Escrivá, Viví

Personal

Born in Spain.

Addresses

Home—Spain.

Career

Children's book illustrator and author.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

El príncipe de las ranas, Laredo Publishing (Beverly Hills, CA), 1995.

El amigo de Olmo, Laredo Publishing (Beverly Hills, CA), 1995, translated as Olmo and the Dragon, 1997.

ILLUSTRATOR

Joles Sennell, El bosque encantado, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1988.

Alma Flor Ada, La sorpresa de Mamá, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1991, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as A Surprise for Mother Rabbit, 1992.

Alma Flor Ada, Como nacio el arco iris, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1991 translated by Bernice Randall as How the Rainbow Came to Be, 1991.

Alma Flor Ada, La hamaca de la vaca, o, Un amigo más, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1991 translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as In the Cow's Backyard, 1991.

Alma Flor Ada, El susto de los fantasmas, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1991, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as What Are Ghosts Afraid Of?, 1991.

Alma Flor Ada, No fui yo, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1992, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as It's Not Me, 1992.

Alma Flor Ada, El papalote, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1992, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as The Kite, 1992.

Alma Flor Ada, Olmo y la mariposa azul, Laredo Publishing (Torrance, CA), 1992.

Alma Flor Ada, Pavo para la cena de Gracias?, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1993, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as Turkey for Thanksgiving? No, Thanks!, 1993.

Cecilia Avalos, reteller, The Goat Who Wouldn't Sneeze, Scot Foresman (Glenview, IL), 1993.

Alma Flor Ada, Rosa alada, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1993, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as A Rose with Wings, 1993.

Alma Flor Ada, El pañuelo de seda, Laredo Publishing (Torrance, CA), 1993.

Alma Flor Ada, La piñata vaía, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1993, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as The Empty Piñata, 1993.

Alma Flor Ada, No quiero derretirme!, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1993, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as I Don't Want to Melt!, 1993.

Alma Flor Ada, La jaula dorada, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1993, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as The Golden Cage, 1993.

Alma Flor Ada, Después de la tormenta, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1993, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as After the Storm, 1993.

Diana Noonan, reteller, The Farmer's Journey, Celebration Press (Glenview, IL), 1996.

Hilda Perera, Rana ranita, translated by Janet Sklar as Froggie Froggette, Lectorum Publications (New York, NY), 1997.

Joan Fallon and Arlene Feltenstein, Will the New Baby Be Bigger than Me?, Laredo Publishing (Beverly Hills, CA), 1998.

Paz Rodero, The Storyteller/El cuentista, Laredo Publishing (Beverly Hills, CA), 1998.

Alma Flor Ada, Ima extraña visita, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1999, translated by Rosalma Zubizarreta as Strange Visitors, 1999.

Alma Flor Ada, Me gustaria tener, Santillana (Compton, CA), 1999.

Maria Isabel Tiera, The Coconut Flan, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2001.

Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, Uno, dos, tres: Dime quín eres!/One, Two, Three: Who Is It?, Alfaguara Infantil, 2002.

Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, A New Home for the Seven Little Kids, Santillana (Compton, CA), 2002, translated as El nuevo hogar de los siete cabritos, 2002.

Diana Star Helmer, The Cat Who Came for Tacos, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2003.

Alma Flor Ada, Coral y espuma: Abecedario del mar, Espasa Calpe Mexicana, 2003.

Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, selectors, Pío Peep!: Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

Mimi Chapra, Sparky's Bark/El ladrido de Sparky, Katherine Tegan Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Ginger Foglesong Guy, My School/Mi escuela, HarperFestival (New York, NY), 2006.

Ginger Foglesong Guy, My Grandma/Mi abuelita, HarperFestival (New York, NY), 2007.

Also illustrator of picture books published in Spain.

Sidelights

Viví Escrivá's celebrated watercolors have graced the pages of picture books by several authors, among them Alma Flor Ada, Mimi Chapra, Ginger Foglesong Guy, and F. Isabel Campoy. Her work with Ada is perhaps best known, and includes Pío Peep!: Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes. Praising Escrivá's work for Guy's bilingual picture book My School/Mi escuela, a Kirkus Reviews writer noted that the artist's pictures, rendered in "warm watercolors, [are] busy with detail" and feature "children of various ethnicities." A resident of Spain, Escrivá is widely known to young children in her own country, where her art appears in numerous Spanish-language books, several of which feature her original stories.

In a review of Pío Peep!, School Library Journal reviewer Ann Welton praised the collaboration between Ada and Escrivá, dubbing the work a "wonderful, reassuring lap book." "Escriva's watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations use brilliant hues and detail to reconstruct a young child's world," the critic added. "Warm colors and Latin American motifs contribute to the cultural interest" of Diana Star Helmer's The Cat Who Came for Tacos, according to School Library Journal critic Rosalyn Pierini, in describing another "lighthearted tale" featuring Escrivá's colorful art.

Another book pairing Escrivá's art with a lighthearted story is Mimi Chapra's Sparky's Bark/El ladrido de Sparky. This bilingual picture book finds a little girl visiting her American relatives. The girl is from Latin America, and life in Ohio feels very strange and uncomfortable until a perceptive cousin translates some simple objects that both cultures share, including a pet dog and its bark. Escrivá's colorful artwork "combines realism and cartoon," explained a Kirkus Reviews contributor, noting the "accentuated roundness" that characterizes the artist's rendering of human characters. In Booklist, Stella Clark wrote of Sparky's Bark that Escrivá's "appealing" illustrations add to Chapra's "simple … message about language and culture." An equally positive appraisal of the work was offered by Maria Otero-Boisvert, who in School Library Journal deemed the watercolor illustrations "delightful and detailed," making Sparky's Bark "a solid choice for storytimes"

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 2002, Isabel Schon, review of A New Home for the Seven Little Kids, p. 1022; September 1, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of ¡Pío Peep!: Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes, p. 126; May 1, 2006, Stella Clark, review of Sparky's Bark/El ladrido de Sparky, p. 88; January 1, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of My Grandma/Mi abuelita, p. 114.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, June, 2003, review of ¡Pío Peep!, p. 388.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2003, review of ¡Pío Peep!, p. 603; June 1, 2006, review of Sparky's Bark/El ladrido de Sparky, p. 570, and review of My School/Mi escuela, p. 572.

Publishers Weekly, May 26, 1997, review of Froggie Froggette, p. 85; September 4, 2006, review of Sparky's Bark/El ladrido de Sparky, p. 67.

School Library Journal, August, 1990, review of Una extraña visita, p. 172; November, 1991, Valentin Porras, review of Como nacio el arco iris, p. 153; July, 2003, Ann Welton, review of ¡Pío Peep!, p. 121; September, 2003, Rosalyn Pierini, review of The Cat Who Came for Tacos, p. 179; June, 2006, Maria Otero-Boisvert, review of Sparky's Bark/El ladrido de Sparky, p. 142; June, 2007, Linda Staskus, review of My Grandma/Mi abuelita, p. 100.