SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Recess
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.lanesmithbooks.com/
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 389
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born August 25, 1959, in Tulsa, OK; son of Lewis (an accountant) and Mildred Annette (a homemaker) Smith; married Molly Leach (a designer), 1996.
EDUCATION:Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA), B.F.A. (illustration), 1983.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Illustrator and author. Freelance illustrator, 1983—. Conceptual designer for film adaptation of James and the Giant Peach, Disney, 1996; contributed design work to Monsters, Inc., Pixar, 2000. Exhibitions: Works exhibited at Master Eagle Gallery, New York, NY; Brockton Children’s Museum, Brockton, MA; Joseloff Gallery, Hartford, CT; Bruce Museum; American Institute of Graphic Artists touring show; and Original Art Show, Society of Illustrators—New York, appearing annually, beginning 1988.
AWARDS:New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Books selection, School Library Journal Best Book citation, Horn Book Honor List inclusion, Booklist Editor’s Choice selection, and Silver Buckeye Award, all 1987, all for Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam; Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators—New York, New York Times Best Books citation, American Library Association (ALA) Notable Children’s Book citation, Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Picture-Book Award, and Parenting Reading Magic Award, all 1989, all for The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka; Golden Apple Award, Bratislava International Biennial of Illustrations, 1990, Society of Illustrators Silver Medal, 1991, and first-place award, New York Book Show, all for The Big Pets; Parent’s Choice Award for Illustration, New York Times Best Books citation, and ALA Notable Children’s Book citation, all 1991, all for Glasses—Who Needs ‘Em?; ALA Caldecott Honor Book designation, New York Times Best Illustrated Books citation, ALA Notable Children’s Book citation, and School Library Journal Best Books citation, all 1992, all for The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Scieszka; Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book citation and Booklist Editors’ Choice citation, both 1995, and ALA Best Book for Young Adults citation, 1996, all for Math Curse by Scieszka; New York Times Best Illustrated Book and Notable Book designations, National Parenting Publication Award (NAPPA) Gold honor, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award, Quills Award nomination, and Bookbinder’s Guild New York Book Show Merit Award, all 2006, all for John, Paul, George, and Ben; Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choices selection, 2008, for Cowboy and Octopus by Scieszka, 2009, for Madam President, and 2010, for Princess Hyacinth by Florence Parry Heide; Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators—New York, 2011, and ALA Notable Children’s Book citation and Caldecott Honor Book selection, both 2012, both for Grandpa Green; Carle Honor Artist, Eric Carle Museum, 2012, for “lifelong innovation in the field of children’s books”; Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Illustrators—New York, 2014; Kate Greenaway Medal, 2017, for There Is a Tribe of Kids.
WRITINGS
Contributor of illustrations to periodicals, including Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Ms., Newsweek, New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Time.
The “Tim Warp Trio” books were adapted as a television series and a related novel. Grandpa Green was adapted for audiobook, read by Noah Galvin, Recorded Books, 2013. John, Paul, George, and Ben and Madam President were adapted as animated films by Weston Woods.
SIDELIGHTS
Children’s book aficionados of all ages are likely acquainted with the work of Lane Smith, whose satirical illustrations range from the downright goofy to the more-than-a-bit-unsettling. Smith is best known for maintaining a fruitful collaboration with writer Jon Scieszka that has produced such popular children’s books as The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! and the “Time Warp Trio” series. The winner of numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators—New York, Smith also entertains children in original self-illustrated picture books such as Abe Lincoln’s Dream and There Is a Tribe of Kids.
Smith’s textured, mixed-media illustrations often feature oddly shaped figures with large heads and small bodies, and in his picture-book worlds the laws of physics often do not apply. He frequently worked in oils and acrylics, using dark pigments to give his figures a distinctively otherworldly quality, and he incorporates digital techniques into his repertoire. Smith’s work has drawn praise for its irreverence, eccentricity, and innovative palette of colors. “While not conventionally beautiful, [his illustrations] do what all good art must—create an alternate and believable universe,” remarked New York Times Book Review contributor Signe Wilkinson.
Born in Oklahoma, Smith grew up in Corona, California, with his parents and brother Shane. Influenced by his family’s humorous outlook, he developed a fascination for the offbeat and absurd. Smith’s artistic talent became evident during grade school and by junior high he spent his time drawing and writing stories and also reading extensively. After high school, he enrolled at the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he studied illustration.
In 1984, the year after he earned his degree, Smith moved to New York City and was soon selling his illustrations to some of the nation’s most popular magazines. As he later recalled to Horn Book, “The punk/new-wave movement came, and my work seemed to fit acceptably into that category.” While drawing for Ms., Time, Rolling Stone, and other magazines by day, he honed his oil-painting technique at night. His first substantial painting project, a series of thirty Halloween-themed images illustrating the letters of the alphabet, was submitted to the children’s book department at Macmillan. Impressed by Smith’s work, the publisher hired children’s author Eve Merriam to compose poems for each of the thirty illustrations.
In the mid-1980s Smith met Scieszka, a teacher and aspiring children’s author. Sharing the same wacky sense of humor—they both enjoyed “Monty Python” films and Mad magazine—they collaborated on The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! in which Alexander T. Wolf offers a wacky, self-serving version of the traditional tale. In their review of the book in the Wilson Library Bulletin, Donnarae MacCann and Olga Richard observed that by “using minimal but subtly changing browns and ochres, [Smith] combines a great variety of creative modes: fanciful, realist, surreal, cartoonish.”
The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, another of Smith’s collaborations with Scieszka, contains “updated” versions of such classic stories as “Chicken Little,” “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Princess and the Frog,” and “The Princess and the Pea.” The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales was an immediate hit, receiving praise from readers and reviewers alike and earning Smith a 1993 Caldecott Honor Book award. “Kids … will no doubt enjoy the blithe, mean-spirited anarchy of these wildly spinning stories,” Wilkinson predicted in a New York Times Book Review appraisal.
In another humorous collaboration, Scieszka’s Math Curse, a girl wakes up one morning to find that every event during the day—from getting dressed to eating breakfast and going to school—has been transformed into a math problem that must be solved. Reviewing the work in Booklist, Carolyn Phelan wrote that, both “bold in design and often bizarre in expression, Smith’s paintings clearly express the child’s feelings of bemusement, frustration, and panic as well as her eventual joy when she overcomes the math curse.”
Similar to Math Curse, Science Verse assembles what a Kirkus Reviews contributor described as a “madcap collection of science poetry that lampoons familiar songs” by inserting technoterminology into a child’s everyday world. Also featuring a story by Scieczka, Cowboy and Octopus offers seven vignettes that illuminate the unlikely but intensely loyal friendship between amazingly disparate paper cut-outs. Tanya D. Auger commented in Horn Book that the mini-tales here are “simply told, surprisingly fresh, and genuinely funny—with Smith’s artfully weathered mixed-media orchestrations pushing the humor level up and up and up.”
Considered among the most popular of Smith and Scieszka’s many collaborations, the “Time Warp Trio” novels include Knights of the Kitchen Table, Your Mother Was a Neanderthal, and It’s All Greek to Me. In the series, Joe, Sam, and Fred travel back in time and, with the aid of a magical book, encounter fantastic adventures. The “Time Warp Trio” series received positive responses from reviewers, Booklist critic Julie Yates Walton noting of 2095 that Smith’s black-pencil illustrations here are “brimming with zany, adolescent hyperbole.”
In addition to his work with Scieszka, Smith has also provided illustrations for Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!, a book begun by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) and completed following Geisel’s death by poet Jack Prelutsky. In Horn Book Joanna Rudge Long wrote that Smith’s “satirical renditions, in his own distinctive, sophisticated style,” contain “such zany folk and weirdly expressive settings as” the late pseudonymous author “might have dreamed up” himself.
Another of Smith’s illustration projects, Bob Shea’s Big Plans finds an ambitious youngster loudly announcing his intentions to blaze a trail in the boardroom, the political arena, and even in outer space. According to a contributor to Publishers Weekly, here Smith’s “punchy collages and grainy wallpaper patterns, along with emphatic typefaces, reinforce the speaker’s unquenchable spirit.” The parents of Smith and Shea were also paired on Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads, a screwball comedy about a seven-year-old lawman who outwits a trio of criminals in the Old West. In Booklist, Daniel Kraus applauded the efforts of Smith, “whose desert-hued illustrations have all the hard corners and sneering lines of a wanted poster.”
