Poydar, Nancy

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Poydar, Nancy

Personal

Born in MA. Education: Tufts University, B.A., 1964; studied art at DeCordova Museum and Boston Museum School.

Addresses

Home and office—MA.

Career

Author and illustrator. Taught sixth grade for fourteen years in Concord, MA.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Busy Bea, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Cool Ali, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Snip, Snip … Snow!, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1997.

First Day, Hooray!, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1999.

Mailbox Magic, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2000.

The Perfectly Horrible Halloween, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2001.

Bunny Business, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2003.

Rhyme Time Valentine, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2003.

Brave Santa, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2004.

Last Day, Hooray!, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2004.

The Biggest Test in the Universe, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2005.

The Bad-News Report Card, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2006.

Zip, Zip—Homework!, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2008.

ILLUSTRATOR

Nancy Simon, American Indian Habitats: How to Make Dwellings and Shelters with Natural Materials, McKay (New York, NY), 1978.

Evelyn Wolfson, American Indian Tools and Ornaments: How to Make Implements and Jewelry with Bone and Shell, McKay (New York, NY), 1981.

Becky Thoman Lindberg, Speak Up, Chelsea Martin!, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1991.

Dorothy Corey, Will There Be a Lap for Me?, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1992.

Mary Serfozo, Dirty Kurt, McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Ann M. Martin, Rachel Parker, Kindergarten Show-Off, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1992.

Jackie Carter, Knock, Knock!, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Becky Thoman Lindberg, Chelsea Martin Turns Green, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1993.

Christine Loomis, At the Laundromat, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Christine Loomis, At the Library, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Christine Loomis, In the Diner, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Jane Stephens, Katie's Too-Big Coat, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1993.

Patricia Wittmann, Scrabble Creek, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1993.

Christine Loomis, At the Mall, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1994.

Donna Jo Napoli, When the Water Closes over My Head, Dutton Children's Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Kirby Larson, Second Grade Pig Pals, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1994.

Becky Thoman Lindberg, Thomas Tuttle Just in Time, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1994.

Corinne Demas, The Shortest Kid in the World, Random House (New York, NY), 1994.

Gina Willner-Pardo, When Jane-Marie Told My Secret, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Angela Shelf Medearis, The Adventures of Sugar and Junior, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1995.

Linda Glaser, Rosie's Birthday Rat, Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Kirby Larson, Cody and Quinn, Sitting in a Tree, Holiday House (New York, NY), 1996.

William H. Hooks, The Mystery of the Missing Tooth, Gareth Stevens (Milwaukee, WI), 1998.

Corinne Demas, Snow Day, Random House (New York, NY), 1998.

ILLUSTRATOR; "BEEZY" SERIES

Megan McDonald, Beezy, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Megan McDonald, Beezy at Bat, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Megan McDonald, Beezy Magic, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Megan McDonald, Beezy and Funnybone, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Sidelights

A former sixth-grade teacher, Nancy Poydar has turned her artistic talents into a full-time career as an author and illustrator. Accordingly, many of her titles, including The Biggest Test in the Universe and The Bad-News Report Card, feature school settings. "I'm intrigued with the drama of the classroom, especially the stories swirling just below the surface," the author remarked on her home page. In addition to her self-illustrated titles, Poydar has provided the artwork for books by such highly regarded authors as Ann M. Martin, Donna Jo Napoli, and Megan McDonald.

While teaching in Concord, Massachusetts, Poydar began dabbling in the field of children's literature, illustrating a series of books about Native Americans. She later studied art at the DeCordova Museum and decided to leave teaching as demand for her work increased. Her first self-illustrated effort, Busy Bea, appeared in 1994. Poydar's "soft and sunny watercolor illustrations charmingly capture the zest" of the title character, noted Booklist contributor Annie Ayres. In Cool Ali, a youngster uses colored chalk and a creative mind to bring relief to her neighbors on a hot summer day. "Ali's drawings are appropriately childlike," Maeve Visser Knoth commented in Horn Book, and Ilene Cooper, writing in Booklist, remarked that Cool Ali "is original, capturing both the doldrums of summer and the fun of imagination."

Poydar examines a universal experience—preparing for the first day of school—in First Day, Hooray! The humorous work concerns Ivy Green, a youngster who frets about forgetting her lunch, and it also depicts the anxieties of Ivy's principal, her teacher, and even her bus driver. "With buoyant, colorful illustrations and rhythmic, cheerful prose," wrote Booklist reviewer Tim Arnold, "Poydar allays those first-day jitters." In a companion volume, Last Day, Hooray!, a group of students and teachers tidy their classrooms while dreaming of summer vacation. Poydar's gouache paintings "bustle with activity and typify the details of a school environment," Melinda Piehler remarked in School Library Journal.

