Tuesday, December 1, 2009











Sophie Peterman Tells the Truth has gotten three starred reviews so far!

THE FOLLOWING BOOK RECEIVED ITS FIRST STARRED REVIEW IN THE OCTOBER 1, 2009 ISSUE OF KIRKUS REVIEWS.  PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR THE REVIEW:

SOPHIE PETERMAN TELLS THE TRUTH!
Written by Sarah Weeks
Illustrated by Robert Neubecker
(Beach Lane Books; ISBN 9781416986867; November 2009; Fall catalog pg. 271)

Straight shooter Sophie Peterman gives readers the lowdown on babies: They are your “worst nightmare.” With a cocked eyebrow and a clear, authoritative voice she lists reasons why you can’t trust a baby. They leak, they smell, they swallow (and eventually return!) your favorite marble, they rummage in your drawers and they devour your hidden Halloween candy. While not the first book about a disgruntled older child and the arrival of a cooing, burping bundle, this effort finds success through Sophie’s fresh voice. Never whiny or petulant, she deftly delivers deadpan observations that evoke smiles. Neubecker’s vivid artwork pops as he uses his bright palette and unique perspectives to create facial expressions that perfectly capture Sophie’s annoyance, her mother’s frustration and the baby’s clear-eyed joy. Oversize, all-caps, hand-lettered portions of narration add emphasis and allow Sophie’s voice and the artwork to seamlessly merge. When Sophie finally warns that you can go from hating baby to liking baby, she offers truly touching anecdotes that make her transition believable: Upon hearing a tiny voice call out, “Soapy!” to her, she just melted. Readers will too.
(Picture book. 4-8)


Publisher's Weekly, starred review;

Sophie Peterman Tells the Truth! Sarah Weeks, illus. by Robert Neubecker. S&S/Beach Lane, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4169-8686-7

In a rant worthy of talk radio, young Sophie warns readers of the horrors of siblinghood: “Babies are not sweet. Babies are not precious. Babies are not cute. Babies are... your worst nightmare!” If readers need further proof of Sophie's claims, Neubecker (Wow! School!), wonderfully in his element, offers a portrait of infant-as-alien worthy of the Weekly World News (in addition to aliens, Sophie also compares babies to pirates and monsters). Truth (actually) be told, all of Sophie's complaints are familiar to the genre: babies are smelly crybabies, attention hoggers and violators of personal space and property. But Weeks (Catfish Kate and the Sweet Swamp Band) makes the material fresh: her heroine has an indelible personality and a voice that spills off the page, aided by comic typography (“If you have to sit next to a monster all the way to your aunt and uncle's house in Syracuse, New York, do not breathe in through your nose”). Fully owning her wounded rage, Sophie seethes with precocious certitude as she marshals evidence (she's big on lists) and wields rhetorical flourishes—the text is a gift to anyone reading aloud. Ages 4–8. (Nov.)


From School Library Journal, starred review;


PreS-Gr 2–In no uncertain terms, a girl warns readers about the perils of a new sibling. Looking like an alien at first, and the object of unwarranted praise and attention, a baby is prone to all manner of gross behaviors. Sophie reveals that the situation doesn’t get better as the infant grows into a toddler (known as a “monster”): stealing Halloween candy, swallowing lucky marbles, and exhibiting general uninhibited behavior. She softens, though, when the monster begins to focus affection on her but leaves readers with a warning not to reveal this softness to parents lest they repeat the experience. Weeks has created a feisty, forthright protagonist who lays out the pros and cons of a new brother with delightful tongue-in-cheek detail. The ink and digitally colored illustrations and boldface words in the text perfectly catch the narrative nuances and enhance it with cheeky perspectives and funny touches. Older siblings will laugh at the younger child’s antics and parents will chortle at Sophie’s reactions and perspective in all her righteous truth telling.–Marge Loch-Wouters, La Crosse Public Library, WI



 Well, my goodness....

 



Wednesday, November 11, 2009


















Good morning!  Here's Wow! School!  This book is based on our lovely Colby School here in Park City. I sat in on classes and drew as the year progressed. Donna Bray, my editor, sent me lots of info on her pre-school in Brooklyn too. It's a bit of a mix between Pre and K.... I wanted to get the three R's in; my daughter, Joey, was in pre school at the time and was booming out the ABC song all day long.  I'm changing the way I'm using the Blog to focus more on books. Sophie Peterman's just out and has already gotten two starred reviews! So, I'm playing catch up and posting some of my earlier books now and will bring things up to Sophie as soon as I can.

