Highly informative and lushly illustrated. An unbeatable combination for
pleasure and learning. --**Children's Book Review Service
**The illustrations and the vocabulary will delight small eyes and ears.
--School Library Journal
Q&A - Ruth Heller - A Paperstar Profile Ruth Heller - Profile
***How did you become interested in writing books for children?
***I loved reading to my own children, and when they started school, I
became the P.T.A. library chairman. I was the one who got to pick and
choose and spend a nice fat budget for the elementary school library. I
feel as though I?ve been surrounded by children's books for years.I
suppose this and my strong art background are what prompted my trying to
write.
***What is the biggest influence in your style of writing, and how has
it changed since you first began?
***Hillaire Belloc, Gilbert and Sullivan, Edward Lear?I grew up reading
all of them. I love their rhythm, and I loved reading Dr. Seuss to my
children. No question, these were my influences.I think I?ve become
wordier, not quite as minimal and succinct as I used to be.
***What made you decide to write a series on the parts of speech?
***Take a peek at the back end paper of the hardcover edition of A Cache
of Jewels. You?ll see that I committed myself, in print, to writing a
book for each part of speech.Here I am, ten years later, thankfully
completing the very last book in this series. It will be published in
1998.
***Do you begin with the words or pictures when you are developing a
book? How does the second part come together?
***The first step is to decide what I am going to say on each page. Then
I can begin to visualize my illustrations. The words dictate what the
illustration will be, but that still gives me many options.Sometimes the
two come together easily, sometimes not. If not, I pursue new research
material until something clicks.
***Did you learn anything new about the parts of speech while writing
these books?
***I learned many things I had forgotten, and some new information and
rules that I had never known. I also learned that the textbooks that I
used for research were difficult to understand and somewhat boring, and
that I am guilty of frequent misuse of the English language.
***How do you choose the images in your book?
***An art teacher once told me to fall in love with whatever I was
drawing. So I choose images that I love: candy, ice cream, butterflies,
sea creatures, carousels, jewels, etc.
