Buehner, Caralyn M. 1963-

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BUEHNER, Caralyn M. 1963-

PERSONAL: Surname is pronounced "bee-ner"; born May 20, 1963, in St. George, UT; daughter of Melvin H. (a judge) and E. Berenice (Harris) Morris; married Mark E. Buehner (an illustrator), 1983; children: Heidi, Grant, Sarah, Samuel, Laura, Jacob, Joseph. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Attended University of Utah, 1981-83, and Utah State University, 1983-85. Religion: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon).

ADDRESSES: Home—2646 Alden St., Salt Lake City, UT 84106. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Children's Choice Award, Children's Book Council, 1994, and Utah Children's Choice Award, 1996, both for A Job for Wittilda; Parents' Choice Award, 1996, Notable Book, American Library Association, and Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award, both 1997, all for Fanny's Dream; Utah Children's Choice, 1997, for It's a Spoon, Not a Shovel.

WRITINGS:

picture books; illustrated by husband, mark buehner

The Escape of Marvin the Ape, Dial (New York, NY), 1992.

A Job for Wittilda, Dial (New York, NY), 1993.

It's a Spoon, Not a Shovel, Dial (New York, NY), 1995.

Fanny's Dream, Dial (New York, NY), 1996.

I Did It, I'm Sorry, Dial (New York, NY), 1998.

Snowmen at Night, Phyllis Fogelman Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Superdog: The Heart of a Hero, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

Snowmen at Christmas, Dial (New York, NY), 2005.

picture books; illustrated by jacqueline rogers

I Want to Say I Love You, Phyllis Fogelman Books (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Together with her husband, artist Mark Buehner, Caralyn Buehner has created a number of entertaining picture books for young children. From the adventures of a primate who roams the city in The Escape of Marvin the Ape to a lonely farm girl's fantasy about marrying a prince in Fanny's Dream, Buehner combines interesting plots with a sense of fun to capture the imagination of her young audience. Reviewing Buehner's debut work, The Escape of Marvin the Ape, Five Owls contributor Stephen Fraser found evidence of "the beginning of a long career of strong, unusual, and zany books children will love."

Born in St. George, Utah, in 1963, Buehner was raised in Salt Lake City, the youngest of five siblings. "Books were always important in our house," she commented. "My mother rarely had time for her own reading, but we knew that she loved books. I remember sitting on her lap as she read to me or listened to me read. Sometimes on trips, with the whole family packed into a little motor home, we would lay in our beds at night while Mom read Onion John or The Boxcar Children by the dim light of the little propane lantern. One of my treasured memories is of being down in the 'big girls' basement bedroom, listening to my older sister read to us from the P. G. Wodehouse series about the unflappable Jeeves. I know there was much that I didn't understand, being so much younger than the older girls, but because they were convulsed in laughter, so was I. The discovery of a story was exquisite, and I loved books from the time I can remember. I loved going to the library; the wonderful smell and feel of a stack of books to take home and savor. I would curl up by the furnace vent, or in the big corner chair with a snack and a book, and be content for hours. Often I'd go to bed and read under the covers with a flashlight. I read the books my older sisters read. Through books I was exposed to some of the world's greatest literature, and probably some of its worst, but I felt as if I were living a thousand lives more than my own. What a wonder to crawl inside another person's head, and see the world through their eyes!"

Buehner met her future husband, illustrator Mark Buehner, while attending college. "I had no intention of being a writer," she recalled, "but was feeding my love of history and humanities. Mark introduced me to a fascinating world of shape and color, where a story can be told in a single picture." Mark encouraged his wife to write her first full-length picture book, The Escape of Marvin the Ape. In this book, a large ape walks through his open cage door at the New York City Zoo and wanders the surrounding city, riding the subway, watching a baseball game, and ordering food at a local restaurant, all without so much as a raised eyebrow from the people going about their business around him. A Publishers Weekly critic maintained that Buehner's "vocabulary choices and turns of phrase imbue this romp with an appealing sense of wonder."

Buehner's wide-ranging exposure to all types of books inevitably influenced her own writing. And, as the mother of seven children, her habit of reading aloud to her family strengthened her sense of a story's rhythm and pacing. A Job for Wittilda, Buehner's tale of a middle-aged witch forced to get a job to feed her forty-seven hungry cats, was praised by School Library Journal contributor Lauralyn Persson for the "effortless flow" of its "rhythmic language." Equally appreciative of the book, which finds Wittilda competing for a job as a pizza delivery person at Dingaling Pizzas, was a Publishers Weekly commentator, who found Buehner's "creation of a witch with a heart of gold" to be comforting, and noted that "equal dashes of adventure, magic and reality provide a captivating mix."

