Peter Sis: Biography and Book Recommendations

Biography:

"Because I have been in this country for only ten years, I see things much like a ten year old child," said Peter Sis, award winning children's illustrator, filmmaker and author in 1992. Sis grew up in Czechoslovakia and Prague, which he has described as "a little bit scary." "I grew up on a block of grey houses, with sad people, all with ashen faces, and red flags supplying the only colour," he says, explaining why he is so drawn to the use of bright colors in much of his work.

Sis studied filmmaking and painting in Prague and London. He was sent to the United States in 1982 by the Czech government in order to film the 1984 Olympics, and stayed. Here he began to focus more on his illustration work but he still views all of his artistic creations as somehow joined, saying "all my books are sort of films." One of his first jobs in America was animating a song for Bob Dylan for MTV.

He lives in New York City with his wife Ten-y Lajtha, a documentary-film editor, and their children. Sis credits the birth of his daughter Madeline for causing an important shift in his career. He switched from oil paints to watercolors out of fear that the oil paints would be harmful to his daughter. He now dries his watercolors by the oven as he makes dinner at 6 pm sharp every night. His children inspire many of his illustrations and storylines for his books.

Peter's book Starry Messenger -- Galileo Galilei was a 1997 Caldecott Honor Book, and has been published in English, French, German, Czech, Portuguese, and Greek, with Japanese, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Korean, and Norwegian editions on the way. He has published nearly 1,000 drawings in The New York Times Book Review. For more information on his accomplishements, please see this article in the Iowa Review: http://www.iowaalive.com/features/fea083.htm

Other Sites of Interest about Peter Sis:

Mystery Man: Sis is interviewed by two teenagers from Zuzu magazine
http://www.zuzu.org/sisinterview.html

Peter Sis's acceptance speech for the Boston GlobeHorn Book Award Special Citation
http://www.hbook.com/bghb_special.shtml

Peter Sis discusses his Studio in Horn Book Magazine
http://www.hbook.com/studio_sis.shtml

Sis talks about getting letters from children in Iowa Live
http://www.iowaalive.com/features/fea083.htm

Peter Sis has Illustrated eggs
http://www.valley.net/~openfields/images/eggs/sis.html

Parents' Choice Recommended books by Peter Sis:

Bean Boy (1984 Parents' Choice Silver Honor)
Written By George Shannon, Illustrated by Peter Sis [This title is currently out of print. Please check your local library or an out of
print book dealer to locate a copy.]

The Whipping Boy (1986 Parents' Choice Silver Honor)
Written By Sid Fleischman, Illustrated by Peter Sis

The Midnight Horse (1990 Parents' Choice Gold Award)
Written By Sid Fleischman, Illustrated by Peter Sis

An Ocean World (1992 Parents' Choice Gold Award).
Written and Illustrated By Peter Sis.
A prologue in the form of a postcard describes a baby whale living at Ocean World in Florida. She has never seen another whale. We watch her grow until she is lowered by crane into her natural habitat. Thus begins a journey told and illustrated only in vivid watercolors.