Smith joins forces with one of his literary idols, Florence Parry Heide, in Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated). The work follows the misadventures of a young royal who defies gravity, centering on her growing awareness of the benefits of weightlessness. “Understated yet witty,” as Martha V. Parravano concluded in Horn Book, “Smith’s pictures communicate the ennui of the princess’s encumbered existence … and her stratospheric delight in her newfound freedom.”
A pessimistic Antarctic bird is the focus of Jory John’s Penguin Problems. According to Joy Fleishhacker in School Library Journal, Smith’s sponge-textured illustrations expand upon the text’s downbeat doldrums with visual humor and delightfully deadpan facial expressions.” In Giraffe Problems, another collaboration with Jory, Edward the giraffe feels ashamed of his lanky body. However, his encounter with Cyrus the turtle helps him to appreciate what makes him unique. Cat Problems finds an indoor feline experiences various challenges as it goes about its day. It is tormented by a squirrel outside, fears the vacuum cleaner, which it thinks is a monster, and wishes it could let itself outside. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews predicted: “Kids should lap this up fur storytime.” “Smith’s texture-filled illustrations are as expected in the best possible way,” remarked Catherine Callegari in School Library Journal.
Judith Viorst chronicles the exploits of a demanding young girl in her “Lulu” series of chapter books, which features black-and-white artwork by Smith. “Smith’s angular pencil illustrations bubble with arch humor,” a critic noted in a Publishers Weekly critique of Lulu and the Brontosaurus. The feisty protagonist starts her own business in Lulu Walks the Dogs. “The story moves along quickly, … and Smith’s stylized … drawings are a big part of the fun,” Marie Orlando commented in School Library Journal.
I’m Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grownups, a book by Chris Harris, includes over 100 humorous vignettes. Reviewing the volume in Horn Book, Kitty Flynn asserted: “There’s not a dud in the bunch—this is one collection that rewards repeat visits.” A House That Once Was by Julie Fogliano, finds Smith illustrating a story about two children exploring an abandoned house. In an interview with Brian Gehrlein, contributor to the Picture Book Spotlight website, Smith explained how he came to illustrate the book. He stated: “Julie and I go way back. In the 90s she worked at Books of Wonder, a bookshop in NYC. My studio was right above it. Twenty years later I suggested she write something for us to work on and she mentioned one of an abandoned house based on a true story with her kids. The finished story was like a day right out of my childhood. I loved it. All of her books are pretty darn perfect. They always feel timeless and classic.” School Library Journal critic, Wendy Lukehart, offered a favorable assessment of A House That Once Was. Lukehart asserted: “Stirring to the eye and the spirit, this evocative book repays frequent readings.” “It’s a poetic and visually striking commentary on both what constitutes a home and the indelible marks we leave on this world,” commented Cynthia K. Ritter in Horn Book. Writing in BookPage, Julie Danielson suggested: “This is a story that will captivate its readers—much like the house captivates these curious children.” With text by Dave Eggers and illustrations by Smith, Tomorrow Most Likely features a woman telling a child what they can expect to see and experience the following day. A Kirkus Reviews critic called the book “a pleaser most likely.”
In 1989, Smith both wrote and illustrated Flying Jake, the first of his solo picture books, and followed that effort with The Big Pets and Glasses—Who Needs ‘Em? Writing in Children’s Books and Their Creators, he credited his wife, book designer Molly Leach, with giving Glasses—Who Needs ‘Em? the right visual effect by depicting the opening lines of the story in the form of an eye examination chart. “Not only did this device draw the reader into the story and establish the proper framework,” Smith observed, “it also looked smashing!” Leach has designed almost all of Smith’s books ever since, with the exception of his “Time Warp Trio” novels.
With its title playing on popular culture, Smith’s self-illustrated John, Paul, George, and Ben focuses on the Founding Fathers, who achieved America’s independence from England despite an amusing collection of personal foibles. “While children will love the off-the-wall humor” in John, Paul, George, and Ben, School Library Journal contributor Marianne Saccardi added that “there is plenty for adult readers to enjoy” as well. A child touring the White House encounters the melancholy ghost of the sixteenth president of the United States in Abe Lincoln’s Dream, another of Smith’s history-themed stories. Praising this work, a Kirkus Reviews writer deemed it “an adroit blend of humor, compassion and quiet optimism [that] reflects the statesman’s character.” Betty Carter wrote in Horn Book that, “From the hand-lettered broadside printing of the nineteenth century to collages incorporating various patterns and effects,” Smith’s artwork gives Abe Lincoln’s Dream “an old-fashioned feel.”
Another politically tinged work written and illustrated by Smith, Madam President focuses on a ponytailed youngster’s fanciful musings about the duties of the nation’s most important elected official. Whether she is negotiating a peace treaty between angry pets, appointing Mr. Potato Head to a cabinet post, or vetoing a meal of tuna casserole, the grade schooler confidently navigates the day’s activities while Smith “ably skewers the pitfalls of political office,” according to a Publishers Weekly critic. Ilene Cooper cited Madam President for its “amazing artwork” in Booklist, noting the “disparate uses of materials and images that often give the look of collage.”
Smith casts a satirical eye at society’s fascination with technology in It’s a Book, in which a pixel-addicted donkey discovers the joys of the paginated version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Reviewing the self-illustrated story in School Library Journal, Sara Lissa Paulson cited, in particular, a wordless spread showing the donkey engrossed in the classic novel. It’s a Book presents “a priceless visual testimony to the focused interaction between readers’ imaginations and a narrative,” Paulson concluded.
Grandpa Green offers a “rare glimpse into Smith’s softer side—as skillful as his more sly offerings, but crafted with honesty and heart,” observed a Publishers Weekly critic. In his work, a youngster romps through an exquisite topiary garden filled with sculptures that reflect the life of their creator, his great-grandfather. In School Library Journal, Caroline Ward praised the artwork in Grandpa Green , observing that “Smith uses a broad range of green hues and textures to create ornamental foliage that is inventive and charming.”
An introduction to collective nouns as well as a celebration of community, Smith’s picture book There Is a Tribe of Kids concerns a solitary boy living in the wild. The lad enjoys brief encounters with a smack of jellyfish, an unkindness of ravens, and several other creatures before meeting a band of like-minded humans. “Smith soars in this earnest, meditative work about longing, the joy of interaction, and family,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor and in School Library Journal, Wendy Lukehart called Smith’s jewel-toned artwork “a visual extravaganza of dappled, textured compositions.”
An unexpected visitor disturbs a quartet of copacetic creatures in A Perfect Day. On sunny days, Bert’s backyard is the place Cat relaxes among the flowers, Dog wades in a pool, Chickadee enjoys a meal at the birdfeeder, and Squirrel noshes on a discarded corncob. All is well until Bear enters the picture, turning Bert’s backyard into his personal playground. “Smith, with his signature humor, masterfully fills the spreads with Bear’s immense scale and endearing antics,” noted a Kirkus Reviews writer, and Lolly Gepson remarked in Booklist that “innovative textured artwork and pen drawings give a visceral feel” to A Perfect Day.
In A Gift for Nana, another self-illustrated title by Smith, a young bunny called Rabbit ventures into the forest to find a gift for his Nana. Along the way, he interacts with the moon, a whale, a volcano, and various other creatures, each of whom offers a gift idea. Finally, Rabbit finds the perfect gift for his beloved grandmother. A Kirkus Reviews writer described the volume as “a cozy story that will transport readers to faraway places.”
Smith’s debut novel Return to Augie Hobble centers on a New Mexico middle-schooler who is forced to complete a project for his failed creative-arts class while also working at his father’s rundown amusement park. Augie’s uneventful summer is a time for hanging with his best friend, although avoiding local bullies and pining for a cute fellow classmate sometimes intercede. Life takes a sudden and unexpected turn, however, when Augie becomes convinced that he is morphing into a werewolf. As events grow increasingly bizarre—a tragic death, government agents, vanishing pets, and clairvoyance all feature—Smith “does an impeccable job of introducing heartbreak while keeping the mood light,” in the view of a Publishers Weekly critic. “Portraits, collages, hand-drawn comics and other illustrations … add characteristically postmodern notes to this roller-coaster ride,” noted a critic discussing Return to Augie Hobble for Kirkus Reviews.
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Cummings, Pat, compiler and editor, Talking with Artists, Bradbury Press (New York, NY), 1992.
Silvey, Anita, editor, Children’s Books and Their Creators, Houghton (Boston, MA), 1995.
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 1, 1993, Janice Del Negro, review of Your Mother Was a Neanderthal, p. 346; July 1 & 15, 1995, Julie Yates Walton, review of 2095, p. 1773; November 1, 1995, Carolyn Phelan, review of Math Curse, p. 472; May 1, 1996, Ilene Cooper, review of James and the Giant Peach: A Children’s Story, p. 1511; June 1, 1998, Hazel Rochman, review of Summer Reading Is Killing Me!, p. 1769; April 15, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of Seen Art?, p. 1456; February 15, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of John, Paul, George, and Ben, p. 104; July 1, 2007, Randall Enos, review of Cowboy and Octopus, p. 64; May 1, 2008, Ilene Cooper, review of Madam President, p. 89; September 1, 2009, Daniel Kraus, review of Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated), p. 102; July 1, 2010, Andrew Medlar, review of It’s a Book, p. 66; July 1, 2011, Daniel Kraus, review of Grandpa Green, p. 64; June 1, 2012, Daniel Kraus, review of Lulu Walks the Dogs, p. 102; September 15, 2012, Ann Kelley, review of Abe Lincoln’s Dream, p. 73; October 1, 2014, Daniel Kraus, review of Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads, p. 88; May 1, 2015, Cindy Dobrez, review of Return to Augie Hobble, p. 100; February 1, 2016, Julie Smith, review of There Is a Tribe of Kids, p. 54; October 15, 2016, Lolly Gepson, review of A Perfect Day, p. 52.
BookPage, May, 2016, Julie Danielson, review of There Is a Tribe of Kids, p. 29; May, 2018, Julie Danielson, review of A House That Once Was, p. 30.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, May, 2006, Elizabeth Bush, review of John, Paul, George, and Ben, p. 424.
Horn Book, November-December, 1992, Mary M. Burns, review of The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, p. 720; January-February, 1993, Lane Smith, “The Artist at Work,” pp. 64-70; July-August, 1998, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!, pp. 479-481; May-June, 2006, Betty Carter, review of John, Paul, George, and Ben, p. 349; September-October, 2007, Tanya D. Auger, review of Cowboy and Octopus, p. 562; November-December, 2009, Martha V. Parravano, review of Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated), p. 653; September-October, 2012, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Lulu Walks the Dogs, p. 110; November-December, 2012, Betty Carter, review of Abe Lincoln’s Dream, p. 75; September-October, 2014, Sam Bloom, review of Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads, p. 94; July-August, 2016, Robin Smith, review of There Is a Tribe of Kids, p. 126; November-December, 2017, Kitty Flynn, review of I’m Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grownups, p. 118; September-October, 2018, Cynthia K. Ritter, review of A House That Once Was, p. 60; September-October, 2018, review of Giraffe Problems, p. 66.
Horn Book Guide, spring, 2011, Christine M. Heppermann, review of It’s a Book, p. 46.
Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2004, review of Science Verse, p. 813; April 15, 2005, review of Seen Art?, p. 481; March 15, 2006, review of John, Paul, George, and Ben, p. 301; August 1, 2007, review of Cowboy and Octopus; April 1, 2008, review of Big Plans; June 15, 2008, review of Madam President; June 1, 2009, review of The Big Elephant in the Room; June 1, 2011, review of Grandpa Green; July 15, 2012, review of Lulu Walks the Dogs; September 15, 2012, review of Abe Lincoln’s Dream; February 1, 2015, review of Return to Augie Hobble; March 1, 2016, review of There Is a Tribe of Kids; December 15, 2016, review of A Perfect Day; August 15, 2018, review of Giraffe Problems; February 1, 2019, review of Tomorrow Most Likely; July 1, 2021, review of Cat Problems; February 15, 2022, review of A Gift for Nana.
New York Times Book Review, October 6, 1991, Elizabeth-Ann Sachs, reviews of Knights of the Kitchen Table and The Not-So-Jolly Roger, both p. 23; November 8, 1992, Signe Wilkinson, “No Princes, No White Horses, No Happy Endings,” pp. 29, 59; November 14, 1993, Edward Koren, review of The Happy Hocky Family!, p. 44; October 15, 2010, Adam Gopnick, review of It’s a Book.
Print, November, 2000, Caitlin Dover, review of The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, p. 16.
Publishers Weekly, July 28, 1989, review of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!, p. 218; December 21, 1990, review of The Big Pets, p. 55; July 26, 1991, Amanda Smith, “Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith,” pp. 220-221; May 11, 1992, review of The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy, p. 72; May 18, 1998, review of Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals, Beastly Fables, p. 78; May 2, 2005, review of Seen Art?, p. 198; January 23, 2006, review of John, Paul, George, and Ben, p. 207; July 16, 2007, review of Cowboy and Octopus, p. 162; March 31, 2008, review of Big Plans, p. 61; June 23, 2008, review of Madam President, p. 54; July 13, 2009, review of The Big Elephant in the Room, p. 56; August 17, 2009, review of Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated), p. 60; July 19, 2010, review of It’s a Book, p. 12; August 30, 2010, review of Lulu and the Brontosaurus, p. 53; July 18, 2011, review of Grandpa Green, p. 153; August 11, 2014, review of Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads, p. 65; March 16, 2015, review of Return to Augie Hobble, p. 85; December 2, 2015, review of Return to Augie Hobble, p. 67; June 13, 2016, review of Penguin Problems, p. 96.
School Library Journal, October, 1993, Gale W. Sherman, review of Your Mother Was a Neanderthal, p. 130; September, 1995, Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, review of Math Curse, p. 215; January, 2001, Susan Salpini, review of The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, p. 160; May, 2001, Mary Ann Carich, review of Baloney (Henry P.), p. 134; June, 2004, Steven Engelfried, review of Baloney (Henry P.), p. 58; May, 2005, Carol Ann Wilson, review of Seen Art?, p. 96; June, 2005, Steven Engelfried, review of Science Verse, p. 56; March, 2006, Marianne Saccardi, review of John, Paul, George, and Ben, p. 214; July, 2008, Wendy Lukehart, review of Madam President, p. 82; September, 2009, Joy Fleishhacker, review of The Big Elephant in the Room, p. 134; August, 2010, Sara Lissa Paulson, review of It’s a Book, p. 86; August, 2011, Caroline Ward, review of Grandpa Green, p. 86; October, 2012, Marie Orlando, review of Lulu Walks the Dogs, p. 108; December, 2012, Mahnaz Dar, review of Abe Lincoln’s Dream, p. 100; July, 2014, Peter Blenski, review of Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads, p. 76; March, 2015, Miriam Lang Budin, review of Return to Augie Hobble, p. 144; April, 2016, Wendy Lukehart, review of There Is a Tribe of Kids, p. 140; August, 2016, Joy Fleishhacker, review of Penguin Problems, p. 74; May, 2018, Wendy Lukehart, review of A House That Once Was, p. 68; October, 2018, Lisa Taylor, review of Giraffe Problems, p. 55; July, 2021, Catherine Callegari, review of Cat Problems, p. 48.
Time, December 21, 1992, “Kid-Lit Capers,” pp. 69-70.
Wilson Library Bulletin, June, 1992, Donnarae MacCann, and Olga Richard, review of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!, p. 118.
ONLINE
Entertainment Weekly, http://www.ew.com/ (May 6, 2016), Isabella Biedenharn, author interview.
Lane Smith website, https://www.lanesmithbooks.com (August 2, 2022).
Picture Book Spotlight, https://www.pbspotlight.com/ (April 4, 2019), Brian Gehrlein, author interview.
Seven Impossible Things before Breakfast blog, http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/ (August 25, 2008), “Seven Questions over Breakfast with Lane Smith.”*
Lane Smith
has received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Society of Illustrators and has been honored by the Eric Carle Museum for “lifelong innovation in the field of children's books.” He is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestseller It’s a Book which has been translated into over twenty-five languages and he has written and illustrated lots of other stuff like Grandpa Green, which was a 2012 Caldecott Honor book and There Is a Tribe of Kids, which won the Kate Greenaway medal in 2017. His titles with Jon Scieszka include the Caldecott Honor winner The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, both ranked among the 100 best all-time picture books by TIME magazine. Lane’s books have been New York Times Best Illustrated Books on five occasions.
Lane and book designer Molly Leach live in rural Connecticut.
He is represented by Steven Malk of Writers House.
What would you do if you weren’t a children’s book creator?
I don’t know. I can’t do anything else.
Can you play the harpsichord?
No.
Can you fix a sports car?
No.
Can you train a White-faced Saki Monkey?
No. I can only make children’s books.
Is there one thing all of your books have in common?
TEXTURE. All of my books are different but they all have lots of texture. It is one of the things that excites me most when starting a new book. I do lots of experimentation with different paints and inks and things and I like to build up interesting surfaces.
I’m not sure where my love of textures started. I think it must go back to my mom. She was an antiques dealer and I grew up in a house with every room filled with dolls and puppets, their paint peeling, their faces cracked, sitting on fading and weathered furniture from another era.
I am always building up paint then scraping it away or spraying with varnishes to break it up. Some of my paintings even have dirt and little rocks in them. I also use pieces of newspaper and other collage elements in my illustrations.
Who is Molly Leach?
The greatest book designer working today. She has designed nearly all of my books. When she designed The Stinky Cheese Man back in 1992 folks called it a “watershed moment.” Suddenly every designer wanted to make books with crazy type and upside-down pages. The problem is it is very hard to do unless you know how. Molly knows how.
How do you two work together?
I usually come up with an idea then sketch it up into a book dummy (a book dummy is a very loose version of the final book). I tell Molly the kind of typography I want. She says no. She changes it. She hands it back to me and I adjust my pictures to go with her “new and improved” type. Then I create the final pictures. Lastly, we figure out together what the cover should look like. She makes everything I do 100 times better but since most people don’t know what a designer does, I usually get all the credit. This isn’t fair.
Some of your books are weird. Are they appropriate for my child?
I do not know your child. But I will say I do not subscribe to the notion that every book is for every child. I make the kinds of books that I liked as a kid. Some are weird.
Do you speak at schools?
No. Speaking in front of humans makes me nervous. I empathize with the quiet student in the back of the class who is too shy to speak up. That was me. But there are other ways of expressing oneself… like through drawings, creative writing or balloon animals.
Do you tweet?
Yes, when I eat radishes. I am not on Twitter however. Or Facebook or Instagram. Writing is hard for me. It takes a long time. If I come up with a really funny line I’ll use it in a book. If it’s not funny I won’t waste anyone’s time putting it out there in a tweet.
Do you really make balloon animals?
No.
How is the best way to contact you?
Through this site. If you want to reach me for business purposes please contact my amazing agent, Steven Malk of Writers House on the contact page.
Who is still reading these FAQs?
1. People who should be working but are not.
2. Students who have been forced to write a paper on my books.
3. My cousin BJ.
Will you speak at our school?
You sneaky dog. I already told you I do not speak at schools.
Where did you grow up?
Corona, California. My dad, Corkey, was an accountant at Rockwell International in Anaheim during the Apollo Space program. My mom, Millie, had many different jobs, but the funniest was when she was an instructor at Sears Charm School.
Our family spent every summer traveling Route 66 back to Oklahoma where I was born. Okay, Molly says I have to list some of my Okie relative’s names. I do not see the humor but here goes: Dub (actually his real name is Delmer), Billy Joe, Leo, Cubby, Uncle Baldy, Grandma Ora, Grandpa Rual, Velma, Macy, Pauline, Fat (who is skinny), Dewey, Darla and Tom & Jerry. My brother’s name is Shane. Shane and Lane. Mom wanted twins and even though we were two years apart she dressed us in matching outfits until we were old enough to put up a fuss. (It was either around third grade or during my last year in College. I forget.)
Do you have any pets?
Yes. We have a cat named Lulu and a dog named JoJo. They are both naughty.
Did you have a favorite teacher?
My high school art teacher, Daniel Baughman. I was a kid who liked to doodle. It never occurred to me I could make a living at it. Mr. Baughman encouraged my habit by driving me to ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena to meet with a counselor there. I was accepted and in 1983 received a BFA in illustration.
What did you do before you became a children’s book illustrator?
For many years I worked as a freelance illustrator. My illustrations appeared in magazines like Time, Sesame Street, Rolling Stone, Ms., Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire and many others. Before that, I was a custodial host at Disneyland. A street sweeper and an illustrator. With both jobs you can’t go home until the paperwork is done.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into children’s books?
It sounds like a cliché but it’s true: don’t give up. Jon Scieszka and I took The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs to many publishers and were rejected by that many. We would huff and snuff but we never gave up. One day Viking Books took a chance on us. Thank goodness. Like I said, I can’t do anything else. I wouldn’t even know where to begin with the harpsichord.
What are some of your favorite children’s books?
Here are some in no particular order (one or two aren’t really children’s books either).
Swimmy by Leo Lionni
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Aesop’s Fables illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen. (Some of the most beautiful textural illustrations I have ever seen.)
Sylvester & the Magic Pebble by William Steig. (Actually, I recommend all of Steig’s books. A great illustrator but also one of our most underrated writers.)
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson
Anything and everything by Kate DiCamillo. Timeless classics.
The Shrinking of Treehorn by Florence Parry Heide and Edward Gorey (the 50th anniversary edition has a little foreword by me)
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow and Maurice Sendak
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White and Garth Williams
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Knee-knock Rise by Natalie Babbitt
The Dead Bird by Margaret Wise Brown and Remy Charlip
The Happy Day by Ruth Krauss and Marc Simont
The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst and Erik Blegved
True Grit by Charles Portis
Finally, one of my favorite books about an artist. Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation by Gregory Maguire. Admit it, with most art books don’t you find yourself skimming the text? I do. Reading about pictures is never as satisfying as simply looking at them. This book is not that. It is so wise and thoughtful with many truly insightful observations about the connective themes and obsessions in Maurice’s work. You’ll want to read it again and again.
WHAT MATTERS to me?
More of me blathering on at The Art of the Picture Book.
Lane Smith (illustrator)
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the children's book illustrator. For the American actor, see Lane Smith.
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Lane Smith
Lane Smith (born August 25, 1959) is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He is the Kate Greenaway medalist (2017) known for his eclectic visuals and subject matter, both humorous and earnest, such as the contemplative Grandpa Green, which received a Caldecott Honor in 2012, and the outlandish Stinky Cheese Man, which received a Caldecott Honor in 1992.
Background
Smith was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but moved to Corona, California at a young age.[1] He spent summers in Tulsa and cites experiences traveling there via Route 66 as inspirations for his work, which combines highbrow and lowbrow elements.
He studied at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, at the encouragement of his high-school art teacher, Dan Baughman, helping to pay for it by working as a janitor at Disneyland. While still a student, he illustrated for alternative newspapers, L.A. Weekly, L.A. Reader and for the punk magazine No Mag. He also illustrated album covers for Oingo Boingo (Good For Your Soul) and the Dickies (Stukas Over Disneyland). He graduated from Art Center in 1983 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration and moved to New York City, where he freelance illustrated for various publications, including TIME, Mother Jones, Ms., Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, The Progressive, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, Sesame Street Magazine and others.
Smith is married to Molly Leach, who has designed many award-winning books, including nearly all of Smith's.
Children's books
Smith is most noted for his work on bestselling and award-winning children's books. He has won the British Kate Greenaway Medal (There Is a Tribe of Kids), the Bratislava Golden Apple (The Big Pets), two American Caldecott Honors (The Stinky Cheese Man and Grandpa Green), five New York Times' Best Illustrated Book awards (Halloween ABC, The Stinky Cheese Man, John, Paul, George & Ben, Grandpa Green and A House That Once Was), and lifetime achievement awards from the Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (2012),[2] and the Society of Illustrators (2014).[3]
His illustrations are created in varying media: oil paint, pen and ink, pencil, watercolor, collage and digital. Smith's artwork is also known for its experimental, textural nature. In a 2017 exhibit at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, "Collecting Inspiration", Smith's written appreciation for the art of Alice and Martin Provensen gives us insight into his own philosophy. The statement read:
Some picture book artists are very consistent with their style, which is probably a good thing for business and career. My favorite artists are the ones who try a different look with every book. That's why I like the Provensens. Everything they did had a lot of experimentation going on. Like children who haven't yet been told not to splatter ink onto their drawings, or not to mix oil paints with watercolors, or that the sky is blue, not green … [In my own paintings] from The Stinky Cheese Man I made the textures by combining oil paint with water-based varnishes. You're not supposed to do that. It makes the paint bubble up like little pebbles.
Smith has illustrated works by Florence Parry Heide, Judith Viorst, Bob Shea, Dr. Seuss, Jack Prelutsky, Eve Merriam, Roald Dahl, George Saunders, Jory John, Chris Harris and Julie Fogliano. He has both written and illustrated several books, most notably It's a Book (2010)—a New York Times bestseller for over six months and translated into over twenty-eight languages—The Happy Hocky Family (1996), The Happy Hocky Family Moves to the Country! (2002), Madam President (2008), John, Paul, George & Ben (2006) and A Perfect Day (2017).
On May 5, 2015, Roaring Brook Press published Smith's first middle-grade novel, Return to Augie Hobble, which received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews and Booklist. It was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year.
