Summertime

A summer idyl from Little Raccoon's Big Question

Read It! Review Round Up

Columbus Parent Magazine calls Read It, Don’t Eat It! a "gorgeous picture book".

The Toledo Blade says:

This pleasant work shows young children how to treat books. Lively animals dressed as children demonstrate what not to do - turn down, tear, sneeze on, or deface pages. They also tell what to do - read the stories and then turn the books back into the library so others can enjoy them. White backgrounds highlight the appealing characters and the simple text conveys the message without being preachy.

Meanwhile, at the University of Maine, Jan Kristo, author and professor of literacy education, says "keeping reading on children's radar will help them maintain and strengthen the gains made in reading over the school year" and recommends the "delightfully funny" Read It, Don’t Eat It!

And Muse Reviews calls it "a terrific tale":

I think this book would be especially valuable to teachers or librarians, but as a parent, I love reading this to my kids so they'll know even better how to respect property. (And wouldn't this be a terrific book to donate to your local town or school library?)

Hear! Hear!

Father's Day

Since the fifth grade, one of my best and constant friends has been Carl Zimmer, the science writer. Not long after Carl and I met, my dad made some illustrations for The Illustrated Dune by Frank Herbert, which were also used in a Dune calendar. Well, with his ever-watchful eye, Carl noticed that the cover art for both items found its way into John Hodgman's speech before President Obama at the Radio and TV Correspondents’ Dinner and then talked about it (and my dad and me) on his blog. Makes a nice Father's Day gift. Thanks, Carl!

And This Little Pig Cried, etc. etc...

Poor creature. Is it the relentless rain? Weeks in steerage?

Emmett's Pig

One of my favorite books was (and still is) Emmett's Pig by Mary Stolz and Garth Williams. So when I found out my friends were going to name their son Emmett, I decided to honor both boy and book with a painting. I made it with acrylic and ink on paper and scanned it before adding salutations in the banners. Oh, and the pig is holding a playing card because Emmett's middle name is Ace.

Reprint It, Don't Eat It!

Both the trade and library editions of Read It, Don't Eat It! are reprinting! Get your first printings before they run out.

Also, the Toledo Blade has this to say:

This pleasant work shows young children how to treat books. Lively animals dressed as children demonstrate what not to do - turn down, tear, sneeze on, or deface pages. They also tell what to do - read the stories and then turn the books back into the library so others can enjoy them. White backgrounds highlight the appealing characters and the simple text conveys the message without being preachy.

The ABC Not-a-Dinner and (Mostly) Silent Auction

I usually don't have the heart to part with my originals unless it's for a special occasion or a good cause. Well, here's one:

Each year the Association of Booksellers for Children asks illustrators to donate a piece of artwork for their Not-a-Dinner and (Mostly) Silent Auction held during Book Expo America (BEA). This year's event happens on Friday, May 29th, at The New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge.

Elizabeth Bluemle, president of the ABC, gives a sneak peak of what's in store on Publishers Weekly's website. She also provides a handy link to an album of all the pictures.

I made my painting with ink and acrylic on paper. For some reason, I thought the contributions were supposed to feature a letter of the alphabet, but I must have been following a directive from a prior year. Oh, well!

Laundress Mice Carrying Linen

My mother has a collection of laundry-related art and objects and she also loves mice, so I made a little painting for her birthday, based on "Laundresses Carrying Linen" by Edgar Degas.

Scans of Read It, Don't Eat It!

Some scans from Read It, Don't Eat It! appear on HarperCollins's "Browse Inside" site.

Read It, Don't Eat It! Released Today!

Today is the "Release Date" of Read It, Don't Eat It! which (I think) means it has officially been released from warehouses across the country. So, you should be able to find it in a few days at your favorite, independent, brick-and-mortar bookshop. Or, it should ship today from Amazon.I hope you're hungry!

A Sketch for Read It, Don't Eat It!

Here is an early pencil sketch for the jacket of Read It, Don't Eat It! which will be released next week!

Publishers Weekly on Read It, Don't Eat It!

Publishers Weekly just said some good things about Read It, Don't Eat It!

...Simple, direct and knowingly funny, this book is worthy of a permanent spot on the desks of youth librarians everywhere.

Piggyback

An illustration for an unwritten story, made with acrylic paint and ink on paper.

A Starred Review in School Library Journal!

This just in from School Library Journal regarding Read It, Don't Eat It!:

In a picture book sure to make every librarian's heart sing, Schoenherr has created a simple rhyming primer on how to take good care of a library book....

Read Publishers Weekly, Don't Eat It!

