Petricic, Dušan 1946-

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Petričić, Dušan 1946-

Personal

Born 1946, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia; immigrated to Canada; married; children: Misha, one other daughter, two sons. Hobbies and other interests: Watching movies.

Addresses

Home—Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Career

Illustrator and cartoonist. Former professor of illustration and book design.

Awards, Honors

International Board on Books for Young People Certificate of Honor; Alcuin Society Book Design Award; Alberta Book Award, 1998, for On Tumbledown Hill by Tim Wynne-Jones; Robert F. Siebert Honor Book designation, 2000, and Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Nonfiction, 2002, both for The Longitude Prize by Joan Dash.

Writings

Luda Kuća, Niro (Belgrade, Yugoslavia), 1986.

Josì lua kucí, Rad (Belgrade, Yugoslavia), 1990.

ILLUSTRATOR

Aubrey Davis, Bone Button Borscht, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1995.

Camilla Gryski, Let's Play: Traditional Games of Childhood, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1995.

Vivienne Shalom, The Color of Things, Rizzoli International (New York, NY), 1995.

Sylvia Funston, Scary Science: The Truth behind Vampires, Witches, UFO's, Ghosts, and More, Owl Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996.

Tim Wynne-Jones, On Tumbledown Hill, Red Deer College Press (Red Deer, Alberta, Canada), 1998.

Aubrey Davis, The Enormous Potato, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1998.

Valerie Wyatt, Earthlings Inside and Out: A Space Alien Studies the Human Body, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1999.

James Burke, Circles: Fifty Round Trips through History, Technology, Science, and Culture, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

Alice L. Bartels, The Grandmother Doll (new edition), Annick Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Joan Dash, The Longitude Prize, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2001.

Jeannine Atkins, Wings and Rockets: The Story of Women in Air and Space, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2003.

Tim Wynne-Jones, Ned Mouse Breaks Away, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003.

Margaret Atwood, Rude Ramsey and the Roaring Radishes, Key Porter Kids (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003, Bloomsbury Children's Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Aubrey Davis, Bagels from Benny, Kids Can Press (Tonawanda, NY), 2003.

Margaret Atwood, Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda, Key Porter Kids (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2004, Bloomsbury Children's Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Jeannine Atkins, How High Can We Climb?: The Story of Women Explorers, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2005.

Shannon Stewart, Alphabad, Key Porter Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

Joan Dash, A Dangerous Engine: Benjamin Franklin, from Scientist to Diplomat, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Sarah Ellis, The Queen's Feet, Red Deer Press (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), 2006.

Cary Fagan, My New Shirt, Tundra Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007.

Robert Heidbreder, Lickety-Split, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007.

Cartoons have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, New York Times Book Review and Toronto Star. Also illustrator of works by Zitivko Stojsic and Slobodan Novakovic, published in Yugoslavia.

Sidelights

Beginning to draw at age four, Dušan Petričić has never stopped. Using art as a means of communicating, the Yugoslav-born artist established himself as a well-known cartoonist and illustrator in his native country before successfully transplanting his career eastern Canada, where he now lives with his family. Inspired to illustrate children's books after the birth of his first son, Petričić creates sketchy drawings that incorporate pen and ink as well as color. His works have been paired with the stories of such well-known Canadian writers as Sarah Ellis, Joan Dash, Margaret Atwood, and Tim Wynne-Jones. Describing Petričić's contribution to Ellis's humorous The Queen's Feet, a Publishers Weekly critic wrote that the picture book's "amusing ink-and-watercolor illustrations juxtapose playfulness and propriety with uproarious results." In Booklist, Michael Cart cited Petričić's "droll watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations," and in School Library Journal Suzanne Myers Harold maintained that "Ellis's fun, spirited story matches well with Petričić's cartoon illustrations."

When noted Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood turned her hand to children's books, several of her stories were paired with Petričić's artwork. Atwood's humorous text for Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes, with its generous dose of wordplay, features "exaggerated watercolours [that] are full of exciting details," according to Resource Links reviewer Denise Parrott. Petričić's illustrations have also been paired with the work of Aubrey Davis. Her retelling of a traditional folk tale in The Enormous Potato benefits from the artist's contribution, according to Helen Rosenberg; as the critic wrote in her Booklist review, Petričić's "hilarious watercolor-and-pencil illustrations add a freshness and vitality to a classic tale of teamwork." Bone Button Borscht, another retelling by Davis, transports young children to an Eastern European village of a century ago, as a wandering beggar inspires an entire community to overcome their miserliness and create a commu-

nal meal. Through his use of color, line, and focus, Petričić's "illustrations add immeasurably to the emotional resonance of the tale," according to Horn Book reviewer Sarah Ellis, the critic maintaining that, with its "imaginative, careful design," Bone Button Borscht "truly exploits the dynamic potential of the picture-book medium."