He is also known for his collaborations with Jon Scieszka. Introduced by their wives Molly Leach and Jeri Hansen in the late 1980s, the two collaborated on several award-winning and bestselling books from 1989 to 2007. Their two most popular books, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! (1989) and The Stinky Cheese Man (1992), made lists by both TIME magazine and School Library Journal ranking them among the 100 best all-time picture books. (The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!, number 35, and The Stinky Cheese Man, 91).[4] Smith has also illustrated some volumes of Scieszka's The Time Warp Trio novels.
He is a five-time recipient of the New York Times' Best Illustrated Book award. In 2012, Smith was named a Carle Honor Artist for lifelong innovation in the field of children's books.[5] In 2014, he received the Society of Illustrators' Lifetime Achievement award.[6]
Smith's artistic talents have also been featured in other books and mediums. He illustrated one edition of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, and was Conceptual Designer for the 1996 Disney movie adaptation. He contributed conceptual designs for Disney and Pixar's Monsters, Inc. and the film adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Smith wrote and directed the 35 mm short Water Ride[7] (1994), which starred Bill Irwin. It aired on PBS and the Bravo channel, and was screened at the Hamptons International Film Festival, among others.
Books
Some listings may not be first editions.
As writer and illustrator
Flying Jake (Viking Children's Books, 1988)
Glasses (Who Needs 'Em?) (Viking, 1991)
The Big Pets (Viking, 1991)
The Happy Hocky Family! (Viking, 1993)
Pinocchio: The Boy (Viking, 2002)
The Happy Hocky Family Moves to the Country! (Viking, 2003)
John, Paul, George & Ben (Hyperion Press, 2006)
Madam President (Viking, 2008)
The Big Elephant In The Room (Hyperion, 2009)
It's a Book (Roaring Brook Press, 2010)
It's a Little Book (Roaring Brook, 2011)
Grandpa Green (Roaring Brook, 2011) – Caldecott Honor Book
Abe Lincoln's Dream (Roaring Brook, 2012)[8]
Return to Augie Hobble (Roaring Brook, 2015)[9]
There Is a Tribe of Kids (Roaring Brook, 2016)[10]
A Perfect Day (Roaring Brook, 2017)[11]
A Gift For Nana (Random House Kids, 2022)[12]
Stickler Loves the World (Random House Kids, 2023)
As illustrator
Written by Jon Scieszka
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! (Viking, 1989)
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (Viking, 1992) – Caldecott Honor Book
Math Curse (Viking, 1995)
Squids Will Be Squids (Viking, 1998)
Baloney (Henry P.) (Viking, 2001)
Science Verse (Viking, 2004)
Seen Art? (Viking, 2005)
Cowboy and Octopus (Viking, 2007)
Smith has also illustrated some installments of Scieszka's The Time Warp Trio series of novels.[clarification needed]
By other writers
Halloween ABC, Eve Merriam (Simon & Schuster), 1987
James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl (Random House, 1996 edition)
The illustrations also appear in the 1997 hardcover book The Roald Dahl Treasury.
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!, Dr. Seuss and Jack Prelutsky (Random House, 1998)
The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, George Saunders (McSweeney's, 2000)
Big Plans, Bob Shea (Hyperion, 2008)
Princess Hyacinth, Florence Parry Heide (Schwartz & Wade, 2009)
Lulu and the Brontosaurus, Judith Viorst (Atheneum Books, 2010)
Lulu Walks the Dogs, Judith Viorst (Atheneum Books, 2012)
Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads, Bob Shea (Roaring Brook, 2014)
Penguin Problems, Jory John (Random House, 2016)
I'm Just No Good at Rhyming and Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups, Chris Harris (Little, Brown, 2017)
A House That Once Was, Julie Fogliano (Roaring Brook, 2018)
Giraffe Problems, Jory John (Random House, 2018)
Awards and honors
1987: New York Times A Best Illustrated Book of the Year, Halloween ABC
1987: School Library Journal, A Best Book of the Year, Halloween ABC
1987: Horn Book Honor List, Halloween ABC
1987: Booklist Editor's Choice, Halloween ABC
1987: Ohio Silver Buckeye Award, Halloween ABC
1989: Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!
1989: New York Times A Best Books of the Year, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!
1989: Maryland Black-eyed Susan Picture-Book Award, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!
1991: Golden Apple Award, Bratislava International Biennial of Illustrations, The Big Pets
1991: Society of Illustrators Silver Medal, The Big Pets
1991: First-place award, New York Book Show, The Big Pets
1991: Parent's Choice Award for Illustration, Glasses—Who Needs 'Em?
1991: New York Times Best Books of the Year citation, Glasses—Who Needs 'Em?
1991: ALA Notable Children's Book citation, Glasses—Who Needs 'Em?
1992: Library of Congress Books for Children, Glasses—Who Needs 'Em?
1992: A Publishers Weekly #1 bestseller, The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
1992: Caldecott Honor, The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
1992: New York Times A Best Illustrated Book of the Year, The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
1992: New York Times Notable Children's Book, The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
1992: School Library Journal, A Best Book of the Year, The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
1993: Publishers Weekly, A Best Book of the Year, The Happy Hocky Family
1995: Booklist Editors' Choice citation - Math Curse
1996: Publishers Weekly, A Best Children's Book - Math Curse
1996: ALA Best Book for Young Adults citation - Math Curse
1996: No. 1 Publishers Weekly bestseller, James and the Giant Peach
1998: No. 1 Publishers Weekly bestseller, Dr. Seuss' Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!
2006: New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2006: New York Times Notable Book, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2006: Child magazine Best Book of the Year, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2006: National Parenting Publication Gold Award, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2006: School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2006: Horn Book Fanfare, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2006: Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2006: Parenting Best Book of the Year, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2006: Child magazine Best Book of the Year, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2007: Zena Sutherland Award, John, Paul, George, and Ben
2008: Read Boston's Best Read Aloud Book, Madam President
2010: Winner, Ladybug Picture Book Award, Princess Hyacinth
2010: A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book, It's a Book
2010: Goodreads Choice Awards Winner, Favorite Picture Book, It's a Book
2010: A New York Times Notable Book, It's a Book
2010: Boston Globe, Ten Best Books of 2010, It's a Book
2011: Caldecott Honor, Grandpa Green
2011: A New York Times Best Illustrated Book, Grandpa Green
2011: Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book, Grandpa Green
2011: Silver medal Society of Illustrators, Grandpa Green
2011: School Library Journal Best Book, Grandpa Green
2015: A Washington Post Best Book of the Year, Return to Augie Hobble
2015: L.A. Times Summer Recommended Reading List, Return to Augie Hobble
2015: Amazon Editors' Picks for Summer Reading: Ages 9–12, Return to Augie Hobble
2015: Publishers Weekly Best Summer Books, Return to Augie Hobble
2016: Irish Times, A Best Book of the Year, Penguin Problems
2016: Bank Street, A Best Children's Book of the Year, Penguin Problems
2017: NEIBA finalist, A Perfect Day
2017: An NPR Best Book of the Year, A Perfect Day
2017: Kate Greenaway Medal, There Is a Tribe of Kids
2018: An ALSC Notable Children's Book, A Perfect Day
2018: A New York Times Best Illustrated Book, A House That Once Was
08-24-2023
DESIGN
The illustrator who revolutionized children’s publishing is doing it again
Lane Smith made kids’ books weird. Now, he’s making them sincere, too.
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The illustrator who revolutionized children’s publishing is doing it again
[Image: courtesy Random House Studio]
BY
Zachary Petit
There’s an old story in children’s publishing that Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel came up with the idea for Horton Hatches an Egg after a gust of wind blew a drawing of the namesake elephant out the window and onto a tree.
But Lane Smith is dubious.
“That’s a good story, Ted,” he says with a laugh. “I’m not buying it.”
The more you speak with notable authors, the more you realize many have no clue how they came up with some of their most beloved creations. But when it comes to Smith’s latest book, Stickler Loves the World, the children’s book innovator can pinpoint exactly where the creature sprang forth: during his morning walk through the woods with his Shih Tzu, JoJo, and his cat, Lulu.
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Smith and his wife, the graphic designer Molly Leach, moved to an isolated area of Connecticut after 30 years of living in New York City; and on his morning walks through the woods, Smith constantly finds himself inspired and amazed by the creatures he sees and the many unexpected twists and turns of nature’s forms—which he exuberantly points out to his furry companions: Look at this spider! This is a weird spider. You guys, check out the spider!
