Pitzer, Susanna 1958–

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Pitzer, Susanna 1958–

Personal

Born October 28, 1958, in KS; father a veterinarian. Education: Wichita State University, graduated; attended University of Kansas, School of Visual Arts, and Art Students League. Hobbies and other interests: Playing piano and guitar, tap dancing, collecting marbles.

Addresses

Home—New York, NY. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

Career

Author and illustrator of children's books. Actress and playwright with Seem to Be Players (children's theatre company), Lawrence, KS; Visible Theatre, New York, NY, writing mentor and playwright; also worked as a managing editor, copywriter, advertising executive, television production assistant, scriptwriter, and creative-arts therapist. Conducts writing, art, and acting workshops in schools throughout the United States.

Member

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Children's Book Illustrators Group, Kansas Center for the Book.

Awards, Honors

Golden Kite Award, 2006, Kansas Notable Book designation, and International Reading Association/Children's Book Council Children's Choice designation, both 2007, and North Carolina Picture Book Award nomination, 2008, all for Not Afraid of Dogs.

Writings

PICTURE BOOKS

Grandfather Hurant Lives Forever, illustrated by Kyra Teis, Centering Corporation (Omaha, NE), 2001.

Not Afraid of Dogs, illustrated by Larry Day, Walker & Co. (New York, NY), 2006.

Also author of plays produced in Lawrence, KS, including Monsters in the Closet, 1983; A Fairy's Tale, 1994; The Adventures of Ballerina Bunny, 1995; Traveling through Dreams, 1995; Grimm Sisters, 1996, revised, 2007; Can You Hear the Talking Dog?, 1997; Cinderella, 1997; The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck (adaptation), 1997; and Mystery at Ghastly Hall!

ILLUSTRATOR

Earl Grollman, Talking about Divorce and Separation, Centering Corporation (Omaha, NE), 2005.

Dorothy Ferguson, A Bunch of Balloons, Centering Corporation (Omaha, NE), 2006.

Sidelights

Playwright and children's book creator Susanna Pitzer grew up in Kansas, and although she now lives in New York City, she returns to the Midwest frequently, both to visit with friends and family and meet with school groups. In addition to writing and illustrating books for young readers, Pitzer is also a playwright. Her works have been produced by Lawrence, Kansas's children's theatre troupe the Seem to Be Players since the mid-1980s, and she penned the play produced during the troupe's thirty-fifth anniversary season in 2007.

Pitzer's best-known book for children, Not Afraid of Dogs, features illustrations by Larry Day and was published in 2006. Winner of the Golden Kite Award, the book was actually inspired by Zzazu, one of the three Shetland sheepdogs that share Pitzer's home. In the story, a young boy named Daniel is fearless when it comes to many things, but dogs make him uncomfortable. Although the boy hides his fear from his older sister by saying that he does not like dogs, the arrival of Bandit, a pup belonging to Daniel's vacationing aunt, forces Daniel into hiding in his bedroom. The boy gets over his fear later that night when, during a loud thunder storm, he emerges from his room to comfort the nervous pup. Calling Not Afraid of Dogs an "appealing story [told] with simplicity and restraint," Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan predicted that Pitzer's story will encourage young readers who harbor similar fears of their own. Daniel's nervousness is "sensitively handled," a Kirkus Reviews writer concluded, adding

that "a dog's ability to win over the heart of a caring human" is captured in both Pitzer's text and Day's pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations.