Adinolfi, JoAnn

views updated

Adinolfi, JoAnn

Personal

Born in Staten Island, NY.

Addresses

Home and office—Portsmouth, NH.

Career

Children's book author and illustrator.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

The Egyptian Polar Bear, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1994.

Tina's Diner, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1997.

ILLUSTRATOR

Kalli Dakos, Mrs. Cole on an Onion Roll, and Other School Poems, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1995.

Stephen Krensky, My Teacher's Secret Life, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1996.

Jo Harper, Outrageous, Bodacious Boliver Boggs!, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1996.

James Quigley, Johnny Germ Head, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1997.

Gordon Korman, Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire, Scholastic Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Gordon Korman, Super Menteuse!, Scholastic (Markham, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

Joan Horton, Halloween Hoots and Howls, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1999.

Lee Bennett Hopkins, Mother Goose and Her Children, Sadlier-Oxford (New York, NY), 1999.

Charlotte Pomerantz, The Birthday Letters, Greenwillow Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Marilyn Singer, Fred's Bed, HarperFestival (New York, NY), 2001.

Joanne Rocklin, This Book Is Haunted, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Eileen Spinelli, The Perfect Thanksgiving, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2003.

Anna Jane Hays, Here Comes Silent E!, Random House (New York, NY), 2004.

Barbara Odanaka, Skateboard Mom, G.P. Putnam's Sons (New York, NY), 2004.

Stuart J. Murphy, Leaping Lizards, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

Lee Bennett Hopkins, selector, Valentine Hearts: Holiday Poetry, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

Zachary Wilson, A Circle in the Sky, Children's Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Joan Horton, Hippopotamus Stew, and Other Silly Animal Poems, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2006.

Moira Rose Donohue, Alfie the Apostrophe, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2006.

Larry Dane Brimner, A Shake and a Shiver, Child's World (Chanhassen, MN), 2006.

Larry Dane Brimner, Loud Larry, Child's World (Chanhassen, MN), 2006.

Sidelights

As the illustrator of nearly two dozen children's books, JoAnn Adinolfi has collaborated with such well-known children's authors as Eileen Spinelli and Marilyn Singer, and her artwork appears in works as diverse as Barbara Odanaka's Skateboard Mom and Spinelli's The Perfect Thanksgiving. A writer as well as an artist, Adinolfi has also published the self-illustrated children's books The Egyptian Polar Bear and Tina's Diner. Her first published book, The Egyptian Polar Bear, is based on a true story and follows a polar bear that, catching a ride south, winds up as the playmate to an ancient Egyptian boy king. "Intense colors and a lively sense of visual humor give this artwork an effective edge," wrote a Publishers Weekly of the book's illustrations in a review that reflects the praise directed to Adinolfi throughout her career. Praising Tina's Diner in the same periodical, another reviewer cited Adinolfi's "zippy pastel-toned art" and her "lighthearted" and "whimsical adventure story" about a diner owner whose search for a plumber leads her on a humorous romp through a cartoon city.

In her illustrations for children's books Adinolfi typically uses gouache, an opaque water color, along with paper collage and colored pencil in her mixed-media art. Her illustrations are characterized by bright colors as well as her ability to portray engaging action and facial expressions that capture the spirit of each story and its characters. For instance, School Library Journal critic Tina Hudak, in a review of Charlotte Pomerantz's The Birthday Letters, commented that Adinolfi's "illustrations, rendered in watercolors, gouache, and pastel pencils, add significant expression to the characters and humor to the straightforward dialogue." In a similar fashion, School Library Journal contributor Olga R. Kuharets wrote in her assessment of Fred's Bed that, in their pairing with Marilyn Singer's story, "Adinolfi's vibrant color illustrations will hold the attention of the jumpiest toddler."

Adinolfi has also been acknowledged by critics for her ability to create works of art that complement rather than overwhelm the stories she illustrates. Susan Dove Lempke, writing in Booklist, commented that Adinolfi's illustrations for Joan Horton's verse collection Halloween Hoots and Howls "extend and illustrate the poems to perfection, never overwhelming them." Recognition was also given to Adinolfi's illustrations for another holiday-themed title, The Perfect Thanksgiving, written

by Eileen Spinelli. In School Library Journal Joy Fleishhacker commented that here Adinolfi's artwork "extends the humor" in Spinelli's tale, adding that the illustrator's "colorfully clothed characters, vibrant backgrounds, and almost touchable textures make each page fresh and appealing."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 1999, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Halloween Hoots and Howls, p. 145; September 1, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of The Perfect Thanksgiving, p. 136; September 15, 2005, Todd Morning, review of Leaping Lizards, p. 68; February 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Hippopotamus Stew, and Other Silly Animal Poems, p. 52; August 1, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of Alfie the Apostrophe, p. 86.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September, 1999, review of Halloween Hoots and Howls, p. 18; October, 2002, review of This Book Is Haunted, p. 75; November, 2003, Karen Coats, review of The Perfect Thanksgiving, p. 125; January 1, 2005, Jennifer Mattson, review of Valentine Hearts: Holiday Poetry, p. 867; Stephanie Zvirin, review of A Circle in the Sky, p. 56.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2002, review of This Book Is Haunted, p. 1042; August 15, 2003, review of The Perfect Thanksgiving, p. 1079; April 1, 2004, review of Skateboard Mom, p. 335; March 1, 2006, review of Hippopotamus Stew, and Other Silly Animal Poems, p. 231.

Publishers Weekly, September 5, 1994, review of The Egyptian Polar Bear, p. 109; April 28, 1997, review of Tina's Diner, p. 774; August 2, 1999, review of Mrs. Cole on an Onion Roll, and Other School Poems, p. 87; September 27, 1999, review of Halloween Hoots and Howls, p. 47; September 22, 2003, review of The Perfect Thanksgiving, p. 65; May 10, 2004, review of Skateboard Mom, p. 61; March 20, 2006, review of Hippopotamus Stew, and Other Silly Animal Poems, p. 54.

School Library Journal, June, 2000, Tina Hudak, review of The Birthday Letters, p. 124; December, 2001, Olga R. Kuharets, review of Fred's Bed, p. 111; September, 2003, Joy Fleishhacker, review of The Perfect Thanksgiving, p. 191; May, 2004, Linda Staskus, review of Skateboard Mom, p. 120; January, 2005, Sally R. Dow, review of Valentine Hearts, p. 112; March, 2006, Grace Oliff, review of Hippopotamus Stew, and Other Silly Animals Poems, p. 209; August, 2006, Sally R. Dow, review of Alfie the Apostrophe, p. 80.