Poydar has enjoyed a successful collaboration with McDonald on the author's series of early chapter books about Beezy, an adventurous, pig-tailed youngster. In a review of Beezy, a Publishers Weekly critic stated that "Poydar's cheerful, brightly hued pictures imbue Beezy and her companions with an extra measure of personality." The "gouache illustrations match the warm and friendly tone of the stories," wrote Maura Bresnahan in a School Library Journal review of Beezy and Funnybone.

Poydar has also written and illustrated a number of books celebrating the holidays. In The Perfectly Horrible Halloween, Arnold sees his dream of winning the scariest costume award slip away after he leaves his pirate suit on the school bus. The dejected boy hides

away under a paint-splattered drop cloth, an action that leads to a pleasant surprise. Poydar "captures the chaotic fun of dressing up," observed Hazel Rochman in Booklist. When a blustery wind grabs hold of Ruby's lyrical, handmade valentines, she finds another way to treat her friends in Rhyme Time Valentine. "The text rollicks along, blending onomatopoeic prose … with Ruby's unadorned rhymes," wrote a Publishers Weekly critic, and a Kirkus Reviews contributor stated that "Poydar's brilliantly hued illustrations perfectly match the jaunty tenor of the tale."

Sam and his classmates grow uneasy at the prospect of Mr. Albright's end-of-the-year exam, which is rumored to be as thick as the telephone book, in Poydar's The Biggest Test in the Universe. The author/illustrator "works her magic here, playfully kindling a little blaze under Sam's apprehension," remarked a critic in Kirkus Reviews. According to School Library Journal contributor Judith Constantinides, the work "is fun and cheerful, as well as unique in its subject." In The Bad-News Report Card, Isabel Bloom grows increasingly worried about the marks she received and "accidentally" loses her evaluation on the school bus. Isabel's "concerns will strike a chord" with young readers, Carolyn Phelan stated in Booklist, and Susan Weitz, writing in School

Library Journal, remarked that "Poydar weaves an entertaining, suspenseful, and ultimately affecting tale."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 1994, Hazel Rochman, review of In the Diner, p. 1537; November 1, 1994, Annie Ayres, review of Busy Bea, p. 508; November 15, 1994, Denia Hester, review of Thomas Tuttle, Just in Time, p. 602; October 15, 1995, Julie Corsaro, review of The Adventures of Sugar and Junior, p. 404; April 1, 1996, Kay Weisman, review of Cody and Quinn, Sitting in a Tree, p. 1366; August, 1996, Ilene Cooper, review of Cool Ali, p. 1908; September 15, 1997, Sephanie Zvirin, review of Beezy, p. 235; November 1, 1997, Ilene Cooper, review of Snip, Snip … Snow!, p. 484; July, 1998, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Breezy Magic, p. 1891; November 1, 1998, Hazel Rochman, review of Buzy at Bat, p. 508; March 15, 1999, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Snow Day, p. 1336; October 15, 1999, Tim Arnold, review of First Day, Hooray!, p. 456; June 1, 2000, Ilene Cooper, review of Mailbox Magic, p. 1911; July, 2000, Carolyn Phelan, review of Beezy and Funnybone, p. 2045; September 1, 2001, Hazel Rochman, review of The Perfectly Horrible Halloween, p. 121; April 15, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Last Day, Hooray!, p. 1447; September 1, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Bad-News Report Card, p. 139.

Horn Book, September-October, 1996, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of Cool Ali, p. 578.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2002, review of Rhyme Time Valentine, p. 1041; March 1, 2003, review of Bunny Business, p. 395; January 15, 2004, review of Last Day, Hooray!, p. 87; November 1, 2004, review of Brave Santa, p. 1053; August 1, 2005, review of The Biggest Test in the Universe, p. 857; July 15, 2006, review of The Bad-News Report Card, p. 728.

Publishers Weekly, June 24, 1996, review of Cool Ali, p. 59; September 29, 1997, review of Beezy, p. 89; September 24, 2001, review of The Perfectly Horrible Halloween, p. 43; December 2, 2002, review of Rhyme Time Valentine, p. 52.

School Library Journal, December, 1995, Judith Gloyer, review of The Adventures of Sugar and Junior, p. 88; September, 2000, Maura Bresnahan, review of Beezy and Funnybone, p. 204; September, 2000, Sally R. Dow, review of Mailbox Magic, p. 207; September, 2001, Melinda Piehler, review of The Perfectly Horrible Halloween, p. 203; November, 2002, Kristin de Lacoste, review of Rhyme Time Valentine, p. 134; April, 2003, Janet M. Bair, review of Bunny Business, p. 136; April, 2004, Melinda Piehler, review of Last Day, Hooray!, p. 120; September, 2005, Judith Constantinides, review of The Biggest Test in the Universe, p. 184; September, 2006, Susan Weitz, review of The Bad-News Report Card, p. 182.

Teaching PreK-8, January, 2004, Katherine Romano, "The Full-Time Dream of Nancy Poydar."