Kruglik, Gerald

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Kruglik, Gerald

Personal

Married Barbara Bottner (an author and illustrator).

Addresses

Home—Los Angeles, CA.

Career

Illustrator.

Writings

(With wife, Barbara Bottner) It's Not Marsha's Birthday, illustrated by Denise Brunkus, Golden Books (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Barbara Bottner) Pish and Posh, illustrated by Bottner, Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY), 2004.

(With Barbara Bottner) Wallace's Lists, illustrated by Olof Landstrom, Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY), 2004.

(With Barbara Bottner) Pish and Posh Wish for Fairy Wings, illustrated by Bottner, Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Sidelights

Together with his wife, artist and writer Barbara Bottner, Gerald Kruglik is the coauthor of children's books that include Wallace's Lists, Pish and Posh, and Pish and Posh Wish for Fairy Wings.

Kruglik and Bottner's "Pish and Posh" titles are part of the "I Can Read!" series featuring easy texts and large-format illustrations. Pish and Posh are elves who are best friends even though they are extreme opposites: Posh is the romantic dreamer while Pish is the sensible counterpart. The plot of Pish and Posh centers around a fairy handbook that Pish finds. Although Pish is anxious to immediately try all of the spells listed in the book, Posh reminds her friend that chores should be completed first. The impetuous Pish ignores Posh's suggestion and casts several spells without carefully reading them. What results is a series of mishaps that has Pish and Posh scrambling. School Library Journal reviewer Mary Elam commented on Kruglik and Bottner's engaging characters and wrote that "nothing is lost in the story's simple presentation, and the plot builds to a satisfying climax."

Kruglik and Bottner add to the adventures of the two friends in Pish and Posh Wish for Fairy Wings. In this title, the two elves are each granted four wishes. According to the fairy handbook, each elf should carefully wish for what they want; if their wishes pass muster, they will be rewarded with a set of fairy wings. Disagreeing about what constitutes an appropriate wish, Pish and Posh begin to bicker in a typical and amusingly childlike fashion. In her Booklist review of Pish and Posh Wish for Fairy Wings, Hazel Rochman noted that readers will "enjoy the yelling standoffs as much as the turnarounds" as each characters learns something new about themselves.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of It's Not Marsha's Birthday, p. 2022; December 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Pish and Posh Wish for Fairy Wings, p. 51.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February, 2004, review of Pish and Posh, p. 223; June, 2004, Deborah Stevenson, review of Wallace's Lists, p. 408.

Horn Book, November-December, 2006, Betty Carter, review of Pish and Posh Wish for Fairy Wings, p. 705.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2003, review of Pish and Posh, p. 1447; June 1, 2004, review of Wallace's Lists, p. 2022.

Publishers Weekly, January 19, 2004, review of Pish and Posh, p. 76; June 7, 2004, review of Wallace's Lists, p. 49.

Reading Today, August-September, 2004, Lynne T. Burke, review of Wallace's Lists, p. 30.

School Library Journal, January, 2004, Mary Elam, review of Pish and Posh, p. 88; June, 2004, Lauralyn Persson, review of Pish and Posh, p. 96.