Primavera, Elise 1954–

PERSONAL: Born May 19, 1954, in West Long Branch, NJ; daughter of Jerry (a builder) and Corrine (a homemaker) Primavera. Education: Moore College of Art, B.F.A., 1976; attended Arts Students League, 1980–84.

ADDRESSES: Home—Red Bank, NJ. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Freelance fashion illustrator, 1976–79; freelance children's book illustrator, 1979–.

AWARDS, HONORS: New Jersey Institute of Technology Award, 1983, for illustrating The Bollo Caper: A Furry Tale for All Ages by Art Buchwald, and 1988, for illustrating Christina Katerina and the Time She Quit the Family by Patricia Lee Gauch; The Christopher Award, 1998, the platinum award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, 1999, and the Irma S. and James H. Black Book Award, all for Raising Dragons.

WRITINGS:

AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR

Basil and Maggie, J.B. Lippincott (Philadephia, PA), 1983.

Ralph's Frozen Tale, Putnam (New York, NY), 1991.

The Three Dots, Putnam (New York, NY), 1993.

Plantpet, Putnam (New York, NY), 1994.

Auntie Claus, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1999.

Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas, Harcourt (New York, NY), 2002.

The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls (juvenile novel), 2006.

Ghosts, Monsters, Blood and Guts: Fred and Anthony's Awesome Guide to the Netherworld (graphic novel), Hyperion (New York, NY), 2007.

Fred & Anthony Meet the Super-Degermo Zombie, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2007.

Fred & Anthony Meet the Heine Goblins from the Black Lagoon, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2007.

ILLUSTRATOR:

Joyce St. Peter, Always Abigail, J.B. Lippincott (Philadelphia, PA), 1981.

Dorothy Crayder, The Joker and the Swan, Harper (New York, NY), 1981.

Margaret K. Wetterer, The Mermaid's Cape, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1981.

Eila Moorhouse Lewis, The Snug Little House, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1981.

Margaret K. Wetterer, The Giant's Apprentice, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1982.

Art Buchwald, The Bollo Caper: A Furry Tale for All Ages, Putnam (New York, NY), 1983.

Natalie Savage Carlson, The Surprise in the Mountains, Harper (New York, NY), 1983.

Delia Ephron, Santa and Alex, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1983.

Miriam Anne Bourne, Uncle George Washington and Harriot's Guitar, Putnam (New York, NY), 1983.

Elaine Moore, Grandma's House, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1985.

Margaret Poynter, What's One More?, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1985.

Jean Fritz, Make Way for Sam Houston, Putnam (New York, NY), 1986.

Jamie Gilson, Hobie Hanson, You're Weird, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1987.

Patricia Lee Gauch, Christina Katerina and the Time She Quit the Family, Putnam (New York, NY), 1987.

Jamie Gilson, Double Dog Dare, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1988.

Elaine Moore, Grandma's Promise, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1988.

Jane Yolen, Best Witches: Poems for Halloween, Putnam (New York, NY), 1989.

Patricia Lee Gauch, Christina Katerina and the Great Bear Train, Putnam (New York, NY),1990.

Diane Stanley, Moe the Dog in Tropical Paradise, Putnam (New York, NY), 1992.

Diane Stanley, Woe Is Moe, Putnam (New York, NY), 1995.

Mary-Claire Helldorfer, Jack, Skinny Bones, and the Golden Pancakes, Viking (New York, NY), 1996.

Helen Elizabeth Buckley, Moonlight Kite, Lothrop (New York, NY), 1997.

Jerdine Nolen, Raising Dragons, Silver Whistle (San Diego, CA), 1998.

SIDELIGHTS: Elise Primavera has contributed her artwork to numerous picture books, some self-penned and a host of others written by noted authors, such as Jane Yolen, Natalie Savage Carlson, and Jerdine Nolen. Combining the soft edges of brightly colored pastels or subtle charcoal drawings with the more opaque mediums of gouache and acrylic, Primavera's illustrations have been praised for their liveliness and imagination, and compared to the work of fellow illustrator Lane Smith. "Primavera's … illustrations … fairly burst forth from the pages, adding to the exaggerated humor" of Mary-Claire Helldorfer's Jack, Skinny Bones, and the Golden Pancakes, in the opinion of Booklist contributor Kay Weisman, while a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that her "dynamic spreads heighten the suspense" of the story and deemed her illustrations, on the whole, "rip-roaring."

Primavera began her career by producing fashion illustrations, but after several years began to feel that her creativity was not being challenged. In 1979, she decided to make a change and delve into children's book illustration. As part of her career transition she attended an illustrator's workshop, which gave her the confidence she needed. "I felt very encouraged after three weeks," Primavera told Jim Roginski in an interview. "I spent the summer of 1979 putting a portfolio together to show publishers." While she had an agent to market her fashion illustration skills, Primavera decided to represent herself as a children's illustrator; she hit the streets of New York City. "I saw everybody and anybody who would give me an appointment," the author-illustrator recalled of her first year, "and once I got in the door I'd always ask if there was anyone else that could see me while I was there."