In addition to fiction, Petričić has also shown a talent for taking difficult scientific concepts and illuminating them for younger readers. The nonfiction titles that feature his artwork include Jeanne Atkins' Wings and Rockets: The Story of Women in Air and Space and Joan Dash's award-winning A Dangerous Engine: Benjamin Franklin, from Scientist to Diplomat and The Longitude Prize. Of his work for A Dangerous Engine, Horn Book contributor Danielle J. Ford wrote that Petričić's "black-and-white illustrations are a fine complement" to Dash's story about how Franklin's active life in international politics meshed with his penchant for inventing; "clever and subtle, they thoughtfully interpret the narrative."

The story of eighteenth-century clockmaker John Harrison and his quest to build the accurate timepiece required for ship captains to calculate their longitude (and hence, location) while at sea, The Longitude Prize features art that "leavens the scientific weightiness and reinforces the imaginative spirit of Harrison as he struggles for forty years to assemble his creation," according to Horn Book contributor Susan P. Bloom. Praising Dash's text for relating "an engrossing tale," a Publishers Weekly reviewer added that "Petričić's cari- caturelike drawings … lend the volume a touch of class." In School Library Journal, Steven Engelfried cited the book's "small, clever illustrations" for contributing to Dash's "rousing history." Reviewing Wings and Rockets, Linda Wadleigh wrote in the same periodical that Petričć's "pen-and-ink drawings add an interesting and illuminating touch" to Atkins' story about women who braved much to become pioneers in aviation history.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 1, 1997, Kay Weisman, review of Bone Button Borscht, p. 480; November 1, 1998, Helen Rosenberg, review of The Enormous Potato, p. 498; January 1, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of The Longitude Prize, p. 930; October 1, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of Bagels from Benny, p. 333; May 1, 2006, Michael Cart, review of The Queen's Feet, p. 289.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October, 2000, review of The Longitude Prize, p. 58; October 15, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of How High Can We Climb?: The Story of Women Explorers, p. 44; June, 2006, Karen Coats, review of The Queen's Feet, p. 449; November 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda, p. 58.

Canadian Review of Materials, March 31, 2000, review of The Enormous Potato; May 12, 2000, review of Earthlings inside and Out: A Space Alien Studies the Human Body; May 23, 2003, review of Ned Mouse Breaks Away; September 5, 2003, review of Bagels from Benny.

Horn Book, September-October, 1995, Sarah Ellis, review of Bone Button Borscht, p. 643; November, 2000, Susan P. Bloom, review of The Longitude Prize, p. 767; March-April, 2006, Danielle J. Ford, review of A Dangerous Engine: Benjamin Franklin, from Scientist to Diplomat, p. 203.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2003, review of Bagels from Benny, p. 1270; August 15, 2004, review of Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes, p. 802; July 15, 2005, review of How High Can We Climb?, p. 785; December 15, 2005, review of A Dangerous Engine, p. 1321; March 15, 2006, review of The Queen's Feet, p. 289.

Publishers Weekly, October 23, 2000, review of The Longitude Prize, p. 77; August 23, 2003, review of Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes, p. 54; October 27, 2003, review of Bagels from Benny, p. 66; February 27, 2006, review of The Queen's Feet, p. 59; November 20, 2006, review of Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda, p. 57.

Resource Links, April, 1999, review of On Tumbledown Hill, p. 8; October, 1999, review of Earthlings inside and Out, p. 51; June, 2001, Isobel Lang, review of The Grandmother Doll, p. 1; December, 2003, Denise Parrott, review of Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes, p. 1; February, 2006, Zoe Johnstone, review of Alphabad, p. 13.

School Library Journal, November, 2000, Steven Engelfried, review of The Longitude Prize, p. 168; July, 2001, Robert Saunderson, review of Circles: Fifty Round Trips through History, Technology, Science, and Culture, p. 136; August, 2001, Patricia Pearl Dole, review of The Grandmother Doll, p. 142; March, 2003, Linda Wadleigh, review of Wings and Rockets: The Story of Women in Air and Space, p. 244; April, 2003, Eva Mitnick, review of Ned Mouse Breaks Away, p. 144; January, 2004, Joy Fleishhacker, review of The Longitude Prize, p. 79; November, 2004, Caroline Ward, review of Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes, p. 90; September, 2005, Ann G. Brouse, review of How High Can We Climb?, p. 218; February, 2006, Jennifer Ralston, review of A Dangerous Engine, p. 142; March, 2006, John Peters, review of How High Can We Climb?, p. 89; April, 2006, Suzanne Myers Harold, review of The Queen's Feet, p. 105; December, 2006, Linda Ludke, review of Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda, p. 94.