one of my New Yorker illustrations and offered me my first children’s book.
So I never got an agent until just recently. It seems like everyone has an agent so I decide to try it.
Care to share a career highlight or two?
One of my best jobs was doing animated ads for the British laundry soap, Persil. I was sent to London to meet the art director and animators; and it blew my mind to see other people with boxes of the same paints I use, copying my pictures by hand and making them come to life and move!
My other favorite job was a weekly column for the New York Times for almost three years. Illustration work can be so inconsistent, and it was so nice to have something steady. The column was a series of personal stories by different writers about family and health, and it felt like the perfect thing for me to illustrate.
[Editor’s addition: We direct our students to Potter’s work often because of how she pushes against conventional ideas of perspective—as you can see in this spread from her book, This is My Dollhouse. (Artwork © Giselle Potter)]
We want to thank Giselle Potter for her insight. If you think this interview would be helpful to illustrators, please pass it along using the “Share” button below.
Be sure to visit her website here. And, thank you for reading!
QUOTE: , "Potter's watercolor illustrations are typical of her style, with flat faces (almost all of them white), realistic colors, and full-bleed spreads."
Guglielmo, Amy HOW TO BUILD A HUG Atheneum (Children's Informational) $17.99 8, 28 ISBN: 978-1-5344-1097-8
A picture book explores Temple Grandin's first innovation, a personalized hug machine.
When she was a child, Temple Grandin couldn't stand hugs. To her, they "felt like being stuffed inside the scratchiest sock in the world." While she craved the comfort she saw others receiving from hugs, she found physical contact with others to be overstimulating and actively unpleasant. During one summer at her aunt's ranch, she observed the squeeze chutes that ranchers used to calm cows during examinations and realized she could give it a try herself. She fashioned her own device out of wood and cushions, using a pulley to make it adjustable from within--all the comfort of a hug without the overstimulation! Guglielmo and Tourville present Grandin's story with respect and enthusiasm. The narrative concludes when her machine breaks. "And she knew that only one thing could cheer her up: // A HUG." A quote from Grandin concludes the text: "I'm into hugging people now." While Grandin has become comfortable with hugs, it's not totally clear how this has come to pass, and for some readers, this ending's emphasis on neurotypical behavior may feel out of place. Potter's watercolor illustrations are typical of her style, with flat faces (almost all of them white), realistic colors, and full-bleed spreads. An authors' note provides more detailed background on Grandin's life and work, and only here is it mentioned that Grandin is on the autism spectrum.
Imperfect but still lovely. (Picture book/biography. 5-9)
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"Guglielmo, Amy: HOW TO BUILD A HUG." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A546323104/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=08be973e. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.
QUOTE: "Potter's illustrations capture Grandin's likeness well and frequently show her with tools in hand or near animals, reinforcing the text's emphasis on these interests."
How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine
by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline
Tourville; illus. by Giselle Potter
Primary Atheneum 48 pp.
8/18 978-1-5344-1097-8 $17.99
e-book ed. 978-1-5344-1098-5 $10.99
As a child with autism and hypersensitivities to sounds, smells, and touch, Temple Grandin (now a professor of animal science and world-renowned animal rights advocate) shied away from hugs. Even though she loved her family, hugs from them "felt like being stuffed inside the scratchiest sock in the world. If anyone tried to give her a hug, she kicked and screamed and pulled away." Then, on a visit to her aunt's ranch as a teenager, she saw how a skittish calf became calm after entering a squeeze chute, a device that "cradled the animal in a snug embrace." Temple, who had been inventing and building things all her life, decided to make a comparable device, a "hug machine," for herself. The authors take readers from Grandin's early childhood through her young adulthood, lightly sketching in biographical information in order to focus on her antipathy to being hugged by others and her resultant invention. Potter's illustrations capture Grandin's likeness well and frequently show her with tools in hand or near animals, reinforcing the text's emphasis on these interests. The hug machine itself, however, gets short shrift in the pictures (we don't really see how it works). There are no sources for any of the information provided, including the direct quote that ends the book: "I'm into hugging people now."
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Parravano, Martha V. "How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 95, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2019, p. 114+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A569042418/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=06f848a7. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.
QUOTE: "The layout is consistent, presenting a full-page illustration opposite a page of text from spread to spread--until the final page, where the words and illustration are presented together; this clever design visually and textually summarizes the story's theme of friendship's togetherness."
Davis, Jacky OLIVE & PEKOE IN FOUR SHORT WALKS Greenwillow (Children's Fiction) $17.99 3, 5 ISBN: 978-0-06-257310-0
Olive and Pekoe are very different dogs, but they are the best of friends.
