Tryon, Leslie

Personal

Daughter of Dorothy; married. Hobbies and other interests: Theater, dance.

Addresses

Home—Carmel Valley, CA.

Career

Author and illustrator. Former professional dancer. Los Angeles Times Book Review, illustrator; Air Force Art Program, creator of documentary art in Southeast Asia. Choreographed musicals and worked on a cruise ship.

Member

Society of Illustrators (president of Los Angeles chapter).

Awards, Honors

Ezra Jack Keats scholarship, Kerlan Collection; Notable Book selection, American Library Association, 1991, for Albert's Alphabet.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Albert's Alphabet, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Albert's Play, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1992.

One Gaping Wide-mouthed Hopping Frog, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Albert's Field Trip, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Albert's Thanksgiving, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Albert's Ballgame, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Albert's Christmas, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Albert's Halloween: The Case of the Stolen Pumpkins, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Albert's Birthday, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Patsy Says, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 2001.

ILLUSTRATOR

Jan Gleiter and Kathleen Thompson, Daniel Boone, Raintree Children's Books (Milwaukee, WI), 1985.

Mary Elise Monsell, Toohy and Wood, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Alma Flor Ada, Dear Peter Rabbit, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Alma Flor Ada, Yours Truly, Goldilocks, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Alma Flor Ada, With Love, Little Red Hen, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Debbi Chocolate, Pigs Can Fly!: The Adventures of Harriet Pig and Friends, Cricket Books (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Alma Flor Ada, Extra! Extra!: Fairy-tale News from Hidden Forest, Atheneum Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Sidelights

A longtime artist, Leslie Tryon has provided illustrations for children's books by such authors as Alma Flor Ada and Debbi Chocolate. In addition, she has also written a series of self-illustrated children's books featuring a duck named Albert. Her "Albert" books are geared toward preschoolers and children up to second grade, and each volume in the series tackles a simple but realistic situation in Albert's life. In Albert's Alphabet, Albert, who is also the school carpenter for the Pleasant Valley school district, builds a walking path marked with all the letters of the alphabet. In Albert's Play, the duck directs the annual school play, offering readers a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting up even a small stage production. In Albert's Field Trip, the duck drives a group of school children to their field trip at the apple orchard. Tryon uses this adventure to create "astute caricatures of [the animals'] … human counterparts" wrote a critic in Kirkus Reviews.

Other "Albert" adventures include Albert's Ballgame, Albert's Christmas, Albert's Halloween: The Case of the Stolen Pumpkins, and Albert's Birthday. Each of these works has been praised by critics for its bright, colorful illustrations and rhyming text, and suggested as recommended reading for both children and parents. In particular, Booklist contributor Shelle Rosenfeld and Gilbert Taylor praised Albert's Birthday as a "delightful multipurpose book" that focuses on fun as well as learning.

Tryon is also the author and illustrator of One Gaping Wide-mouthed Hopping Frog, an illustrated adventure set to an eighteenth-century rhyme. The simple story line, wherein a frog delivers mail to his small community of animals, is accompanied by lots of opportunities to "search out, identify, and count" in illustrations that have a "wit and charm" that are endearing, noted a Kirkus Reviews critic.

Additionally, Tryon has illustrated several books written by Ada, who casts familiar fairy-tale characters in such titles as Dear Peter Rabbit and Yours Truly, Goldilocks. Set in the Hidden Forest, these books feature a series of letters describing the adventures of the woodland's residents, especially their troubles with Wolfy Lupus and Fer O'Cious, a pair of ravenous cousins. Reviewing Dear Peter Rabbit, a Publishers Weekly critic described the illustrations as "delicately colored" and "lovingly detailed."

In With Love, Little Red Hen, another book by Ada, the title character moves into the Hidden Forest with her chicks, and with the help of her neighbors, including Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Pigs, she raises a bountiful harvest. "Tryon's detailed illustrations fit the letters perfectly," noted a contributor in Kirkus Reviews, and Bina Williams, writing in School Library Journal, commented that the pictures "depict a bucolic paradise with neighbors who look out for one another." A series of newspaper articles chronicle the latest happenings of the residents in Ada's Extra! Extra!: Fairy-tale News from Hidden Forest. Each edition of the Hidden Forest News covers the major local stories, including the sudden appearance of a large beanstalk, an Italian toymaker's search for his son, and a showdown between the Tortoise and the Hare. "Tryon's busy full-color illustrations will keep readers' attention as they search for hidden details," a Kirkus Reviews critic observed of the book.

Pigs Can Fly!: The Adventures of Harriet Pig and Friends, an early reader by Chocolate that features Tryon's art, contains four tales about a spirited potbellied pig. In one story, Harriet helps Penny Porcupine conquer her fear of heights, and in another she challenges Lucy Goosey to a swimming race. "Tryon brings the whole cast of likable characters to life with warm, expressive, black-and-white illustrations," Lauren Peterson stated in Booklist, and Lynn K. Vanca, writing in School Library Journal, commented that the pictures "enhance the humor of the text."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 1994, Ilene Cooper, review of Dear Peter Rabbit, p. 1606; May 1, 1996, Carolyn Phelan, review of Albert's Ballgame, p. 1513; May 1, 1998, Ilene Cooper, review of Yours Truly, Goldilocks, p. 1520; October 1, 1999, Shelle Rosenfeld and Gilbert Taylor, review of Albert's Birthday, p. 364; September 15, 2001, Lauren Peterson, review of With Love, Little Red Hen, p. 229; May 1, 2004, Lauren Peterson, review of Pigs Can Fly!: The Adventures of Harriet Pig and Friends, p. 1561.

California Kids!, September, 2002, Patricia M. Newman, "Who Wrote That? Featuring Leslie Tryon."

Five Owls, May-June, 1992, review of Albert's Play, p. 69.

Horn Book, January-February, 2002, Kitty Flynn, review of With Love, Little Red Hen, p. 65; September-October, 2007, Kitty Flynn, review of Extra! Extra!: Fairy-tale News from Hidden Forest, p. 555.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 1993, review of One, Gaping Wide-mouthed Hopping Frog, p. 155; September 1, 1993, review of Albert's Field Trip, p. 1153; October 15, 1994, review of Albert's Thanksgiving, p. 1422; October 1, 2001, review of With Love, Little Red Hen, p. 1418; March 1, 2004, review of Pigs Can Fly!, p. 219; June 15, 2007, review of Extra! Extra!

Publishers Weekly, July 5, 1991, "Flying Starts," p. 38; February 21, 1994, review of Dear Peter Rabbit, p. 253; September 19, 1994, review of Albert's Thanksgiving, p. 27; April 22, 1996, review of Albert's Ballgame, p. 71; September 3, 2001, review of With Love, Little Red Hen, p. 89.

School Library Journal, July, 1991, Anna Biagioni Hart, review of Albert's Alphabet, p. 65; March, 1996, Liza Bliss, review of Albert's Ballgame, p. 183; September, 1998, Olga R. Barnes, review of Albert's Halloween: The Case of the Stolen Pumpkins, p. 184; October, 2001, Bina Williams, review of With Love, Little Red Hen, p. 104; May, 2004, Lynn K. Vanca, review of Pigs Can Fly!, p. 108; August, 2007, Julie Roach, review of Extra! Extra!, p. 76.