Denton, Kady MacDonald 1942–

views updated

Denton, Kady MacDonald 1942–

Personal

Born 1942, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; married; husband's name Trevor. Education: University of Toronto, B.A. (with honors), and graduate studies (town and regional planning).

Addresses

Home—Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

Career

Author and illustrator of children's books. Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, teacher, 1978-85, member of board of directors, 1980-85. Exhibitions: Work exhibited at galleries in Manitoba, Canada, and included in group shows Canada at Bologna, 1990, Books from Afar, Rome Italy, 1992, and CANSCAIP Annual Exhibition, Canada, 1992, 2001.

Awards, Honors

Amelia Frances Howard Gibbon Award, 1990, for Till All the Stars Have Fallen, 1999, for A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhyme; Mr. Christie Book Award, 1991, for The Story of Little Quack by Betty Gibson; Governor General's Literary Award (illustration, English), 1998, for A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes; Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award, 1999, for A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhyme, and 2006, for Snow.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED CHILDREN'S BOOKS

The Picnic, Dutton (New York, NY), 1988.

Granny Is a Darling, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1988.

Dorothy's Dream, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1989.

The Christmas Boot, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

Janet's Horses, Walker (London, England), 1990, Clarion (New York, NY), 1991.

Would They Love a Lion?, Kingfisher (London, England), 1995.

Watch out, William, Kingfisher (London, England), 1997.

(Editor) A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, Kingfisher (Boston, MA), 1998, published with CD, 2004.

My First Year, Kingfisher (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

ILLUSTRATOR

Pam Zinnemann-Hope, Find Your Coat, Ned, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1987.

Pam Zinnemann-Hope, Let's Play Ball, Ned, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1987.

Pam Zinnemann-Hope, Let's Go Shopping, Ned, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1987.

Pam Zinnemann-Hope, Time for Bed, Ned, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1987.

David Booth, editor, Til All the Stars Have Fallen: Canadian Poems for Children, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1989, Viking (New York, NY), 1990.

Betty Gibson, The Story of Little Quack, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1990.

Ann Pilling, reteller, Before I Go to Sleep: A Collection of Bible Stories, Poems, and Prayers for Children, Crown (New York, NY), 1990, published as Before I Go to Sleep: A Collection of Bible Stories, Poems, and Prayers for Bedtime, Kingfisher (New York, NY), 2000.

David Wynn Millward, Jenny and Bob, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1991.

P.K. Page, reteller, The Travelling Musicians of Bremen, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1991, Joy Street Books (Boston, NA), 1992.

Ann Pilling, reteller, The Kingfisher Children's Bible: Stories from the Old and New Testaments, Kingfisher (Boston, MA), 1993, published as The Kingfisher Book of Bible Stories, 2003.

Ann Pilling, reteller, Realms of Gold: Myths and Legends from around the World, Kingfisher (Boston, MA), 1993, published as The Kingfisher Treasury of Myths and Legends, 2003.

Shen Roddie, Toes Are to Tickle, Tricycle Press (Berkeley, CA), 1997.

Janet Lunn, The Umbrella Party, Douglas & McIntyre (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1998.

Mary Ellis, The Arctic Fox, Collins (London, England), 1999.

Margaret Park Bridges, If I Were Your Mother, Morrow Junior Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Margaret Park Bridges, If I Were Your Father, Morrow Junior Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Robert Heidbreder, I Wished for a Unicorn, Kids Can Press (Niagara, NY), 2000.

Claire Masurel, Two Homes, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Sam McBratney, In the Light of the Moon, and Other Bedtime Stories, Kingfisher (New York, NY), 2001, published as The Kingfisher Mini-Treasury of Bedtime Stories, 2004.

Nan Gregory, Amber Waiting, Red Deer Press (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), 2003.

Jean Little, I Gave My Mom a Castle: Poems, Orca Book (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada), 2003.

Hazel Hutchins, A Second Is a Hiccup: A Child's Book of Time, North Winds Press (Markham, Ontario, Canada), 2004, Arthur A. Levine (New York, NY), 2007.

Joan Clark, Snow, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

Robert Heidbreder, A Sea-wishing Day, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007.

Bonny Becker, A Visitor for Bear, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2008.

Sidelights

Kady MacDonald Denton, the illustrator of a number of picture books for preschool-age readers, has also authored or edited several titles herself. Her art work, which has been paired with texts by Sam McBratney, Hazel Hutchins, and Robert Heidbreder, has won consistent praise for the whimsical, cozy world depicted in her art; "charming" is an oft-repeated adjective used in reviews. Her self-illustrated books, such as Would They Love a Lion? and Watch out, William, have also earned commendation for their brief but enchanting storylines.