The friendship between Olive, an old, small dog, and Pekoe, a lively, large puppy, is presented in four vignettes of the walks the two dogs take together. Illustrator Potter's impressively expressive naive-style watercolor, ink, and colored-pencil illustrations perfectly nuance author Davis' witty text. In "Walk One," Olive and Pekoe explore the woods, where "Pekoe adores playing with sticks" while "Olive prefers resting in the mud and grass." The friendship theme is humorously underscored when Pekoe brings Olive a "good stick," which Olive "just looks at...but she appreciates the gesture." "Walk Two" finds the duo unhappily caught in a thunderstorm--and here, Potter's illustrations relay atmosphere and dog expression with striking sophistication given their inherent simplicity. "Walk Three" features chipmunks, and "Walk Four," a canine bully. Each story contrasts, with a light, dryly humorous touch, the behavior of the elder, experienced Olive and the younger, enthusiastic Pekoe; and in each the theme of friendship is presented in a fresh, nonsaccharine way. Davis uses large words to convey the feelings of Olive ("Olive isn't overly concerned about the chipmunk's whereabouts"), but it fits the droll tone. The layout is consistent, presenting a full-page illustration opposite a page of text from spread to spread--until the final page, where the words and illustration are presented together; this clever design visually and textually summarizes the story's theme of friendship's togetherness.
A delight. (Picture book. 3-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Davis, Jacky: OLIVE & PEKOE IN FOUR SHORT WALKS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A565422949/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=217fca81. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.
QUOTE: "The illustrations capture the ups-and-downs of canine life and friendship with understanding and humor--especially when it comes to Pekoe's innocent naivete. This book will touch the hearts and tickle the funny bones of dog-story readers and friendship-story readers alike."
Olive & Pekoe:
In Four Short Walks
by Jacky Davis; illus. by Giselle Potter
Preschool, Primary Greenwillow 40 pp.
3/19 978-0-06-257310-0 $17.99
Pekoe is a large yellow puppy with energy and enthusiasm to spare; Olive is a small older dog with a much more subdued (one might even say jaded) outlook on life. Despite their very different worldviews, they are good friends. Readers follow the pair on four short walks that showcase the things that make them different as well as what they have in common. Walk One takes place in the woods, where Pekoe likes to run around and play with sticks while Olive prefers to rest; however, they are in perfect agreement when it's time for a snack. During Walk Two, the pair gets caught in a thunderstorm and, together, they endure the unpleasantness. On Walk Three, Pekoe becomes obsessed with chasing a chipmunk, while Olive "isn't overly concerned about the chipmunk's whereabouts." Walk Four takes place in a dog park, where Olive stands up for her younger friend when a mean dog scares him. Davis's deadpan text ("When Pekoe finds a good stick, he brings it to Olive. Olive just looks at it, but she appreciates the gesture") is the perfect foil for Potter's expressive art. The illustrations capture the ups-and-downs of canine life and friendship with understanding and humor--especially when it comes to Pekoe's innocent naivete. This book will touch the hearts and tickle the funny bones of dog-story readers and friendship-story readers alike. MARTHA V. PARRAVANO
* indicates a book that the editors believe to be an outstanding example of its genre, of books of this particular publishing season, or of the author's body of work. For a complete key to the review abbreviations as well as for bios of our reviewers, please visit hbook.com/horn-book-magazine.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
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Parravano, Martha V. "Olive & Pekoe: In Four Short Walks." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 95, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2019, p. 56+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A587973633/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2dfc050f. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.
QUOTE: "Illustrations in bright colors feature the produce and include people with various skin colors in the naive watercolors. This informative and engaging tide may encourage children to try unfamiliar fruits and veggies."
Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat. By Mara Rockliff. Illus. by Giselle Potter. Jan. 2021. 32p. Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane, $17.99 (9781534460072). PreS-Gr. 2.338.7.
This picture-book biography of Frieda Rapoport Caplan tells how she introduced produce that was not previously available to American grocery stores in the 1950s. The usual fruits and vegetables, such as potatoes, oranges, apples, and tomatoes, were tried-and-true staples. Caplan researched and eventually offered new items in her market that she thought the American public should try. She even made recipes available, educating her customers and emboldening them to prepare the unusual items. Foods such as jicama, sugar snap peas, blood oranges, kiwi, and dragon fruit were made available to a clientele willing to try new foods. Scattered throughout the book are puns, such as "Farmers dug for tips," "Cooks peppered her with questions," and alliteration ("piles of potatoes," "quantities of quince") that add levity to the text. Illustrations in bright colors feature the produce and include people with various skin colors in the naive watercolors. This informative and engaging tide may encourage children to try unfamiliar fruits and veggies. --Maryann Owen
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 American Library Association
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Owen, Maryann. "Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat." Booklist, vol. 117, no. 7, 1 Dec. 2020, p. 38. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A647835866/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e6bac017. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.
