Gerritsen, Paula 1956-

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Gerritsen, Paula 1956-

Personal

Born 1956, in the Netherlands; married; children: three.

Addresses

Home and office—Megen, Netherlands. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Author and illustrator. Psychology assistant, beginning 1988.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Noten, Lemniscaat (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2005, translated as Nuts, Front Street Books (Asheville, NC), 2006.

ILLUSTRATOR

Erik van Os and Elle van Lieshout, Fijn feestje, Lemniscaat (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2002 translated as A Nice Party, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2002.

Erik van Os and Elle van Lieshout, Nooit meer een luier!, Mercis (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2002.

Petra Cremers, Detectivebureau K & K, 2003.

Elle van Lieshout and Erik van Os, Een koning van niks, Lemniscaat (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2004, translated as The Nothing King, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2004.

Petra Cremers, Lella en de bodyguards, Holland (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2005.

Erik van Os and Elle van Lieshout, De wens, Lemniscaat (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2006, translated as The Wish, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2007.

Also illustrator of books by Petra Cremers, including Mickey Magnus, Razende reporters, and Oranje boven.

Sidelights

Dutch illustrator Paula Gerritsen has created art for stories by authors such as Paula Cremers and popular writing team Elle van Lieshout and Eric van Os. She made her debut as both author and illustrator with Noten, a self-illustrated picture book that was published in translation as Nuts in 2006.

As readers of Nuts discover, Mouse lives atop a hill overlooking a farm with its expansive fields. In the distance, she can see a nut tree that promises food for the coming winter. As the air grows colder and fall approaches, the tiny creature sets out for the tree wearing a coat with large pockets to carry the fallen nuts she intends to gather. As Mouse makes her way across the field, friends Gull, Sheep, and Hare warn of a storm that is quickly approaching, but the determined Mouse does not hear them. By the time Mouse reaches the tree, the sky has grown dark. She nestles between the tree's roots and naps until the storm passes, but when she awakens, she finds that all the nuts have blown away. While Mouse is disheartened, after trudging back home she is pleased to discover that the winds have actually worked in her favor; they have blown the nuts up to her home on top of the hill.

Praising Gerritsen's simple tale, Julie Cummins added in Booklist that the author's illustrations "make use of the overhead perspective to convey diminutive Mouse's size, while visual aids … add wry touches of humor." Mary Hazelton, critiquing the Dutch import for School Library Journal, wrote that Gerritsen's self-illustrated picture book features "small details tucked away for curious eyes to discover," and a Kirkus Reviews critic dubbed Nuts a "triumphant" picture-book debut.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 15, 2004, Hazel Rochman, review of The Nothing King, p. 747; March 1, 2006, Julie Cummins, review of Nuts, p. 99.

Children's Bookwatch, February, 2005, review of The Nothing King; April, 2006, review of Nuts.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2003, review of A Nice Party, p. 612; November 15, 2004, review of The Nothing King, p. 1094; January 1, 2006, review of Nuts, p. 41.

Publishers Weekly, January 10, 2005, review of The Nothing King, p. 54; January 8, 2007, review of The Wish, p. 50.

School Library Journal, August, 2003, Melinda Piehler, review of A Nice Party, p. 145; January, 2005, Rachel G. Payne, review of The Nothing King, p. 98; March, 2006, Mary Hazelton, review of Nuts, p. 187.