Product Description

Come play with William Joyce! Go on a treasure hunt. Decorate Easter eggs. Design Halloween costumes. Invent the un-invented. This scrapbook is your invitation to come play with the world’s number-one advocate of global silliness. This is not a coffee-table tribute—if you tried to put it on a table, it would leap off, scratch its binding, and do the hokey-pokey. It’s an opportunity for kids and kids-at-heart to find out what being an artist and writer is all about and take a sneak peek at the dreams and doodles of one of the industry’s leading talents. Did you know that at Christmas, William Joyce decorates his living room with not one Christmas tree, but a dozen? That his very first picture book at the age of nine landed him in the principal’s office for the afternoon?
Packed with a year’s worth of holiday photographs, rib-tickling anecdotes, early sketches, snippets of future projects, and more, The World of William Joyce Scrapbook is your chance to take a leisurely ramble through an elegantly mischievous landscape, where adventure is de rigueur, and everything turns out A-OK.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #774434 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-30
• Released on: 1997-10-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 48 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 2 Up?This eclectic autobiography is aptly dubbed a scrapbook. Joyce offers tidbits of information about his childhood, his working life, and his family. He also provides brief summaries of and background information about his picture books, including glimpses of four works in progress. His holiday celebrations seem as surreal as many of the characters and settings he has created. The photo montages that accompany the hand-lettered text include family snapshots, sketches, childhood drawings, magazine covers, and views of Joyce's home. With so many images per page, the work will provide plenty to interest the artist's many fans, who definitely will want to peruse the book. Those unfamiliar with his picture books should probably read a few first to avoid becoming more confused than amused.?Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MN
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 4^-7. Fans of Joyce's works (Dinosaur Bob [1995], Santa Calls [1993]) are the natural audience for this book, but it is so cleverly designed, so full of interesting tidbits and artistic insights that it will appeal to a wide range of young people. Done in a scrapbook format, the design incorporates a pastiche of handwritten recollections of Joyce's childhood, first drafts of drawings, finished artwork, and photos that include everything from Joyce as a baby to a picture of Joyce's daughter hiding among his creations, the leaf men. The book will be of particular interest to budding artists, who will be fascinated by seeing Joyce's work as it progresses through various stages; everyone will delight in the stylish finished product. Ilene Cooper

About the Author
William Joyce is the author and illustrator of many best-selling and award-winning picture books, including Rolie Polie Olie, Snowie Rolie, Dinosaur Bob, Santa Calls, and George Shrinks. He is also the creator of the Emmy Award-winning series Rolie Polie Olie on the Disney Channel. William Joyce lives in Shreveport, Louisiana, with his lovely wife, Elizabeth, and their children, Jack and Mary Katherine. They also have a dachshund named Rose.

Customer Reviews

Whimsically Beautiful
This self-portrait of William Joyce comes across so whimsical and fantastical, children will want to read it again and again. It's especially inspiring for children with creative spirits or ones with large imaginations. Joyce's sweet innoncence delicately provides a fun-loving world any child or adult would enjoy. The illustrations and text make me want to transform my home into the same wonderful playland Joyce's children enjoy. He explains his day and how he's inspired to illustrate and write. Any question a little one could possibly ask, he answers in this book. He also gives insight to what he was feeling on certain books he wrote too. I especially enjoyed hearing about what emotions and things in his life inspired what books.

wonderful, delightful
This book is wonderful and delightful, in the literal senses of those words. Every page is filled to capacity with things that will amaze and fascinate: an abundance of previously unpublished illustrations by Joyce, details of the creation of his books, and photographs of his astonishingly elaborate holiday celebrations (that will make you want nothing in the world more than to be his friend and neighbor). My only complaint is about the book's brevity--I would have liked a hundred more pages of this. That, however, is an adult's complaint; a young reader will probably find the book to be just the right length.

Warm and personal
Readers will find this a pleasant excursion into the thought process and creative impulses that go into Joyce's imaginative art. Joyce describes how the people and objects from his childhood and adult life can find their way into pictures, and what sort of transformation they undergo as they become part of a story. I really enjoyed the photos and illustrations, and it was very interesting to get a peek into the way this artist works. I recommend this high-quality, beautifully illustrated book for both kids and adults who enjoy the work of William Joyce, and also for those who are interested in reading about art, the making of children's books, and biographies about artists.