The cover of Publishers Weekly for the week of February 16th features one of my illustrations from Read It, Don't Eat It! Well, actually it's on the official inner cover, as opposed to the outer advertising cover (brought to you by American Girl, featuring four girls reading a mystery by flashlight).

An early review of Read It, Don't Eat It!

This just in from Fuse #8, the blog at School Library Journal. It is by far the longest review of any of my books, but it's also among the nicest.

Coming in May: Read It, Don't Eat It!

Black Angus!

Angus is a teddy bear with a very active imagination. Here he is performing a take-off on N. C. Wyeth's cover illustration for Treasure Island. I made this picture with ink and acrylic paint on plywood.

Pistachio on GalleyCat

Pistachio, my cat and sometime model, is pictured today on GalleyCat - "The First Word on the Book Publishing Industry" - which is brought to you by Mediabistro. He is holding a Christmas stocking which appears to say "FRAM SANTA WITH LUVE". I think he must have knitted it himself. Here's another shot from the same photo session.

Unsurname

My grandfather was born Johannes Ferdinand Schoenherr 108 years ago today in Flensburg, Germany, in a house subsequently destroyed during World War II. The house was a stone's throw from Nordertor, the city's old north gate - and somewhere on the left in the picture, I think.

I've always pronounced my surname "Show-in-hare", but I'm not sure if I should, after all. I know the first part ought to be pronounced as it is in the German phrase "Danke Schoen" - somewhere between "shern" and "shane", depending on the dialect (and, yes, I've left out the umlaut issues, for clarity's sake). And "herr" ought to be pronounced "hare" or "hair", not necessarily "her". Thus, "Shern-hare" or "Shane-hare". Right?

Well, I've been trying to ferret out the source. I haven't had much luck tracing my Schoenherr line back very far, but I recently found that my grandfather's grandfather, Carl Gottlieb Schoenherr, was born in or very near Kleinpelsen, Sachsen (about midway between Leipzig and Dresden), in 1834. For a yet-unknown reason, he left his wife and three sons (including my great-grandfather) in Flensburg and moved to America in 1866. By 1869 he was living in Missouri and finally settled in Carterville, where he worked as a blacksmith and saloon-keeper, and where he died in 1909. Then, in the wake of World War I-era anti-German sentiment, his sons (my half-great-great uncles or great-great half-uncles) legally changed their surnames to Shaner.

So I've been wondering if Carl Gottlieb Schoenherr pronounced his surname "Shay-ner" all along, rather than "Shern-hare" or "Shane-hare" - not to mention "Show-in-hare". And should I do the same?

I need a second opinion...

Gray Area

Regarding my middle name, Gray: it was carried to Manhattan in 1860 by an Irish laborer and sometime hod-carrier, who planted it in Hell's Kitchen (including 20 years in the tenements of "Battle Row") before his butcher/boxer son uprooted it, brought it across the East River to Woodside, Queens County, in 1899 or 1900, and pinned it to his thirteen children, including my grandfather (born, coincidentally, the very day before Howard Pyle died), who passed it on to his three daughters. And then my mother presented it to me. Somewhere along the way I shed it from my "professional" name, but, having traced the colorful history of the Grays, I regret not keeping it - especially since it's the only part of my name that's easily pronounced.

Speaking of "Battle Row" - I first came across the term in The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury, but I just found another reference to it in The Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor for the Year 1879 (published about the same time my people moved to the block):

On West 39th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, stand a block of tenements known as "Battle Row," and almost equally well as "Murderer's Row." For years this place has borne an evil reputation, having always been a source of great trouble to the police. Its inmates are the terror of the neighborhood. It is the cradle of some of the worst Tenth Avenue gangs, and the scene of constant broils, both domestic and with whoever the roughs may chance to pick a quarrel. Arrests are of such frequent occurrence as to excite but little remark. The police themselves are frequently attacked, one, nicknamed " The Brute," having been knocked senseless with a brick only three or four weeks ago; another, the officer with whom I conversed, was himself struck with a similar missile....

More can be found here. It's no wonder the Grays escaped!

Pronouncing Myself

On my website bio I say that my name is pronounced "Yahn Show-in-hare". Legend has it that my father's fondness for the paintings of Jan Vermeer led him to want to call me Jan (pronounced "Yahn"), but there was concern that folks wouldn't understand and call me Jan (as in Jan Brady, or something). My mother, meanwhile, being English and Irish, liked the name Ian (pronounced "Ee-in"). So they compromised and named me Ian, but always called me "Yahn" - as do most people who know me well. I'll answer to "Ee-in", but, frankly, it grates a little. I've tried to justify the odd or alternate pronunciation by explaining that the old German (or Latin?) alphabet didn't contain the letter "J", so even Jan (a diminutive of Johannes) Vermeer used to spelled his first name with an "I", but even I find this rationale barely convincing. Then again, I still think "Yahn" is really more of a permanent nickname and that my actual full name is Ian Gray Schoenherr, pronounced "Ee-in Gray Show-in-hare". So I half-wish that I was named and called either Jan Schoenherr or Ian Gray Schoenherr instead of occupying this uneasy middle ground.

