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Overview
Virginia Lee Burton’s name may bring to mind a steam shovel and a man called Mike Mulligan, a charming little house, and a snowplow named Katy. Yet to speak only of Burton’s achievements as a picture book creator would be to paint only part of the canvas of her life. She was also a dancer, an illustrator for an early Boston newspaper, and a musician, designer, sculptor, and printmaker. Together with her husband George Demetrios, Virginia enjoyed a full life. They raised two sons, gardened and kept sheep, entertained friends, and taught art and design classes. Led by Burton, the design classes made up of local artists evolved into the Folly Cove Designers. A cooperative of sorts, this group created elaborately intricate designs of rural scenes and other natural elements, which they would carve into linoleum and print onto fabrics.
Simultaneously, Burton began her career in children’s book writing and illustration. The early success of her first books, Choo Choo, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and The Little House, as well as other books was an auspicious beginning for Burton, and the books have become classic and lasting examples of the fine art of children’s book creation.
Well-known children’s literature expert Barbara Elleman introduces the exuberant life, art, and books of Virginia Lee Burton, complemented by family photographs, illustrations, and other images of her inspiring work.
Examines the life, career, artistic style, and literary themes of the twentieth-century author and illustrator of such classic picture books as "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" and "The Little House."
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Virginia Lee Burton: A Life in Art by Barbara Elleman looks at the artist close up, from her early stints as a dancer and newspaper illustrator, to the founding of Folly Cove Designers (where she was a top producer of hand-crafted textiles), to her career as a writer and illustrator of books for children. Family photos, original sketches and reproductions of Burton's manuscripts (with text recorded by a manual typewriter) personalize the offering.Children's Literature
Although the name Virginia Lee Burton is not instantly recognizable, her illustrations from Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and The Little House are well known. This colorfully illustrated biography details Burton's evolution from a textile artist to parent, then illustrator, and finally author. Hidden among all the biographical details are real gems of wisdom for future writers and illustrators. For example, Burton believed that reading drafts of her books aloud to audiences of the intended age group yielded the most candid responses to the stories. In writing Mike Mulligan, she ran into a dilemma about how to get Mary Ann, the steam shovel, out of the town hall basement. A child hearing the story proposed leaving the steam shovel in the basement and building the wall around her. Clearly, Burton took the advice. Burton, a former textile designer, was aware of placement and movement in her illustrations and received a Caldecott award for The Little House. The theme of mutual respect and admiration that permeates Burton's work is reflected in Elleman's biography as well. 2002, Houghton Mifflin Company, Ages 12 up.— Ellie Elzerman