Primavera's first break came when she was hired to create a book jacket for Harper and Row, and a picture book assignment followed only a few months later. By 1981, Primavera had two illustrated picture books to her credit: Dorothy Crayder's The Joker and the Swan, and Joyce St. Peter's Always Abigail. Two years later, she could add "author" to her credits with the publication of Basil and Maggie, the story of a young girl who receives an unusual gift of a pony named Basil. Visions of walking away with a blue ribbon at the local horse show vanish into smoke after Basil proves himself less than surefooted next to his sleek thoroughbred competitors, but Maggie falls in love with him anyway in a story that a Publishers Weekly contributor called "just the antidote to have on hand when everything goes wrong." Primavera's illustrations were the object of praise as well; School Library Journal contributor Roberta Magid commented that the book's "charcoal drawings accentuate the humorous situation."

Other books by Primavera include The Three Dots, a story of a trio of animals—Sal the moose, Henry the frog, and Margaret the duck—whose odd polka-dotted markings inspire them to form a musical group and take Manhattan by storm. Citing Primavera's "off-the-wall volume" for its "kicky watercolors" and "hilarious scenes," a Publishers Weekly contributor concluded that The Three Dots "should get lots of play." While less than enthusiastic about the text, Dot Minzer appreciated the book's "colorful, oversized" pictures. In her School Library Journal appraisal of The Three Dots, she observed that Primavera's "spirited and amusing … pictures will grab a young audience and bring smiles to their faces." An animal protagonist is also featured in Ralph's Frozen Tale, a picture book that finds Arctic explorer Ralph stuck without a dogsled until he is helped by a polar bear that can speak. "Primavera's swirling blues, greens, purples and whites give depth and beauty to the trackless, snowy wastes traversed by her heros," noted School Library Journal contributor Lisa Dennis in regard to the volume's humorous and highly detailed illustrations. And in the intriguingly titled Plantpet, a lonely junk collector discovers a caged plant which under suitable care and watering grows into a leaf-covered gardener in what a Publishers Weekly critic characterized as "another quirky tale that celebrates buddydom."

A disciplined artist, Primavera's workday begins at 7:00 a.m. "I work straight through until three o'clock or so," she told Roginski. "As far as my work time goes I spend much of it working out the sketches and dummy and the 'look' of the book. I try to capture its mood through an appropriate style. This takes a good deal of time because I'm not always comfortable or facile in a particular style. So I spend a lot of time not only on sketches, composition, and characterization (and the dummy in general), but also on the finishes because I'm working in an unfamiliar medium."

In all her illustration projects, whether for her own books or the text of other authors, Primavera makes it a point to "make the most bizarre thing seem possible and real to the reader. It's sort of like watching a good magician perform: you know he really can't be pulling that rabbit out of the hat, but it all looks so real that for a moment something magical really is happening. This is the response that I try to work for through my illustrations."

Primavera counts among her inspirations the artist-illustrators associated with Howard Pyle and the Brandywine School that developed in and around Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania, in the early 1900s. "I especially like N.C. Wyeth, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Charlotte Harding," she commented. Of her own artwork, one of the most memorable projects was creating the illustrations for Jane Yolen's poetry collection Best Witches: Poems for Halloween. "For research, I spent a lot of time in the local costume store," Primavera recalled. "When I actually finished Witches (nine months later), my studio was crammed with witches' hats, rubber skeletons, fright wigs, plastic frogs, and black hairy spiders. At the time I was selling my house, and I used to love to watch my real estate agent show prospective buyers the studio—I don't think they knew whether to laugh or report me to the local authorities!"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Behind the Covers: Interviews with Authors and Illustrators of Books for Children and Young Adults, Libraries Unlimited (Littleton, CO), 1985, pp. 161-166.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 1995, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Woe Is Moe, p. 1338; October 15, 1996, Kay Weisman, review of Jack, Skinny Bones, and the Golden Pancakes, p. 426; April, 1998, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Raising Dragons, p. 1334.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September, 1994, review of Plantpet, p. 24.

Horn Book, March-April, 1998, Susan P. Bloom, review of Raising Dragons, p. 217.

Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 1991, review of Ralph's Frozen Tale, p. 1474.

Publishers Weekly, April 29, 1983, review of Basil and Maggie, p. 52; October 11, 1991, review of Ralph's Frozen Tale, p. 63; October 4, 1993, review of The Three Dots, p. 78; August 8, 1994, review of Plant-pet, p. 434; March 13, 1995, review of Woe Is Moe, p. 69; November 11, 1996, review of Jack, Skinny Bones, and the Golden Pancakes, p. 73.

Quill and Quire, November, 1993, review of The Three Dots, p. 40.

School Library Journal, May, 1983, Roberta Magid, review of Basil and Maggie, p. 65; February, 1992, Lisa Dennis, review of Ralph's Frozen Tale, pp.76-77; January, 1994, Dot Minzer, review of The Three Dots, p. 97; November, 1994, Lynn Cockett, review of Plantpet, p. 88; June, 1995, Karen James, review of Woe Is Moe, p. 96; October, 1996, Lauralyn Persson, review of Jack, Skinny Bones, and the Golden Pancakes, p. 96.