The team of Buehner and Buehner performed a public service to all parents of young children when they created a series of etiquette books that make manners fun. It's a Spoon, Not a Shovel and I Did It, I'm Sorry provide "a handsome combination of humor, puzzles, and lessons in elementary good behavior," according to Horn Book reviewer Ann A. Flowers. Written in a quiz format wherein the reader chooses among three possible courses of action, It's a Spoon, Not a Shovel depicts a wide variety of social situations, substituting animals for people faced with such quandaries as what to say to the host of a dinner party when showing up late or how best to react to a disappointing birthday present. Julie Yates Walton of Booklist praised the volume for containing "ample spoonfuls of humor" that make the "medicine [go] down very easily." Focusing on ethical questions, I Did It, I'm Sorry finds engaging animal characters who decide on correct action when cheating, lying, or ignoring the requests of authority figures would be far easier. "This book brims with the sort of solid values every child should learn: never lie, follow the rules, obey your parents and think of others," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

I Want to Say I Love You is Buehner's sentimental tribute to many silly little things children do that make their parents love them even more. In the book, illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers, the mother reminds her daughter of the many reasons she is loved. School Library Journal reviewer Roxanne Burg commended the book's theme of unconditional love and felt that the book "makes a fine selection for stories about family relationships." The book's gentle rhymes and eyecatching art make it "a perfect way to show little ones they are cherished," concluded a Kirkus contributor.

The creative team of Buehner and Buehner reunite to tell a tale of frolicking snowmen. The little boy in Snowmen at Night wonders why snowmen look droopy the day after they are made, and imagines that while children sleep, the snowmen sneak to the park to engage in a night of "ice-cold cocoa," sledding, and snowball fights. Critics also praised the book's illustrations. "It would be difficult not to fall in love with this rollicking flight of imagination created by a terrific combination of talent," maintained a Kirkus reviewer. "Not since Frosty paraded through the village square have snowmen enjoyed such a slip-sliding good time," concluded a Publishers Weekly contributor.

In Superdog: The Heart of a Hero, "the Buehners convincingly suggest that heroes, super or otherwise, are self-made," explained a Kirkus Reviews writer. Dexter, a tiny dachshund, dreams of being a hero. He exercises, orders a special superhero costume, and helps whomever he can. Through his determination and good deeds, Dex truly becomes a "superdog." A Kirkus Reviewer observed that Dex is an excellent role model for children because despite his small size he "shows the inner stuff, both to transform himself, and to rise to the challenges that come his way."

Buehner and her family make their home in Salt Lake City, and she and her husband often visit schools to talk about their work as writer and illustrator, respectively. "Both of us want to bring the magic we felt for books as children to the ones we produce," the author noted. Aside from her writing, Buehner's greatest joys are making time in her busy schedule to spend with her family or to participate in church activities. "Much of my writing time is spent in trying to capture the magic of ordinary days for my children in their own photo-journals," Buehner added, "or fumbling to express my awe and wonder at their existence for myself."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, July, 1993, p. 1973; June 1, 1995, p. 1774; April 15, 1998, p. 1449; October 15, 2002, Ilene Cooper, review of Snowmen at Night, p. 409.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September, 1996, p. 7.

Five Owls, November-December, 1992, p. 34.

Horn Book, September-October, 1992, p. 574; July-August, 1995, p. 476; July-August, 1996, p. 444.

Horn Book Guide, spring, 2002, review of I Want to Say I Love You, p. 13.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1992, p. 1138; January 1, 1996, p. 65; November 15, 2001, review of I Want to Say I Love You, p. 1610; September 15, 2002, review of Snowmen at Night, p. 1385; January 15, 2004, review of Superdog: The Heart of a Hero, p. 80.

Publishers Weekly, June 22, 1992, p. 61; June 28, 1993, p. 76; May 20, 1996, p. 258; April 13, 1998, p. 74; March 15, 1999, review of The Escape of Marvin the Ape, p. 61; August 14, 2000, review of I Did It, I'm Sorry, p. 357; December 3, 2001, review of I Want to Say I Love You, p. 59; August 26, 2002, review of Snowmen at Night, p. 66.

School Library Journal, January, 1994, p. 87; August, 1995, p. 115; April, 1996, p. 105; December, 2001, Roxanne Burg, review of I Want to Say I Love You, p. 90; October, 2002, Adele Greenlee, review of Snowmen at Night, p. 99.