Savage, Stephen 1965-

Personal

Born February 14, 1965.

Addresses

E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Author and illustrator of children's books.

Illustrator

Lauren Thompson, Polar Bear Night, Scholastic Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Sidelights

Stephen Savage is an illustrator and graphic artist. Lauren Thompson's Polar Bear Night, a bedtime story, is the first picture book to benefit from Savage's distinctive graphic art. The story follows a polar bear cub as she ventures out from her warm den on a winter's night, driven by the feeling that something special is about to happen. The bear cub passes other drowsy Arctic animals as she forges on, ultimately climbing to the top of a snowdrift in time to witness a shower of falling stars. In Publishers Weekly a critic described Savage's linocut images for Polar Bear Night as "striking compositions" in which "the darkness is quietly beautiful." A Kirkus Reviews critic also viewed Savage's work favorably, writing that the book "sparkles just like ice crystals on a moonlit night." In her New York Times Book Review appraisal of Polar Bear Night, Janet Zarem wrote: "Perhaps the biggest challenge for a bedtime story is to teach children that darkness can be a friend," and Polar Bear Night "meets that challenge…. The stylized simplicity of Savage's illustrations reflects both the solace of night and the fellowship of nature."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2004, Jennifer Mattson, review of Polar Bear Night, p. 585.

Horn Book, November-December, 2004, Lauren Adams, review of Polar Bear Night, p. 703.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2004, review of Polar Bear Night, p. 1014.

New York Times Book Review, November 14, 2004, Janet Zarem, "A Bear Cub's Arctic Lullaby," p. 30.

Publishers Weekly, November 22, 2004, review of Polar Bear Night, p. 59.

School Library Journal, November, 2004, Jane Marino, review of Polar Bear Night, p. 118.

ONLINE

Stephen Savage Home Page,http://www.stephensavage.net/ (October 29, 2008).