From: LSMant at aol.com <LSMant>
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 1996 00:35:57 -0400

I just came from a visit to my local children's bookstore where Jerry Pinkney gave a short presentation and read Sam aloud to us. His wife, Gloria, was also there and held up the pictures for all of us to enjoy. I first met Jerry several years ago when he appeared at the children's bookstore I was then managing. If anything, Jerry's enthusiasm and love for his work has increased. He's clearly very proud of Sam. I commented about his use of white space - something rather different from much of his other work. He said that his next book will also use white space, though not as much as in Sam. Before he began reading, he pointed out to the audience that this is a work of fantasy. I especially loved the pictures of the tigers. He said that he looked through many, many photographs of tigers before he found ones which showed the movement of the tigers in the way that he was imagining. He then drew "bits and peices" of the tigers and kept "moving the parts around" until he achieved that great sense of motion. Personally, after looking at the original version of the story (of which I found one copy) I can't imagine why anyone would buy the original when one can buy Sam. I am anxious to share it at my K-5 school.

Laura Manthey San Jose, CA lsmant at aol.com
Received on Fri 25 Oct 1996 11:35:57 PM CDT