Rocket Boy
Preschool-3rd grade, 32 pages, David Godine Books, ISBN 978-1567925876
The inspiration behind the book:
Rocket Boy is the story of a child dreaming his way into maturity. His dream begins with childish drawings, but then he draws too well, and his rocket comes to life. He sees it fly out over the city and begins to worry, and a feeling of responsibility dawns on him. He draws a car, and chases his errant rocket down into an underworld of friendly animals and a lonely girl. They become friends and he draws pictures of the animals for her as gifts, and makes a portrait of her.
A light blinks on his car’s dashboard, a signal from his other life that it’s time to come home. He blasts off and lands back in his bed, where he wakes, rubs his eyes, and draws the memory of the girl on a new page.
Aphorisms
Limited edition illustrated woodcut book, The Bow and Arrow Press
The inspiration behind the book:
Aphorisms began as a project suggested to me by William Cole in 1991, then a Harvard University graduate student. Bill’s uncle was a well known print dealer, and Bill aspired to follow in his uncle’s footsteps and was looking for an artist to create an original book in the tradition of French illustrated books. During Bill’s years at Harvard, he had learned about the Bow and Arrow Press, and we utilized its great collection of Vandercook printing presses and old lead type to print 89 copies of this book.
Each month, for nine months, I produced one woodcut to match each of eight of Bill’s aphorisms, and one for a title page. These where loosely based on Albrecht Dürer’s and his compatriots’ woodcuts.