Lyrical

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Prelutsky, Jack. Scranimals. Illustrated by Peter Sís. Greenwillow Books, 2002.

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Jack Prelutsky (left) and Peter Sís (right) on a book tour.

By Peter Sís

I was introduced to Jack Prelutsky in the 1980s, during the time he was an American best-selling giant. At that time, I was a struggling illustrator. So of course, I did not know what to say.

I had illustrated a number of books of poetry before working with Jack both in Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic, and in the United States. After art school, I did some books for adults and some for youth. These were usually very “poetic,” gentle, and emotional. I was chosen to illustrate poetry because of my style. The process was to be gentle….to be a compliment to the poetry.

Poetry is difficult to illustrate and for most of the publishers not easy to sell. I started my American illustration career in 1982/1983 when most of the illustrations were small, black & white, using pen and ink. Sometimes, I had to do the color separations myself. The change which came with printing moving to Asia was incredible. Books of large size and all the colors in the world-since the printing moved to China. Big, colorful books became the norm.

Jack first approached editor Susan Hirschman, founder of Greenwillow Press, as an illustrator. However, she noticed his poetic writing under the pictures and realized she found a “genius.” As an artist, Jack had a great understanding of what he wanted from the illustrator. I did my best and my sketches got approved by Greenwillow and Jack. So, I got a chance to do a big concept book with him – The Dragons Are Singing Tonight. It was a big break for me for sure.

The Dragons Are Singing Tonight got a lot of reviews. It was on the front page of Publisher’s Weekly. This was all fun, especially when I went on the book tour with him: travelling with a big star with lines around the block and staying in the bookstores till 3 a.m. to sign all the zillions of his books. Jack was something else. He was always witty, funny, clever and playful: very popular.

These were giant tours. There were kids of all ages and families of two and three generations who loved him. Many teachers came to the book events. I remember when Jack would look at the teachers standing in line forever and said” Peter, if you had a teacher like this-wouldn’t you still want to be at school now?”- that was sweet of him because I never had a chance to go to school in US.

Jack is extremely smart. So, for each dedication in The Dragons Are Singing Tonight he would invent a special “dragon’s chant” based on the name of the person he was making a dedication for. It was quite spectacular because Jack also claimed he never repeats himself. This was hard to tell, for me, because we were signing hundreds or thousands of books, surrounded by adoring children of all ages. Moments of Jack playing his guitar made me feel like “Woodstock Music Festival must have been something like this.” His guitar playing and singing were spirited.

Jack was very close to all the book sellers we met around the country. That was another amazing experience for me. Jack knew everybody - what they like and what pains them, including knee or eye surgery. He would always look around each bookstore, finding books and objects he then asked to be shipped to him. That was especially true with the antiquarian books. When we walked around various downtowns and small towns, he would always go to the antique-used bookstores and find true treasures. He was curious about books, would talk about them, and remembered the poems from many different times and places.

We created three more books together and went on more book tours as well. It was a splendid period, especially the lessons of travelling with an American poet Big Star. There were a number of famous illustrators after me. I was proud to be associated with his other illustrators: Garth Williams, James Stevenson, Arnold Lobel, and Paul Zelinski.

I miss it. It was fun. To draw it. To see it printed. Then, to hear it directly from Jack in all the bookstores of America. I think all the kids of America love his witty and subversive poems.