“I realize I probably sound like an insane person,” he says. “But, you know, it’s better to say it out loud than to keep it to yourself.”
In Smith’s new book, Stickler—a character aptly comprised of sticks and numerous sets of eyes—delights in doing just the same as he leads a pal on a tour of his beloved forest, in the process composing, as Kirkus put it, a “buoyant, bristly ode to joy.”
It’s a return to form for Smith—a journey back to his painterly, surreal, earth-toned, and downright strange, aesthetic that changed children’s publishing in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
A new era of children’s book design
Smith started out in children’s publishing during the 1980s, a conservative time that inevitably birthed Pee-wee Herman and all the rest of the brilliantly strange media that followed. He had graduated from working at punk magazines and was a freelance illustrator. Leach also came from a magazine background, at Sports Illustrated and other publications. So when the writer Jon Scieszka partnered up with the two on The Stinky Cheese Man, an absurdist reimagining of classic fairy tales, they illustrated and designed the book like a hardcover magazine.
But what would become a kid-lit classic was at first resolutely rejected. So the trio collaborated on Scieszka’s The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, a spin on the tale from the wolf’s perspective. Viking took a chance on it, and it became a hit.
Ultimately, that book earned Stinky Cheese Man the green light. While Three Little Pigs played in the same conceptual fairy tale sandbox, the latter was utterly anarchic by comparison. Smith’s rich illustrations were strange and refreshing, eschewing the standard bright kid-lit color palette for the grotesque and dark. For a kids book, it was loaded with text. Its form was often scrambled, with an upside-down dedication page and endpapers that appear somewhere in the middle of the book.
Leach’s innovative type, meanwhile, danced across the page in ways never before seen in the category, becoming as much a character as any in the book, and directly commingling with the narrative. (As one designer later put it to Publishers Weekly, “Molly Leach opened the door in a lot of ways. When we saw The Stinky Cheese Man, designers said, ‘This is what we want to do, too!’—and that it worked and sold made that possible.”)
Smith has said that in children’s publishing at the time, there were earnest books and there were humor books. But there weren’t any parodies.
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“We just thought we were getting away with murder,” he says. “It kind of made some waves in the business, but really, we couldn’t believe we got away with it.”
“Made some waves” is an understatement. As Publishers Weekly put it, “The Stinky Cheese Man is widely recognized as the book that moved children’s design into a new era.”
Per the New York Times, “The Stinky Cheese Man exuberantly eviscerates the recent yuppie publishing conventions that have produced lovely staid book after lovely staid book from accomplished illustrators who keep the ink and royalty checks flowing by redrawing every classic tale we adults remember from our increasingly distant childhoods.”
Of course, not everyone got it. As another Times critic described a collaboration from the trio a few years later, “The art suggests ‘My first book of Surrealism,’ or ‘Dada for the Goo-Goo Set.’ Molly Leach, who is credited with the book’s design, uses a variety of typefaces and sizes throughout the book for no reason I could detect. However, every child I spoke to found such craziness appealing.”
Smith would go on to further collaborations with Scieszka and others, but he remains happiest working on his own books, of which he has done nearly 20. His media and experimental approaches have varied wildly over the years; but despite his chameleonic versatility, he has remained fascinated by texture—and ultimately, Leach’s type work throughout his body of work fosters consistency across it.
After shifting to realism and more grounded characters in recent years—during the pandemic, Smith found himself spending time on big oil paintings, similar to the way he worked 30 years ago—he made a conscious decision to return to his roots in his books, starting with his most recent title, A Gift for Nana, in which the character Stickler initially appeared. After creating largely with oil on canvas, he mixes in elements like cold wax, pebbles, and dirt for texture, then blends everything with drawings on a pad or iPad, and cuts it all together.
The one thing that has changed: the tone of his stories, shaped here by a culture he played a critical role in creating.
“It’s funny, after all these years now, I go into a children’s bookstore, and it’s just this embarrassment of riches of beautiful, strange, wonderful artworks, and everyone’s cheeky, and the texts are all a little subversive. So now, it’s kind of a punk thing to do a little more sincere stuff. Even though Stickler is a weird-looking guy, his message is very sweet and sentimental. And that seems almost revolutionary to me now.”
In deferring to the strange, haunting aesthetic of his past but shifting the tone, Smith has yet again wound up with something wholly unique—and if history offers any precedent, influential.
As someone who grew up on Smith’s early books, I assumed that, as an adult, my capacity for getting lost in his richly illustrated worlds had likely expired. I am delighted to be wrong.
And that’s perhaps the key to it all.
“That’s the dirty little secret about kids’ books,” Smith says with a laugh. “The most successful ones, I think, are the ones adults like to read.”
The early-rate deadline for Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
Interview with Author Lane Smith on Stickler, Writing, & More
This post may contain affiliate links.
By Melissa Taylor
Posted on
July 13, 2023
Updated on
July 22, 2023
To celebrate Lane Smith’s forthcoming picture book, Stickler Loves the World, I spoke with Lane via email to talk about Stickler, writing, and finding joy in all the things. Lane was delightful and insightful. Here’s our conversation. I can’t wait to share it with you.
Stickler Loves the World by Lane Smith
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Interview with Lane Smith
interview with Lane Smith, author
Melissa: I feel like this story is exactly what the world needs right now. What was your inspiration for creating this story at this moment in time?
Lane: Thanks! If you read the newspapers or watch cable news, you might think things are terrible all over. However, we are on this astonishing planet with so much to see in the natural world. Stickler is like a kid (if kids were made of sticks). It experiences the world with wide-eyed wonder. Pure amazement and joy, all the time.
Melissa: What do you hope for readers after they experience this story?
Lane: There’s no overt message. But maybe if Stickler reminds kids to simply notice stuff, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing to impart. Slow down, look at that bug. Feel the bumps on that rock. Smell those flowers. Watch out for that cactus.
Melissa: Is there something you do to help you find joy and delight in all the weird and wonderful things in our world?
Lane: I have been blessed with a very poky dog (JoJo) and a very leisurely cat (Lulu) who I walk every day. They move soooooo slow that I have A LOT of time to ponder things. Thanks guys!
Melissa: How can readers see the world more like Stickler?
Lane: You need eight eyes.
Melissa: With growing kid writers, what is the top piece of advice you would give them?
Write all the time. If you are an artist, draw all the time. When I was in art school, one of my teachers called it “Brush Mileage.” It’s true. The more you paint, draw, or write, the more “mileage” you stockpile and the better you become. Nothing is off-limits. If you want to write about sparkly fairies, that’s cool! If you want to draw superheroes, that’s awesome! If you want to make a book about your weird uncle, I encourage you! But you might want to change his name first.
Melissa: With adult writers, what is your one piece of advice for story idea generation?
Lane: To be a better writer, it helps to be a dedicated reader. Read everything you can. The good and the bad.
As for story ideas, don’t try to copy what is popular or a bestseller or what others have done. Do your own thing. I’m sure that’s not a problem. I would lay odds if you are someone who is attracted to children’s books in the first place, you no doubt already have a pretty active imagination.
photo credit: Bob Shea
About Author Lane Smith
Lane Smith is the author-illustrator of numerous award-winning and bestselling books for children. He is the recipient of the Kate Greenaway Medal, two Caldecott Honors, five New York Times Best Illustrated Book selections, and lifetime achievements from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and the Society of illustrators. He is the illustrator of Penguin Problems, Giraffe Problems, and Cat Problems, all written by Jory John. Lane Smith lives in Connecticut with his wife, Molly Leach, an award-winning graphic designer.
About STICKLER LOVES THE WORLD
Penguin Random House Description: Stickler, an original character covered in sticks and with multiple ever-changing eyes, loves its little world. With best friend Crow, it shares the wonders of all the amazing things the world has to offer. Stickler is astonished by the ordinary, such as the sun and the stars, as well as fascinated by those things in nature that are often overlooked, such as swirling seed pods falling from the sky. The two pals wander about the world, stopping to appreciate the many marvels along the way, especially its beloved sticks, each one unique.
Stickler Loves the World encourages awareness and mindfulness with a joyous and lighthearted touch. The award-winning illustrator of bestsellers, including Penguin Problems and Giraffe Problems brings imagination and humor to a story that features a delightful and original character.
Melissa’s Review: As you can tell from my interview, I love Stickler and the way in which he finds exuberance about everything in nature!
“Behold! The joy of ROCKS!” Stickler, a multi-eye stick creature, meets Crow, who temporarily can’t see due to a tin can stuck on their head. Stickler, thinking that Crow is an alien, narrates to him about all about the wonders of the world. Puffballs! Wind! Fish! (“Smelly, wonderful!”) Blue! Maple syrup! Stickler says, ““And just think of the wonders we must pass every day without even noticing.”” RIGHT!?
