Bendall-Brunello, John

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Bendall-Brunello, John

Personal

Born in England; married; wife's name Tiziana. Education: Completed college, 1981. Hobbies and other interests: Playing piano, snooker, badminton, chess, travel.

Addresses

Home and office—Cambridge, England; Cannes, France. Agent—Shannon Associates, 630 9th Ave., New York, NY 10036. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

Career

Illustrator.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

The Seven-and-one-half Labors of Hercules, Dutton (New York, NY), 1991.

ILLUSTRATOR

Martin Waddell, The Big Bad Mole's Coming, Walker (London, England), 1993.

Trish Cooke, When I Grow Bigger, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1994.

June Crebbin, Into the Castle, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

Martin Waddell, Yum, Yum, Yummy, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

John Farndon, Weather, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 1998.

Trudi Braun, My Goose Betsy, Candlewick (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

Catherine Bruzzone, Puppy Finds a Friend/Cachorrito encuentra un amigo//Le petit chien se trouve un ami, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 2000.

Lois Rock, God Bless Me, God Bless You, Baker (Grand Rapids, MI), 2001.

Lynn Hodges and Sue Buchanan, I Love You This Much: A Song of God's Love, Zonderkidz (Grand Rapids, MI), 2001.

Linda Ashman, The Tale of Wagmore Gently, Dutton (New York, NY), 2002.

A.H. Benjamin, Mouse, Mole, and the Falling Star, Dutton (New York, NY), 2002.

Shutta Crum, Fox and Fluff, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2002.

Jamie Rix, Looking after Murphy, Barron's (Hauppauge, NY), 2002.

Claire Freedman, Hushabye Lily, Orchard (New York, NY), 2003.

Claire Freedman, The Naughtiest Piglet, Pinwheel, 2003.

Abby Levine, Daddies Give You Horsey Rides, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2004.

Stuart J. Murphy, 100 Days of Cool, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Lynn Hodges, Count Yourself to Sleep, Zonderkidz (Grand Rapids, MI), 2005.

Malachy Doyle, Big Pig, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2005.

Jacqueline Mitchard, Rosalie, My Rosalie: The Tale of a Duckling, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

Lynn Hodges, Dear God, It's Me: A Song of God's Love, Zonderkids (Grand Rapids, MI), 2005.

Sue Buchanan, Angels Watching over Me: A Song of God's Love, Zonderkidz (Grand Rapids, MI), 2006.

Gillian Harker, Little Elephant's Clever Trick, Parragon, 2006.

Also illustrator of Babe by Dick King Smith, and texts by Martin Waddell.

Sidelights

British illustrator John Bendall-Brunello grew up drawing. As the youngest of nine children, he was raised in a household full of pets, and he learned about other animals while visiting his aunt's farm. During school, Bendall-Brunello often doodled images of teachers and other creatures in the margins of his notebooks. Eventually attending a local college, he studied design and illustration, and got his first job illustrating a picture book from London's Orchard Books in 1985.

Bendall-Brunello usually uses water color in his illustrations, sometimes combining them with pencil lines, and he has created images to pair with texts by well-known authors such as Martin Waddell and Jacqueline Mitchard. His work has been praised for containing "fluid, airy lines and [a] sunny palette," as a Publishers Weekly critic wrote in a review of Looking after Murphy by Jamie Rix. "Pencil and watercolor artwork enhances each satin soft page" of A.H. Benjamin's Mouse, Mole, and the Falling Star, according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Judith Constantinides, in a review of the same title for School Library Journal, made note of Bendall-Brunello's "soft, uncluttered illustrations."

Bendall-Brunello's illustrations are often said to "add humor to the understated text," as Booklist reviewer Kay Weisman wrote of When I Grow Bigger by Trish Cook. In Daddies Give You Horsey Rides, his art "provides an extra layer of humor" to Abbie Levine's story, according to Ilene Cooper in Booklist. Writing about the lively dog, who stars in The Tale of Wagmore Gently, a Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote that Bendall-Brunello's "exuberant watercolor illustrations bring Wagmore to life." Helen Rosenberg, writing in Booklist, also noted the comedy in Bendall-Brunello's drawings when she commented that the book's "humorous illustrations capture all of the tail-wagging motion and ensuing chaos" in Levine's tale. Reviewing Bendall-

Brunello's contribution to Shutta Crum's picture book Fox and Fluff, Lauren Peterson wrote in Booklist that the "lively, loose-lined watercolor-and-pencil artwork … reflects the humor of the goings-on."

Although often cited for their humor, Bendall-Brunello's illustrations have also been praised for the depth they add to each story's character. "Chiffon textures and openhearted characterizations meld beautifully," wrote a Publishers Weekly critic in describing the artist's work for Claire Freeman's Hushbye Lily. "The characters' postures speak volumes," noted Linda Staskus in her review of Irish storyteller Malachy Doyle's Big Pig for School Library Journal. As in Big Pig, many of Bendall-Brunello's illustration projects feature farm animals, and for these he draws on childhood memories of time spent at his aunt's. His artwork for Trudi Braun's picture book My Goose Betsy "features extreme close-ups and delightful action poses" of a goose and her family, noted Carolyn Phelan in Booklist. Phelan also commented on Bendall-Brunello's "quiet precision," and a Horn Book critic noted that My Goose Betsy features "an abundance of large yet cozy illustrations."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 1994, Kay Weisman, review of When I Grow Bigger, p. 49; April 1, 1999, Carolyn Phelan, review of My Goose Betsy, p. 1408; October 1, 2002, Helen Rosenberg, review of The Tale of Wagmore Gently, p. 330; October 15, 2002, Lauren Peterson, review of Fox and Fluff, p. 411; March 15, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of Daddies Give You Horsey Rides, p. 1308; April 1, 2004, Hazel Rochman, review of 100 Days of Cool, p. 1367; July, 2005, Abby Nolan, review of Rosalie, My Rosalie: The Tale of a Duckling, p. 1925.

Horn Book, May, 1999, review of My Goose Betsy, p. 311; January-February, 2003, Betty Carter, review of Fox and Fluff, p. 54.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2002, review of Mouse, Mole, and the Falling Star, p. 800; August 1, 2002, review of Fox and Fluff, p. 1125; September 15, 2002, review of The Tale of Wagmore Gently, p. 1383; August 1, 2003, review of Hushabye Lily, p. 1016; January 1, 2004, review of 100 Days of Cool, p. 39; March 1, 2005, Jacquelyn Mitchard, review of Rosalie, My Rosalie, p. 292; September 15, 2006, Malachy Doyle, review of Big Pig, p. 951.

Publishers Weekly, July 4, 1994, review of When I Grow Bigger, p. 61; April 12, 1999, review of My Goose Betsy, p. 73; June 3, 2002, review of Looking after Murphy, p. 87; June 2, 2003, review of Hushabye Lily, p. 50; May 9, 2005, review of Rosalie, My Rosalie, p. 71.

School Library Journal, August, 2002, Judith Constantinides, review of Mouse, Mole, and the Falling Star, p. 146; November, 2002, Elaine Lesh Morgan, review of The Tale of Wagmore Gently, p. 110; December, 2002, Kristin de Lacoste, review of Fox and Fluff, p. 86; November, 2003, Andrea Tarr, review of Hushabye Lily, p. 93; March, 2004, Gloria Koster, review of 100 Days of Cool, p. 198; May, 2004, Be Astengo, review of Daddies Give You Horsey Rides, p. 117; June, 2005, Christine McGinty, review of Rosalie, My Rosalie, p. 122; November, 2006, Linda Staskus, review of Big Pig, p. 90.