Children’s Books

One Of A KinD

published by Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin 2018

Selected for the Children's Book Council Fall 2019 Express Yourself Showcase

Selected for the 38th annual Original Art show at the Society of Illustrators in NYC

Booklist Review:

Addressing the reader directly, an upper-elementary-aged child with soulful dark eyes and spiked hair declares, “I’m a kid who’s always been a little different.” The child discusses the clothes he wears, the music he likes, and the way he dances and styles his hair. Black-and-white visuals “created with cameras and computers” contrast with white text on a pink background or black text on yellow. The words have the appearance of torn strips of paper superimposed on the images and backgrounds. A dramatic two-page spread with the child in the middle, eyes closed and holding drumsticks, asks, “Could it be the way I hear the world?” Sounds of the city, emphasized by pink and yellow accents, surround him. The child is comfortable with himself, but also appreciates finding three more children who are a little different, too. Keeping with the musical theme, the kids form a band, and the image of their group performance is joyous. Bold, vibrant design showcases the child’s emotions in this picture book with a perennial message of self- acceptance.

— Lucinda Whitehurst

Indi Surfs

published by POW! Kids Books /Powerhouse Books 2016

The New York Times- Bookshelf: About a Girl Review:

With children these days surrounded on all sides by verbose, controlling parents, teachers and coaches, we rarely encounter the likes of Indi, a confident, blissed-out little surfer who appears to be no more than 7 or 8. With a junior-size board and a well-worn, charmingly saggy tankini, she anchors this unusual debut picture book by Gorman, who was the drummer of the alt-rock band Belly. “The beach is her playground,” Gorman writes, and Indi seems to be riding the waves on her own. (Let’s assume there’s a lifeguard; and imagine, if you must, her parents sitting nearby, confident that, as we learn, “when the surf is big, she is careful.”) She dives beneath breaking waves, waits patiently when the ocean is calm, and gets up each time she falls. The splattery, scratchy black-and-white art looks like digitally remastered photography with a touch of 1950s-style pen-and-ink illustration, rolling over the pages with a few areas of turquoise or rose washes. Gorman’s spare words, in a large, shadowy font, and the images of girl, surfboard and ocean feel united organically, as simultaneously exhilarating and meditative as surfing itself.

- Maria Russo