As Sarah Ellis noted in Children's Books and Their Creators, Denton "invariably chooses to illustrate the one delicate gesture that speaks volumes." In all her work, the illustrator draws on the imaginative landscape of her own childhood; "I think of how it was for me as a child, not as it is now for me as a parent," she wrote in Children's Books and Their Creators. Praising the illustrations she created for her edited anthology A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, Hazel Rochman wrote in Booklist that Denton's "small, dancing" watercolor images "express … the mischief, farce, and tenderness of the verses we all love." Citing a comparison to the work of noted illustrator Maurice Sendak, a Publishers Weekly reviewer dubbed the book "a winning collection" enhanced by "Denton's breezy, often impish watercolors."

Denton's career as an illustrator began in the late 1980s, with Find Your Coat, Ned and Time for Bed, Ned, both part of Pam Zinnemann-Hope's series about an irrepressible little boy and his world. In addition to creating art for the works of others, she moved into storytelling with The Picnic and Granny Is a Darling, both of which appeared in 1988. The latter title captures in pastel watercolors a young boy's excitement at the pending visit of his grandmother to his household. Billy is afraid of the dark and looks forward to sharing his room with Granny. He thinks the imaginary monsters that torment him at night will then vanish, but instead he now hears a new and ominous noise—Granny's snoring—and believes it to be a large monster about to attack her. When Billy discovers that the noise is emanating from Granny herself, he decides that the monsters can recognize her fearsome power and flee forever.

The bedtime world is also the focus of Denton's self-illustrated picture book Dorothy's Dream. Dorothy is a little girl who wants to stay awake forever lest she miss out on all the fun, and she cavorts and plays until her family becomes worried. When Dorothy finally does fall asleep, however, she has bad dreams. Toward the end of her sleep cycle, the girl gets a glimpse of a golden dream world where she is the star, and she resolves to get to bed early the next night in order to return to that place. A Books for Keeps reviewer praised the book, noting Denton's "attractive, fluid watercolors."

Denton's list of original self-illustrated picture books has continued to grow with The Christmas Boot, Would They Love a Lion?, and Watch out, William!, the last a beginning chapter book about a boy and his determined little sister. Would They Love a Lion? finds little Anna's life disrupted with the arrival of a new sibling, until the imaginative child tries on a series of "guises" in an attempt to win her preoccupied family's attention. With the help of her reversible bathrobe, Anna becomes a bird, a dinosaur, and a rabbit, but finally it is the roar of her lion that breaks the spell. In the end, everybody has a story and a nap. "Denton brings an abundance of charm to a familiar scenario," declared a Publishers Weekly critic in a review of Would They Love a Lion? Susan Dove Lempke wrote in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books that the book adequately "captures the spirit of a day of imaginary play," and in Quill & Quire Fred Boer found Would They Love a Lion? to be in possession of "all the elements of a classic." Appraising Watch out, William! in Booklist, Carolyn Phelan wrote that, as both author and illustrator, "Denton's "precise, sensitive ink drawings" bring to life her original tale "with wit and panache."

Denton's collaborations with other children's book authors encompasses a variety of genres, from cozy domestic scenes to fable worlds of pure fantasy. She has illustrated Til All the Stars Have Fallen: Canadian Poems for Children, a retelling of the German fairy tale The Traveling Musicians of Bremen, and has worked with author Ann Pilling on The Kingfisher Children's Bible: Stories from the Old and New Testaments. With Pilling, Denton also created the artwork for Realms of Gold: Myths and Legends from around the World. More recently republished as The Kingfisher Treasury of Myths and Legends, the book contains fourteen folktales ranging from the West African "Iyadola's Babies" to the Norse myth "The Death of Balder." Also included are Pacific Islander, Chinese, and Russian fables, as well as the heartwarming story of a loyal dog in the

Welsh classic "Bedd Gelert." "Lucid, luminous watercolors enliven every page," noted School Library Journal critic Patricia Dooley in her assessment of Realms of Gold, and a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that Denton's illustrations "display an intriguing amalgam of styles reflective of the tales' countries of origin."