Sunday, October 11, 2009















  Seeing that this Blog is directly linked to Amazon, and soon to my publisher's websites, I'm going to concentrate on books and leave most of my general illustration stuff at Neubecker.com. So, without further ado, here is my first book "Wow! City!"
   "Wow! City!" was written by my daughter, Isabel, when she was eighteen months old.  I'd lived in New York City for twenty two years and I'd moved to Utah to be in the mountains and to start a family. As all New Yorkers would, I felt quite like a fish out of water once the novelty of a "long vacation" wore off. Taking Isabel back to New York enabled me to see the city anew through her eyes. Her two words were "wow!" and "mom!" I took her everywhere on the subways in a backpack because, as new parents, we didn't trust the taxis- they have no car seats. By the time we had our second child, we'd just hold them on our laps.  Many of the scenes in the book are Izzy's reactions to actual events; many, like Chinese New Year, the fire truck, and the long, warm cab ride home at night are my own fond memories. 
    "Wow! City!" was quite a hit when it was published in the fall of 2004. It won an ALA notable book award, the short list for the Caldicott Medal- about twenty books long, out of the tens of thousands of children's books published each year. This was my start as a children's book illustrator and author.
      "Wow! City!" garnered many glowing and starred reviews, and here is my favorite:

From Booklist: Starred Review: If Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie had been painted with a two-year-old in mind, the result might have been something like this. Bold colors and undulating forms jitterbug across the big, 20-by-10 inch spreads of Neubecker's first book for children, an ode to urbanity that chronicles his Utah-born daughter's first experience of the Big Apple. Though Neubecker is a seasoned contributor to the New York Times and other journals for adults, his artwork here couldn't be more attuned to toddlers. Each double-page scene, hand-drawn in thick, toothsome black line and tinted digitally in riotous carnival colors, showcases a city sight writ large, accompanied by a two-word exclamatory phrase: "Wow! Taxi!" "Wow! Skyscrapers!" "Wow! Fire Engine!" Neubecker then crams every square inch of the surrounding area with things to point, identify, or wonder about, including a yellow dog somewhere on every page (a stray ultimately goes home with guess who?). Sharp eyes will eventually notice that this seek-and-find subplot extends to the stunning endpapers. A dazzling picture-book debut that beautifully transmits the wonder of the view from a bay-carrier backpack-so different from the more jaded perceptions of adults who, like the father illustrated here, stand agog before the unintelligible squiggles of a subway map.


Friday, September 18, 2009








While I'm at it, here's the New York Times Travel cover that will be published this Sunday, 9/20/09, together with the sketches. It's having to do with devotees of Wagner's Ring series... much like trekkies or Star Wars fans....


The first review of Sophie has come out; here it is;

THE FOLLOWING BOOK RECEIVED ITS FIRST STARRED REVIEW IN THE OCTOBER 1, 2009 ISSUE OF KIRKUS REVIEWS. PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR THE REVIEW:

SOPHIE PETERMAN TELLS THE TRUTH!
Written by Sarah Weeks
Illustrated by Robert Neubecker
(Beach Lane Books; ISBN 9781416986867; November 2009; Fall catalog pg. 271)

Straight shooter Sophie Peterman gives readers the lowdown on babies: They are your “worst nightmare.” With a cocked eyebrow and a clear, authoritative voice she lists reasons why you can’t trust a baby. They leak, they smell, they swallow (and eventually return!) your favorite marble, they rummage in your drawers and they devour your hidden Halloween candy. While not the first book about a disgruntled older child and the arrival of a cooing, burping bundle, this effort finds success through Sophie’s fresh voice. Never whiny or petulant, she deftly delivers deadpan observations that evoke smiles. Neubecker’s vivid artwork pops as he uses his bright palette and unique perspectives to create facial expressions that perfectly capture Sophie’s annoyance, her mother’s frustration and the baby’s clear-eyed joy. Oversize, all-caps, hand-lettered portions of narration add emphasis and allow Sophie’s voice and the artwork to seamlessly merge. When Sophie finally warns that you can go from hating baby to liking baby, she offers truly touching anecdotes that make her transition believable: Upon hearing a tiny voice call out, “Soapy!” to her, she just melted. Readers will too.
(Picture book. 4-8)


Wow. How great is that. Never would have happened, of course, without Sarah's wonderful manuscript- having spent the last few years cleaning up baby poop and getting barfed on, I jumped on this as soon as my wonderful editor, Andrea Welch, offered it. Also much thanks has to go to Lauren Rille, my art director, who put me through five sets of sketches. I would do it again tomorrow. Her type and design is as good as it gets! Go buy this book!