Hobbie, Nathaniel

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Hobbie, Nathaniel

Personal

Son of Holly Hobbie (an author and artist).

Addresses

Home—MA.

Career

Children's book author; sculptor in glass and steel.

Writings

Priscilla and the Pink Planet, illustrated by sister, Jocelyn Hobbie, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2004.

Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise, illustrated by Jocelyn Hobbie, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2006.

Priscilla Superstar!, illustrated by Jocelyn Hobbie, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2007.

Priscilla and the Great Santa Search, illustrated by Jocelyn Hobbie, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2008.

Sidelights

Nathaniel Hobbie teams up with his sister, artist Jocelyn Hobbie, to create the "Priscilla" picture-book series, which introduces a spunky girl who lives on a planet where everything is pink. Beginning with Priscilla and the Pink Planet, the Hobbies' series continues with Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise, Priscilla Superstar!, and Priscilla and the Great Santa Search, all of which pair Nathaniel's rhythmic text with Jocelyn's cartoon art. The brother-and-sister team did not collaborate on their children's books without inspiration: their mother, Holly Hobbie, is a popular children's-book author/illustrator, and the licensed character she created during the 1970s is considered a cultural icon of that decade. Inheriting Holly's creative drive, Nathaniel Hobbie also works as a sculptor in glass and steel from his studio in Massachusetts.

Praised by critics for her optimism, Priscilla meets readers in Priscilla and the Pink Planet, as she learns that too much pink is not a good thing. Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise finds the girl frustrated by three straight days of rain until a pixie shows her the importance of a few rainy days, while in Priscilla Superstar! she decides that the life of a roller-derby queen is for her. A story with a holiday theme, Priscilla and the Great Santa Search finds Priscilla and best friend Bettina determined to make the cross-country-ski trek to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus.

Calling Priscilla and the Pink Planet "an entertaining" debut, School Library Journal contributor Elaine Lesh Morgan also dubbed the story "a bouncy read-aloud," and in Publishers Weekly a critic observed that "Nathaniel's couplets unspool with a pleasing snap and roll." Reviewing Priscilla Superstar! for School Library Journal, Wendy Woodfill noted the story's themes of determination, adding that Hobbie's "bouncy rhymes move along quickly." A Kirkus Reviews writer concluded of Priscilla and the Great Santa Search that Jocelyn Hobbie's "illustrations awash in pinks and reds are amusing, and the rhyming verses [by Nathaniel Hobbie] are entertaining."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2007, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Priscilla Superstar!, p. 49.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2004, review of Priscilla and the Pink Planet, p. 1007; November 1, 2008, review of Priscilla and the Great Santa Search.

Publishers Weekly, October 25, 2004, review of Priscilla and the Pink Planet, p. 47.

School Library Journal, December, 2004, Elaine Lesh Morgan, review of Priscilla and the Pink Planet, p. 110; March, 2006, Kathleen Whalin, review of Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise, p. 192; October, 2006, Wendy Woodfill, review of Priscilla Superstar!, p. 112; October, 2008, Lisa Falk, review of Priscilla and the Great Santa Search, p. 94.