Graham, Georgia 1959–

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Graham, Georgia 1959–

Personal

Born 1959, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; married; children: two. Education: Alberta College of Art, B.A. (visual communication), 1982.

Addresses

Office—Box 5484, Lacombe, Alberta T4L 1X2, Canada.

Career

Illustrator and author of children's books. Presenter at schools.

Awards, Honors

Canadian Children's Book Center Choice designation, 1988, for The Most Beautiful Kite in the World by Andrea Spalding, and 1995, for Bibi and the Bull by Carol Vaage; Canadian Children's Book Center Outstanding Book designation, Alberta Children's Title of the Year Award, and Alberta Book Illustration Award, all 1996, all for Tiger's New Cowboy Boots by Irene Morck; Canadian Our Choice award, 1998, for The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona, Red Deer College Press (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), 1998.

A Team like No Other, Red Dear Press (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), 2005.

ILLUSTRATOR

Sue Alderson, Comet's Tail, Tree Frog (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), 1982.

Andrea Spalding, The Most Beautiful Kite in the World, Red Deer College Press (Red Deer, Alberta, Canada), 1988.

Carol Vaage, Bibi and the Bull, Dragon Hill Publishing (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), 1995.

Lynne Fairbridge, We Need a Moose, Victor Books (Wheaton, IL), 1996.

Irene Morck, Tiger's New Cowboy Boots, Red Dear College Press (Red Deer, Alberta, Canada), 1996, published as Tyler's New Boots, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 1998.

Thelma Sharp, Saturday Appaloosa, Red Deer Press (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), 2001.

Barbara Azore, Wanda and the Wild Hair, Tundra Books (Plattsburg, NY), 2005.

Barbara Azore, Wanda and the Frogs, Tundra Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007.

Sidelights

Canadian illustrator Georgia Graham draws much of her inspiration from the country surrounding her home in rural Alberta. In addition to creating pastel artwork for picture books such as Irene Morck's Tiger's New Cowboy Boots and Barbara Azore's humorous Wanda and the Wild Hair, Graham is also a writer. Her original self-illustrated picture books include The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona, based on a true story set in Alberta in 1965, and A Team like No Other, a wilderness adventure featuring a boy and his loyal dog. Reviewing Wanda and the Frogs, a second collaboration between Graham and Azore, School Library Journal contributor Maura Bresnahan commented that the artist's "brightly hued, chalk-pastel cartoon illustrations add to the story's charm," and a Kirkus Reviews critic concluded that the book's "warm, subtle pastels merit multiple viewings." In a Publishers Weekly appraisal of the U.S. edition of Tiger's New Cowboy Boots—published as Tyler's New Boots—the reviewer commented that Graham imbues each page of Morck's award-winning picture book with "a sense of movement and flow."

Described as a "visual delight" by a Resource Links critic, The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona focuses on a boy's pride in his father. Matthew knows that his dad is the strongest man around, but when a tornado sweeps across the prairie and destroys part of the family's beloved dairy farm, the boy learns that his father's true strength is not only muscle but resilience and perseverence. In Booklist Hazel Rochman noted of Graham's authorial debut that her picture book's "handsome, realistic landscape paintings show an idyllic hardworking family" while its "thrilling" story will captivate young readers.

In A Team like No Other readers meet a boy named Stephen, who lives with his father and eight sled dogs in northern Canada. Although father and son often go sledding, their outdoors skills become life-saving skills when Dad falls from the racing sled and the boy is left to control the pack. Although a sharp cliff looms ominously ahead, the boy trusts in his relationship with Skoki, the team's lead dog, and tragedy is averted. Calling Graham's detailed pastel drawings "skillfully ren-

dered," Resource Links critic Evette Berry added that the author/illustrator's tale "is simple but interesting, with a touch of danger, and a satisfying ending that readers will enjoy."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 1998, Ilene Cooper, review of Tyler's New Boots, p. 672; February 1, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona, p. 979.

Children's Bookwatch, April, 2005, review of Wanda and the Wild Hair.

Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2007, review of Wanda and the Frogs.

Publishers Weekly, April, 2007, review of Wanda and the Frogs.

Resource Links, April, 1999, review of The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona, p. 2; April, 2002, Connie Forst, review of The Saturday Appaloosa, p. 10; April, 2005, Evette Berry, review of A Team like No Other, p. 3; April, 2005, Lori Lavallee, review of Wanda and the Wild Hair, p. 2; April, 2007, Linda Berezowski, review of Wanda and the Frogs, p. 1.

School Library Journal, March, 2007, Maura Bresnahan, review of Wanda and the Frogs, p. 150.