Black Friday Book Signing in Clinton, NJ

In case you find yourself aimlessly digesting Thanksgiving dinner somewhere in central New Jersey, I'll be signing copies of Pip & Squeak and Cat & Mouse at the Clinton Book Shop at 33 Main Street in Clinton, New Jersey, on Friday, November 28th, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Come early, wander and shop during the town's "Dickens' Days" - and, while you're at it, have some breakfast, brunch, or lunch just around the corner at my sister and brother-in-law's restaurant, The Fine Diner. That's what I plan to do. The trouble is, I go infrequently enough that I wind up ordering the same dish: a crab cake on the house salad with lemon dressing. I can't help it: it's too good. Well, if you see me there, I promise not to talk with food in my mouth.

Bookplates

I don't think I'll ever make a bookplate for myself, mostly because I cringe at the thought of pasting anything into my books. But I love the art form and have no qualms about making them for other people.

Recently, I finished my first bit of bookplate art for a friend and fellow bibliophile from Delaware. He had found a copy of On The Frontier by Bret Harte which had once belonged to Howard Pyle. Being a rabid Pyle collector, I had to have it. So we arranged a trade: I would make him a bookplate and he would give me the book. As usual, I made this with ink on scratchboard.

Back to the Drawing Board

Here's what I'm up to right now: painting this bear, this elephant, and a cast of what sometimes seems like thousands. These two will appear in Read It, Don't Eat It! next spring, but this particular illustration won't debut until...Winter 2010?! Maybe the elephant will look less gloomy by then.

Riposi In Pace, Signor Pyle

Just a little posting in honor of Howard Pyle, the American author and illustrator, who died 97 years ago today in Florence, Italy. Here he is with Phoebe Churchman Pyle, his eldest daughter, photographed by Frances Benjamin Johnston in early 1896.

Bubba and the Bear

I made this for Bill Keller's piece on The Russia Hand by Strobe Talbott. I'm not sure if I captured (or understood) the gist of the review or of the book...but I like the bear.

Grudge Match

And now a delightful trip down memory lane, when politicians treated one another with grace and civility. In this corner, wielding the Constitution, is John Marshall, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. And, in that corner, armed with the Declaration of Independence, is Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States. Who will win? This adorned Joseph J. Ellis' review of What Kind of Nation by James F. Simon, titled "Clash of the Titans" which appeared in the New York Times Book Review (March 10, 2002). Be sure to count the stars. Clever, no? Not really.

Politics As Unusual

In honor of Election Day minus 2, I'm posting one of my rare forays into "political" illustration. In this case, a piece I did in ink on scratchboard for the New York Times Book Review (July 7, 2002), illustrating a roundup review of the books Where We Stand by Roger Rosenblatt, Why We Fight by William J. Bennett, and What's So Great About America by Dinesh D'Souza. The review itself was "Their Country 'Tis of Them" by Michael Lind.

Cat & Mouse bits and pieces

I learned a few weeks ago that Cat & Mouse is reprinting. My friends, now is the time to invest in children's books - so get a first printing while they last (but pick up a second printing, too, while you're at it).

Also, in case you need some more convincing, Cat & Mouse has been chosen as one of the New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing for 2008.

And, speaking of the New York Public Library, here's what Elizabeth Bird (see my previous post) wrote on her blog about Cat & Mouse after she saw the original illustrations (and my reference photos) last fall:

I adore intricacy. I love it when an artist has the ability to use delicate little pen lines to convey a character or scene. In Mr. Schoenherr's case, there were photographs of cats accompanying the art. The cat in the book itself obviously owes its very existence to these very real felines, and I'm looking forward to the publication of the book. It's a picture book that utilizes a variety of different cat and mouse nursery rhymes (like Hickory Dickory Dock) and turns them into a single story. Quite clever, really.

When Ms. Bird finally got to see a copy of the finished book, she wrote :

Ian Schoenherr's Cat and Mouse is an interesting one to keep an eye on too. With the teeniest brushstrokes imaginable, Schoenherr brings to life a cat and a mouse alongside three classic nursery rhymes. What's more, he's somehow able to make a coherent story out of the lot. I'm a cat person myself, so I was particularly partial to the kitty in this book, delicate stripes and all.

For the record, here's a picture of Pistachio - the chief model for the "Cat". He looks somewhat imperious here - or as if I had just wounded his dignity.