A collaboration with author Shen Roddie, Toes Are to Tickle follows a youngster and her infant brother through their day, and presents all the objects familiar to them and their ostensible reasons for being, while in Amber Waiting Denton's art is paired with Nan Gregory's story about a young girl whose dad is once too often slow in picking her up after kindergarten. Denton's "breezy, colorful watercolors" in Toes Are to Tickle were described by Amelia Kalin in School Library Journal as vividly executed in tones of orange. "The palette balances the impish spirit of the compositions," remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer of the same work, the critic adding that Denton's energetic visual composition provides "texture and drive." Noting Denton's mix of "charming paintings" and collage art featuring more somber hues in Amber Waiting, Booklist contributor Gillian Engberg deemed the picture book "subtle" and "sensitive," while in School Library Journal Grace Oliff noted that "Denton's gentle watercolors artfully convey the girl's sense of desolation as well as her flight of fancy."

One of several collaborations with writer Robert Heidbreder, A Sea-Wishing Day reveals the power of imagination in its story about a child whose backyard wading pool transports him on a series of high-seas adventures. Praising Denton's "transformative powers" as an illustrator, a Publishers Weekly critic cited her use of "iridescent color and wry details" in A Sea-Wishing Day, and concluded that the volume finds Denton "in fine, freewheeling form." According to School Library Journal contributor Julie Roach, Denton's use of "soft lines and sharp humor" in the same book "really bring this book to life," while Phelan cited the "entertaining details" featured in the illustrator's "inventive, always appealing paintings." Matching her art to Hazel Hutchins' rhyming text in A Second Is a Hiccup: A Child's Book of Time, Denton touches on the small details in Hutchins' story and make the book "a perfect way to end the day," in the opinion of Horn Book contributor Susan P. Bloom.

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Children's Books and Their Creators, edited by Anita Silvey, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995, p. 195.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 1993, Julie Corsaro, review of Realms of Gold: Myths and Legends from around the World, p. 2056; August, 1995, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Would They Love a Lion?, p. 1955; June 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of Toes Are to Tickle, p. 1721; November 1, 1998, Hazel Rochman, review of A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, p. 496; April 15, 2000, Gillian Engberg, review of I Wished for a Unicorn, p. 1545; October 1, 2000, Gillian Engberg, review of A Kingfisher Treasury of Bible Stories, Poems, and Prayers for Bedtime, p. 360; February 1, 2002, Carolyn Phelan, review of In the Light of the Moon, and Other Bedtimes Stories, p. 942; May 15, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Amber Waiting, p. 1659; May 1, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of Watch out, William!, p. 88; March 15, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of A Sea-Wishing Day, p. 53.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July-August, 1995, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Would They Love a Lion?, p. 381.

Canadian Review of Materials, January, 1989, review of Granny Is a Darling, p. 34.

Horn Book, May-June, 2007, Susan P. Bloom, review of A Second Is a Hiccup, p. 266.

Junior Bookshelf, December, 1989, review of Granny Is a Darling, p. 260.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 1989, review of Granny Is a Darling, p. 1243; August 15, 2006, review of Snow, p. 837; January 15, 2007, review of A Second Is a Hiccup, p. 74.

Publishers Weekly, April 19, 1993, review of Realms of Gold, p. 62; April 24, 1995, review of Would They Love a Lion?, p. 70; May 26, 1997, review of ToesAre to Tickle, p. 84; August 31, 1998, review of A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, p. 74; October 29, 2001, review of In the Light of the Moon, and Other Bedtime Stories, p. 62; March 26, 2007, review of A Sea-Wishing Day, p. 92.

Quill & Quire, September, 1995, Fred Boer, review of Would They Love a Lion?

Resource Links, December, 2003, Nancy Ryan, review of I Gave My Mom a Castle, p. 19; February, 2007, Isobel Lang, review of Snow, p. 2.

School Library Journal, February, 1989, Bessie Egan, review of Granny Is a Darling, p. 69; December, 1989, Marianne Pilla, review of Dorothy's Dream, pp. 77-78; May, 1993, Patricia Dooley, review of Realms of Gold, p. 120; July, 1995, Claudia Cooper, review of Would They Love a Lion?, p. 55; September, 1997, Amelia Kalin, review of Toes Are to Tickle, p. 192; July, 2003, Grace Oliff, review of Amber Waiting, p. 96; April, 2004, Laura Reed, review of I Gave My Mom a Castle, p. 173; August, 2006, Laura Scott, review of Watch out, William!, p. 80; March, 2007, Linda Ludke, review of A Second Is a Hiccup, p. 197; May, 2007, Julie Roach, review of A Sea-Wishing Day, p. 98.