Harper, Charise Mericle (Charise Harper)

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Harper, Charise Mericle (Charise Harper)

Personal

Married; children: one daughter.

Addresses

Home—Mamaroneck, NY. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Author, illustrator, and cartoonist.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

When I Grow Up, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2001.

Imaginative Inventions: The Who, What, Where, When, and Why of Roller Skates, Potato Chips, Marbles, and Pie and More!, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2001.

There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2002.

The Trouble with Normal, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2003.

Itsy Bitsy the Smart Spider, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2003.

Yes, No, Maybe So, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2004.

The Monster Show: Everything You Never Knew about Monsters, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2004.

(Under name Charise Harper) Baby Time: A Fast, Fun Keepsake Album, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2004.

The Invisible Mistakecase, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2005.

The Little Book of Not So, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2005.

Fashion Kitty (graphic novel), Hyperion (New York, NY), 2005.

Flush!: The Scoop on Poop throughout the Ages, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2006.

Amy and Ivan: What's in That Truck?, Tricycle Press (Berkeley, CA), 2006.

Fashion Kitty versus the Fashion Queen (graphic novel), Hyperion (New York, NY), 2007.

When Randolph Turned Rotten, Knopf (New York, NY), 2007.

Just Grace, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2007.

Still Just Grace, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2007.

OTHER

(Illustrator) Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Spoken Gems: A Journal for Recording the Funny, Odd, and Poignant Things Your Child Says, Andrews McMeel (Kansas City, MO), 2000.

(Illustrator) Kathleen O'Dell, Agnes Parker … Girl in Progess, Dial Books (New York, NY), 2003.

(Illustrator) Kathleen O'Dell, Agnes Parker … Happy Camper?, Dial Books (New York, NY), 2005.

(Illustrator) Sandra Markle, Chocolate: A Sweet History, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 2005.

Flashcards of My Life (young-adult novel), Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2006.

Contributor of illustrations to New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Village Voice, and San Francisco Examiner. Creator of Eye-Spy, weekly alternative syndicated comic strip, 1996—.

Sidelights

Charise Mericle Harper is the author of several highly acclaimed picture books for children, producing her self-illustrated debut work, When I Grow Up, in 2001. To complete the phrase "When I grow up, I want to be …," each double-page spread offers a positive characteristic such as "generous" or "brave," along with an illustration to highlight that particular attribute. "Every page is framed and the textured, vibrant illustrations have a tactile element," noted School Library Journal contributor Shawn Brommer. "Most memorably," wrote a Publishers Weekly critic, "Harper uses black-and-white photos of children's faces, seemingly snipped from a grade school yearbook, as collage elements." Imaginative Inventions: The Who, What, Where, When, and Why of Roller Skates, Potato Chips, Marbles, and Pie and More! explores, in verse, the origins of everyday items such as chewing gum and piggy banks. Reviewing the work in Booklist, GraceAnne A. DeCandido praised Harper's "puckish and offbeat visual imagery." A reviewer in Publishers Weekly similarly remarked of Imaginative Inventions that, "with its crazy-quilt visual patterns, bouncy stanzas and fun facts, this miscellany zigzags between informational and whimsical."

There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star, Harper's take on the folk song "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," follows an adventurous woman's efforts to capture a star for her young son. She uses a number of modes of transportation to reach the heavenly body, including driving a convertible and piloting an airplane. "Acrylic cartoons in bright colors lend a zany feel" to Harper's story, noted Leslie Barban in School Library Journal, and a Kirkus Reviews critic stated that "the repetitive pattern and cumulative effect follow that of the original and the jaunty illustration style fits the tale." In The Trouble with Normal, Finnigan the squirrel pursues his dream of becoming a Secret Service agent with the help of his human companion, Doug. According to a Publishers Weekly contributor, Harper "illustrates in hilarious mixed-media collages and writes in a wry dead-pan," and Booklist reviewer Connie Fletcher dubbed the work "funny and fun, with an underlying friendship theme."

Inspired by her own daughter's love of a favorite nursery rhyme, Harper published Itsy Bitsy the Smart Spider, a "spirited take on a much-loved classic," according to a Kirkus Reviews critic. In the work, Itsy tires of being washed out by the rain and goes to great lengths to stay dry. "This book will make a fun read-aloud for children familiar with the original verse," observed Wendy Woodfill in School Library Journal. Another picture book by Harper, Yes, No, Maybe So features "a clever, discussion-opening" story "about acceptable and unacceptable behavior—and the gray areas in between," according to Horn Book reviewer Martha V. Parravano. In her story, Harper looks at familiar daily activities, such as eating, sharing, and getting dressed. In the words of a Kirkus Reviews critic, "the concept is explored with giggle-inducing humor."