After Crow is revealed to be Crow, Stickler remembers the best wonder of all–STICKS! And also chirpy crickets, misty fog, shiny moon.
Stickler invites us all to see the big and small wonders of the world with more excitement and joy than we’ve ever done before. Stickler Loves the World is pure delight from start to finish!
Thanks, Lane, for speaking with me and all your books throughout the years!
What Matters to Lane Smith
Posted inWhat Matters
By Debbie Millman
PostedDecember 12, 2023 ∙ 4 min. read
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Debbie Millman has an ongoing project at PRINT titled “What Matters.” This is an effort to understand the interior life of artists, designers, and creative thinkers. This facet of the project is a request of each invited respondent to answer ten identical questions and submit a nonprofessional photograph.
Lane Smith has illustrated around fifty children’s books over the last 30+ years. He worked hard on every single one. He believes some turned out okay.
What is the thing you like doing most in the world?
In no particular order:
Drawing and painting alone in my studio, sometimes with music, sometimes in complete silence.
Doing anything with my wife Molly. Even going to the DMV.
Spending quality time with our dog Jojo and cat Lulu. I mean, really concentrating on wriggling a string for Lulu or waiting patiently, for as long as it takes, while Jojo smells a rock.
What is the first memory you have of being creative?
I can never remember a time when I didn’t draw. But a turning point came when I was around seven years old. My uncle Orlin was visiting. He looked at my doodles then held them up for my parents and said, “He’s really good.” My parents sort of nodded back but it hit me then that maybe drawing could be something other than a silly diversion for myself.
What is your biggest regret?
I’m not going to talk about that here. That would become another regret.
How have you gotten over heartbreak?
My heart broke when my mom died. Everyone says, it mends with time. It doesn’t.
What makes you cry?
Mostly happy things. Molly and I will be watching a movie where a hundred soldiers have been slaughtered and death and destruction is raining down on everyone. Meh. Then a soldier’s long-lost dog arrives at the door. Molly looks at me with a double-take: “Are you crying?”
How long does the pride and joy of accomplishing something last for you?
I am happiest when writing and illustrating a book, everything is rosy, the future is all promise. Then the book pubs and regardless of the critical or commercial outcome, good or bad, I go into a kind of depression. I immediately move on to the next project. Only years later will I revisit the book. That’s when I become very proud and glad that I made it.
Do you believe in an afterlife, and if so, what does that look like to you?
My answer is a sidebar to the last answer. No, I do not believe in an afterlife. What I do believe in is the art we all create. It will live after we are gone. Even if all of my books are out of print there will be at least one copy in a dusty box somewhere that a kid might one day stumble upon to have a laugh over or be touched by.
What do you hate most about yourself?
I tend to obsess. I will get up in the middle of the night to scribble a note or to tweak a drawing. Also, I think I have a bit of OCD because I am always drawing my lines ruler-straight or making the circle of an eyeball or sun or moon perfectly round. I have to remind myself to stop that. Later I go back into the art to erase the perfectly round moon and redraw it as a spontaneous lopsided thing. It always looks better.
What do you love most about yourself?
I wouldn’t say I love this about myself, actually, it’s annoying: I am very optimistic about pretty much everything. I did a book called Stickler Loves the World about a joyous optimist. That’s basically me. The other day I was walking my ninety-year-old mother-in-law. Her right arm was holding onto mine as her left tapped the ground with a cane. I pointed out to her how puffy the clouds were, how blue the sky was. “What a perfect day!” I said. A flock of birds flew overhead. “Look at that! Wow!” I said, and again I couldn’t help announcing that the day was perfect. Without looking up she said, “If you say that one more time I am going to hit you with this cane.”
What is your absolute favorite meal?
I am a terrible cook. My wife is an amazing cook and I am happiest when, instead of going out, she says, “I think I will cook tonight.” All of her meals are my favorites.
That aside, nothing beats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to take you back to when you were a kid. Some days I’ll make one (with Jif, always Jif) and childhood memories of munching on a PB&J and doodling on a sketchpad flood over me.
(I should sigh heavily now and describe this feeling out loud. But I don’t want to get hit by a cane.)
There are two images side by side on a green background: on the left is the book cover for Stickler, and on the right is a photo of author Lane SmithExpand image caption
Cover photo: Random House Studio, Author Photo: Bob Shea
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Too Fantastical: A Look at Lane Smith’s Imaginary Creatures
The wonders of the every day world come alive in 'Stickler'
By Sumanth Prabhaker
September 12, 2023
It would take a very advanced calculator to tally up the hours my children have spent absorbed in the work of Lane Smith, whose smudgecore aesthetic defies the idea that an image can ever be fully appreciated the first time you see it. The compounding layers and layers create an aliveness that pulls you close in the manner of the leaves and branches which inspire him. There is an awe to the intricacy of it all, which happens to be the subject of his latest book, Stickler. We spoke with Lane recently about the creation of that book and the joys of animal neighbors.
A page from Stickler featuring Stickler and Crow walking under a bent tree with autumnal leaves. There is a lot of texture in the paint.
Random House Studio
This book is a celebration of our world, one which operates on the belief that around every corner is something ‘so amazing, so weird, so wonderful.’ So it’s an interesting choice to open with a dark forest, ‘where shadow met tree,’ filled with scary-looking creatures with too many eyes. What went into the decision to begin a book about love on an image that evokes fear?
Maybe “mystery” is a better word for it. Some kids (and many more adults), are afraid of what they don’t understand. Stickler is an unusual-looking creature made entirely of sticks. I thought it would be intriguing to begin page one with several nebulous, multi-limbed, multi-eyed shapes in shadow. When the page is turned, the fog has lifted, sunlight slants through the forest and there is an explanation: the shapes are only trees, the eyes belonging to several birds, mice and squirrels. The gag is Stickler is the only shape left that still cannot be explained—What is that? It remains one odd-looking, multi-eyed being, and we might be a little dubious about its motives until the next page when we find that Stickler is the most joyous, happiest ambassador of our weird and amazing natural world one could ever hope to meet.
You describe Stickler as the strangest creature in the forest. What, to you, makes it strange?
Only its appearance, like many creatures of the natural world. Occasionally grown-ups say my characters look “too fantastical.” I say, “Ever see a blobfish? A platypus? An aye-aye?”
It’s celebrated for so many of its aspects, but to me your work is always a fascinating study in texture. Looking through this book, I see — and please forgive my amateur language here — scratches, smudges, washes, trickles, prickles, veins, splatters, spotting… There’s a whole grammar of texture here, and I wonder if you could share a little about your process. Do you illustrate with flat fields of color first and then add the texture? Since realism isn’t the goal, how do you know when you’ve landed on the right texture for a certain object?
“Scratches, smudges, washes, trickles, prickles, veins, splatters and spotting” are what excite me most about painting. In grade school we finger-paint and glue colored tissue papers together and use markers on tin foil. Then we go to art school and de-learn all that. However, I still experiment like a first grader. I usually start with oil paint but I might mix dirt into the wet paint. Later I might use sandpaper to sand off paint layers. Sometimes I paint with my fingers, sometimes I collage onto the illustration bits of torn paper or printed ephemera. Today nearly everyone works to some extent digitally. I do too. It’s another tool to play with. I scan all of my elements into the computer. I might rearrange things. I might draw with an Apple pencil, or an actual No.2 pencil over my painted surfaces. I play it by ear. I’ve been illustrating for forty years. It’s still fun for me.
A page from the book Stickler. It features Crow and Stickler standing on very tall rocks, There is a lot of texture on the page.
Random House Studio
By the end of the story, Stickler’s friend Crow — a jaded, world-weary traveler who’s seen everything there is to see and can never be impressed by anything anymore — is able to ‘see it all anew.’ Could you describe the last time that happened for you, the last time you were able to see it all anew? Who are the Sticklers in your life?
Isn’t Stickler the perfect spokes-creature for Orion? Stickler is all about the wonders of nature from the vast cosmos to the humble brown stick. And you may have noticed, the only disrupter in the story is the human-made tin can Crow gets his head stuck in.
My wife Molly Leach, the designer of all my books, and I lived in New York City for many years. There, I was inspired by weathered paint on walls or the texture of the concrete or a little weed breaking through the sidewalk. Around 2000 we moved to Litchfield County, Connecticut, and suddenly the palette changed, everything was new. At once, my books incorporated much more natural elements. It was an eye opener. Like a second childhood. Molly and I walk nearly every day or somedays I go it alone with our dog and cat who love exploring as much as I do. So much to see. The colors! The patterns! The critters!