QUOTE: "Potter ...) brings out the vivid colors of tropical fruits, and her market scenes give the spreads a sense of abundance."
Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat
Mara Rockliff, illus. by Giselle Potter. Beach Lane, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5344-6007-2
Faced with a sea of predictable produce at L.A.'s Seventh Streer market--"apples and bananas and potatoes and tomatoes"--Frieda Caplan wanted to try selling mushrooms. "Nobody ears those," the existing salespeople--all men--said, but Caplan trusted her intuition, starring her own produce company in 1962 and getting "a funny feeling in her elbows when she tasted something new and special, something she was sure people would like to try." Caplan made a significant mark, becoming a successful business owner in a field rhat did not welcome women. The mushrooms sold ("People srarred calling her the Mushroom Queen"), and so did the black radishes, blood oranges, jicama, kiwifruit, sugar snap peas, and more rhat Caplan championed as she led a quiet revolution in U.S. eating habits. In this picture book biography of an early food innovator, Rockliff (Jefferson Measures a Moose) takes note of the ways Caplan distinguished her offerings: clear labeling, customer education, and more. Potter (Olive & Pekoe: In Four Short Walks) brings out the vivid colors of tropical fruits, and her market scenes give the spreads a sense of abundance. There's period detail, too, as produce is introduced through the decades, enjoyed by people sporting fedoras and, eventually, bell-bottoms. Ages 3-8. Agent (for Rockliff and Potter-): Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (Jan.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 PWxyz, LLC
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"Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 47, 23 Nov. 2020, p. 110. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A651988086/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3344de25. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.
QUOTE: . "Watercolor and ink paintings by Potter feature classic props of domestic play--tea sets and high-heeled dress-up shoes--in an intimately observed, grass-is-greener distillation of two siblings' experience,"
Sister Wish
Giselle Potter. Abrams, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4197-4671-0
In this slowly unfolding meditation on the complicated dimensions of sisterhood, two white-skinned sisters with pink cheeks work through their thoughts on the topic. Little sisters, the younger child posits, have it rough: "I have to wear your hand-me-downs with ice-cream stains and holes." But so do older sisters, says the other, mournfully trying on a pair of cowboy boots: "I grow out of all my favorite things and have to give them to you." Potter (Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat) works out the privileges and drawbacks of age in quiet, intimate steps that sometimes turn surreal ("A fish probably wishes it had legs and could gallop like a horse"). At last, the older sister admits that she envies her younger sister's ability to make people laugh, then offers a loving insight: "And anyway, if there were two of me and none of you, there would be no little sister to give piggy-back rides to." "And no one could do this trick," says the little sister, hanging upside down from a tree branch. Watercolor and ink paintings by Potter feature classic props of domestic play--tea sets and high-heeled dress-up shoes--in an intimately observed, grass-is-greener distillation of two siblings' experience. Ages 4-8. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (June)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 PWxyz, LLC
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"Sister Wish." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 15, 12 Apr. 2021, p. 75. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A659340732/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ddd223f7. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.
QUOTE: A warm, eye-catching shade of pink, the same that adorns the book's title, appears sparingly on nearly every spread. The sisters present White, rendered in Potter's inimitable folk art-like style. ... Sisterly devotion beyond compare."
Potter, Giselle SISTER WISH Abrams (Children's None) $17.99 6, 22 ISBN: 978-1-4197-4671-0
Two sisters declare their admiration for each other.
The book opens with the sisters comparing their lots in life. The younger grouses about how she consistently inherits her sister’s hands-me-downs, but the older has a different perspective: “I grow out of all my favorite things and have to give them to you.” Things shift when they both start imagining how animals must feel: A fish might wish it had legs and could gallop as a horse does, though a horse might wish it could hop a ride for once. Each sister then shares instances in which she wishes she could be the other. This results in a series of compliments to each other, which also makes each sibling see their respective strengths. “It’s best if there is one of you and of me,” they decide. Siblings everywhere will recognize the detailed, closely observed grievances (the hand-me-downs the younger sister receives have “ice cream stains and holes”) as well as the tight bonds that siblings can develop: Who else but the older sister is going to read to the younger one at night? In many of the spreads, the sisters are outside, nary an adult in sight, the palette featuring the cool greens and teals of the grass and sky. A warm, eye-catching shade of pink, the same that adorns the book’s title, appears sparingly on nearly every spread. The sisters present White, rendered in Potter’s inimitable folk art–like style. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Sisterly devotion beyond compare. (Picture book. 4-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Potter, Giselle: SISTER WISH." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A658194743/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9e12d12d. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.