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On Being a Writer in Addition to an Illustrator
Margery, my wife, and I had been married three years when our son, Piet (rhymes with "neat") was born. That was a turning point in my
career in the field of children's books. The year was 1974. It was the year that I both wrote and illustrated my first book after illustrating quite a few. Piet arrived at about the same time I received a letter
from a little girl who wrote, "I like the books you illustrate, but are you really a duck?" That letter gave me the idea for doing a book for Piet about a disaster-prone duck, named Henry, who lives in
a bush. I wanted Piet to know that it was all right to have the name Quackenbush. The Henry Books became a popular series that include Henry's Important Date, in which Henry races against time to deliver a
birthday cake to his friend, Clara, only to find that he has delivered it on the wrong day. Henry launched me into writing and illustrating books on all kinds of subjects.
A number of my author/illustrated books were inspired by Piet as he was growing up. When he took his first steps, at age one, he set out to
prove he could fly as well and went crashing to the floor off a sofa. I thought it was time to tell him about the Wright Brothers so I wrote and illustrated my first humorous biography about famous people in
history, which led to twenty-three more over the years. They include one of my favorites, James Madison & Dolley Madison and Their Times. Piet helped me with that book to sort out the facts about the War of
1812 so that children would be able to understand them. He was in college by that time.
Piet continues to be an inspiration for new books. He recently graduated from Emory University, where he majored in history, and has joined the
working world. My latest books reflect on that theme of venturing from home and striving for independence. Batbaby, for one book, is about the adventures of a baby bat going on his first solo flight. Another
book, Daughter of Liberty, which has just been delivered to the printers for March publication, is about courage, patriotism, and determination - all necessary to become successful in an uncertain world.
In between stories about Piet, Margery has been the inspiration for other books including being the prototype for Miss Margery Mallard,
world-famous ducktective, in my beloved Miss Mallard Mysteries. My mother, children and adults in the workshops I offer at my studio, my editors, teachers, librarians, and children I have met on author visits
have all inspired books.
This is how I became a writer in addition to being an illustrator. For me, both involve the same process, which is observing other people and
their experiences. •
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About the Author:
Robert Quackenbush has illustrated 60 books and written and illustrated over 110 more, making a total over 170 books for young readers. He is a three-time winner of the American Flag Institute Award for outstanding contributions to children's literature and winner of an Edgar Allan Poe Special Award for best juvenile mystery. Last April, at the United Nations Headquarters, he received a Gradiva Award for Batbaby, voted best children's book of 1998 by the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP). His art is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum and the Smithsonian Institution. His visiting author tours to schools and libraries have taken him throughout the US (including Alaska), and to Europe, South America and the Middle East.
Born in California, he grew up in Arizona, and now lives in New York City in a high-rise apartment with his wife and son. His ground-floor studio is just two blocks away on East 78th Street in
Manhattan. There he does his books, teaches art to children, and offers summer workshops to adults in writing and illustrating children's books. The summer workshops, which meet annually the second week in July, have attracted members from as far away as Japan, Brazil, and Denmark.
To children and adults who strive to enter the field of children's literature he says, in the words of Winston Churchill, "Never give up! Never give up! No, never give up!"
Robert Quackenbush's most recent books include:
Daughter of Liberty (Disney/Hyperion, March 1999)
Two Miss Mallard Mysteries (Robert Quackenbush Studios, 1998)
Batbaby (Random House, 1997)
James Madison & Dolley Madison and Their Times (Pippin Press, 1994)
Henry's Important Date (Gareth Stevens, 1993)
You can visit Robert Quackenbush's website at: http://www.rquackenbush.com
To contact this author or illustrator, please use the information for his or her publisher provided on our list of CBC member publishers.
Meet the Author/Illustrator Archives
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