One specific eye-opening incident: Not long after we moved to Connecticut there was a commotion in the middle of the night. We turned on the light to find the cat staring at a big-eyed trespasser. We didn’t know what it was at first. It was the most amazing thing we had ever seen (sitting on our shiny new kitchen countertop). It was a flying squirrel. Wonders! It was more fantastic than anything I could have drawn. The next day a very kind and gentle man relocated the squirrel (and her large extended family) to a wooded area miles away.
When you work, what do you see out your window?
I work in a refurbished barn. Looking out my window I see a gargantuan expressive tree in our backyard with an enormous zig-zagging branch that points to a bed of moss-covered boulders. Over there is a pond with a tall birch tree reflected in it. I see Ray, a Northern water snake sunning himself in his usual spot. Back the other way I see the hummingbird feeder all abuzz with little ‘helicopters’ and behind it an old ice house that is full of, what I think are, wolf spiders. On the house’s exterior is a hole made by a woodpecker and later nested by a Carolina wren. It’s all pretty inspiring.
Lane Smith is the author-illustrator of numerous award-winning and bestselling books for children. He is the recipient of the Kate Greenaway Medal, two Caldecott Honors, five New York Times Best Illustrated Book selections, and lifetime achievements from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and the Society of illustrators.
Smith, Lane STICKLER LOVES THE WORLD Random House Studio (Children's None) $18.99 8, 22 ISBN: 9780593649831
Smith eschews twee for twigs in this tribute to our world.
No joke, Stickler truly does love the wild, wonderful world in which we live. Resembling nothing so much as a toothy stickball with outsized ears, eyes (eight of them!), and pointy little teeth, Stickler runs about the natural world naming objects with all the enthusiasm of a Richard Scarry page ("Mushy moss! Sticky honey!"). The only thing better would be to see it all for the first time. Enter a bird with a can on his head. Stickler promptly decides the bird must be a space alien and, delighted, sets about showing the creature everything it loves about our planet. Happily, when the bird's true identity is revealed, Stickler's tour of world wonders has not gone unappreciated. While this tale may take its visual cues from such Smith classics as The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip (2000), written by George Saunders (Stickler exudes some serious gapper energy), it's the hero's spiky strangeness that proves the perfect accompaniment to a text that could otherwise dissolve into treacle. Here Smith has joined the oddball goofiness of his earlier books with the heart and soul of his more recent stories, and the result is a book as physically beautiful as it is moving. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
"Friendship! Happiness! World peace! Maple syrup!" A buoyant, bristly ode to joy. (Picture book. 4-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Smith, Lane: STICKLER LOVES THE WORLD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A751049989/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0fab9644. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
Smith, Lane A STICKLER CHRISTMAS Random House Studio (Children's None) $18.99 10, 8 ISBN: 9780593815281
Everyone's favorite multi-eyed forest denizen returns with abundant presents (we just hope you like sticks).
Having shared an incredible love of nature and life itself inStickler Loves the World (2023), the titular hero--a rotund creature with sticklike limbs and hair--knows precisely what to get everyone for Christmas. Taking on a role that's usually filled by Santa, Stickler climbs astride Judy, a reindeer with treelike antlers, and delivers a Hop-Higher Stick to Rabbit, an Idea Stick to Crow, and an In-a-Pear-Tree Stick to Partridge (who's oblivious to the "Twelve Days of Christmas" reference). Upon encountering Doug-the-Fir, Stickler discovers that the introverted tree has been unwillingly trimmed and bedecked in a truly flashy manner. How can Stickler avert attention from shy Doug? Let us simply say that Stickler knows how to bring the glam when necessary. Smith leans hard into the oddest elements of the book ("It was a weird Christmas"), and readers wouldn't have it any other way. Stickler's love and care for its friends are oddly touching--in a sea of more saccharine winter holiday selections, this wildly funny, whimsical story stands out in all the best ways. Employing an eclectic combination of materials both traditional (gesso, oil, cold wax on canvas) and digital, Smith creates sweetly surreal visuals. Readers will chuckle at the instructions on the publication page explaining how to "Be a Stickler."
To quote the strangest little fellow ever to star in its own Christmas picture book: "Joy."(Picture book. 3-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Smith, Lane: A STICKLER CHRISTMAS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A804504632/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=20c38960. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
A Stickler Christmas
Lane Smith
Random House Studio c/o Random House Children's Books https://www.rhcbooks.com
9780593815281, $18.99, HC, 40pp https://www.amazon.com/Stickler-Christmas-Story/dp/0593815289
Synopsis: Happy-go-lucky Stickler (an original character covered in sticks), is celebrating Christmas by passing out presents for all his friends. He has carefully selected the right stick for each of them, including: a Hop-Higher Stick for Rabbit, an Idea Stick for Crow, an In-a-Pear-Tree Stick for Partridge. But Doug-the-Fir doesn't want a present, he is too worried about being covered with decorations and lights and being the center of attention. So, Stickler promises to think of a solution and finds the perfect stick. But in order to help his shy friend, Stickler needs to be the one to shine.
Critique: An original and delightfully fun read from start to finish, "A Stickler Christmas" by author/storyteller Lane Smith carries an underlying message about the important of empathy and kindness which are hallmarks of the Christmas holiday season. While also available from Random House Studio in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.99), "A Tickler Christmas" is an imaginative and unreservedly recommended pick for family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library Christmas themed picture book collections for children ages 4-8.
Editorial Note: Lane Smith (www.lanesmithbooks.com) is the author-illustrator of numerous books for children. He is the recipient of the Kate Greenaway Medal, two Caldecott Honors, five New York Times Best Illustrated Book selections, and lifetime achievements from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and the Society of illustrators. He is also the author of Stickler Loves the World and A Gift for Nana, and the illustrator of Penguin Problems, Giraffe Problems, and Cat Problems, all written by Jory John.
Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
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"A Stickler Christmas." Children's Bookwatch, Dec. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A822840335/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b7088fd3. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
Smith, Lane RECESS Abrams (Children's None) $19.99 7, 22 ISBN: 9781419776892
The essence of a school-day recess is siphoned down into pure joyous chaos.
Before tapping into the kinetic energy of a classic "red light, green light" game, Smith begins with an acknowledgment that while school is "pretty fun," once in a while "we need a break from all that fun, right?" As he introduces different school subjects, he somehow always finds a way to end his descriptions of gym, spelling, and even math with a cry of "RECESS!" During these interludes, he encourages young readers to shake their booties, quack like ducks, stomp their feet, bounce invisible balls, and do any number of other loud things--until the fun abruptly ends, and it's back to more schoolwork. The triumphant finish invites readers to take part in all these activities at once in a riot of color and movement. This interactive explosion of a book bursts off the page, engulfing young listeners in its inescapable exuberance. The read-aloud potential is high, with the intrusive narrator providing hilariously disapproving commentary while also egging readers on. The characters are awash in bright hues and tones; Smith uses geometric shapes for many of the children's facial features. If B.J. Novak'sThe Book With No Pictures (2014) were smushed into Jon Scieszka and Smith'sThe Stinky Cheese Man (1992), this might well be the result.
Wilder than any rumpus, this recess isn't just a break--it's silliness incarnate!(Picture book. 3-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Smith, Lane: RECESS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A835106639/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=34abf133. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
Recess. By Lane Smith. Illus. by the author. July 2025. 40p. Abrams, $19.99 (9781419776892). K-Gr. 3.
What is recess if not a break from the ordinary? Enter this ode to the joy of mixing it up! Wildly varying fonts and exuberantly painted illustrations have rarely been used to such good effect. Noting that "you all look like you could use a recess this minute," the text enthusiastically encourages readers to shake their hands, legs, and booty--until the end of the page, when ("Stop! End of RECESS") it's back to business. Drab pages about school--math, spelling, gym--alternate with lively interludes spent quacking, bouncing, stomping, or repeatedly yelling "Bananas!" as directed by our narrator, until the book finally guides listeners to take some breaths and "chill." The breezy, conversational tone of the text, along with the dry observations of recess antics ("Shouting random fruits in a non-cafeteria environment feels way inappropriate") will bring smiles even to those beyond the usual picture-book crowd. While some teachers may wince at the spirited silliness, others will find this roller coaster to be just the right read-aloud for a midday change of pace.--Elisha Brookover
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Brookover, Elisha. "Recess." Booklist, vol. 121, no. 21, July 2025, p. 90. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A852212840/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9c132176. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.