A top-hatted emcee educates his audience about a variety of colorful creatures in The Monster Show: Everything You Never Knew about Monsters. Readers learn that monsters eat pizza, keep pets, and look silly in underwear. "The tone of the text remains reassuring throughout," remarked Mary Elam in School Library Journal. In Fashion Kitty, "Harper brings her comedic sense and flat, droll cartoons together in a graphic novel for young girls," noted a contributor in Kirkus Reviews. The work, which concerns an eight-year-old feline superhero with a flair for style, continues in Fashion Kitty versus the Fashion Queen. According to Jennifer Feigelman, reviewing Fashion Kitty in School Library Journal, Harper's "pictures are artistically appealing and visually spectacular."

A teen records her thoughts about friendship and identity in Harper's first young-adult novel, Flashcards of My Life. After Emily receives an unusual birthday gift, she begins chronicling the trials and triumphs of her middle-school world, including her encounters with catty girlfriends and unrequited love. "Harper's tale will elicit nods of recognition—and a few chuckles," observed a Publishers Weekly critic in a review of the novel.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 15, 2001, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Imaginative Inventions: The Who, What, Where, When, and Why of Roller Skates, Potato Chips, Marbles, and Pie and More!, p. 734; November 15, 2002, Diane Foote, review of There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star, p. 605; May 1, 2003, Connie Fletcher, review of The Trouble with Normal, p. 1605; February 1, 2006, Jennifer Hubert, review of Flashcards of My Life, p. 50; May 15, 2006, Jennifer Mattson, review of Amy and Ivan, p. 49.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November, 2002, review of There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star, p. 109; December, 2005, review of Fashion Kitty, p. 183.

Horn Book, Martha V. Parravano, review of Yes, No, Maybe So, p. 313.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2001, review of Imaginative Inventions, p. 1123; August 15, 2002, review of There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star, p. 1224; February 1, 2003, review of The Trouble with Normal, p. 230; February 1, 2004, review of Itsy Bitsy the Smart Spider, p. 134; March 15, 2004, review of Yes, No, Maybe So, p. 270; July 15, 2004, review of The Monster Show: Everything You Never Knew about Monsters, p. 686; February 1, 2005, review of Agnes Parker … Happy Camper?, p. 179; August 1, 2005, review of Fashion Kitty, p. 848; January 1, 2006, review of Flashcards of My Life, p. 41.

Publishers Weekly, February 12, 2001, review of When I Grow Up, p. 209; August 20, 2001, review of Imaginative Inventions, p. 79; September 16, 2002, review of There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star, p. 67; February 10, 2003, review of The Trouble with Normal, p. 186; August 9, 2004, review of The Monster Show, p. 250; October 3, 2005, review of Fashion Kitty, p. 71; January 9, 2006, review of Flashcards of My Life, p. 54.

School Library Journal, July, 2001, Shawn Brommer, review of When I Grow Up, p. 82; October, 2001, Lynda Ritterman, review of Imaginative Inventions, p. 140; September, 2002, Leslie Barban, review of There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star, p. 213; February, 2003, Susan Patron, review of Agnes Parker … Girl in Progress, p. 146; April, 2003, Wanda Meyers-Hines, review of The Trouble with Normal, p. 122; March, 2004, Wendy Woodfill, review of Itsy Bitsy the Smart Spider, p. 169; July, 2004, Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of Yes, No, Maybe So, p. 77; September, 2004, Mary Elam, review of The Monster Show, p. 161; March, 2005, Debbie Whitbeck, review of Agnes Parker … Happy Camper?, p. 216; June, 2005, Margaret Bush, review of The Little Book of Not So, p. 116; November, 2005, Jennifer Feigelman, review of Fashion Kitty, p. 174; December, 2005, Lisa S. Schindler, review of The Invisible Mistakecase, p. 114; January, 2006, Diana Pierce, review of Flashcards ofMy Life, p. 133; September, 2006, Catherine Threadgill, review of Amy and Ivan, p. 173, and Julie Roach, review of Flush!: The Scoop on Poop throughout the Ages, p. 192.