Monday, April 15, 2019

Mercer Mayer Essay Example for Free

Mercer Mayer EssayMercer Mayer was born in 1943, and has been writing and illustrating childrens books for almost forty years. As a child Mayor move all the country with his family, because his father was in the Navy. I view that this was an influential factor in determining his success. His pictures ar consumen without signifying any p ruseicular region, which helps children to create an excited attachment to the story. Mayors family settled down in Hawaii when he was a bakers dozen years old. He had attended the Honolulu Academy of the Arts for a year when he accomplished that he wanted to illustrate childrens books.He tells, I always liked to draw, and one day I decided I had nothing to lose, so I made a lot of sketches and began to deal them. Mayer did this against the advice of his professors who believed that he didnt have plenty talent to succeed at it. In 1964, he moved to New York in an attempt to find work as an illustrator. While He received art training fro m the Arts Students League. After beingness turned down countless times, he was presumptuousness advice from a harsh art director, insisting that he throw away his entire portfolio, because it was so terrible.As herculean as this was for Mayer to hear, he eventually took the mans advice. With an empty portfolio, Mayer began to draw things that he remembered from his childhood, and shortly after he was chosen to illustrate his first book. Mayers first solo book was published, in 1967, and it was well-received by critics. It was a wordless book called A Boy, a Dog, and His Frog, and it was the first in a serial publication of five. Mayer is given credit as being one of the creators of the wordless picture book.He continued for a succession as an illustrator only, and completed the illustrations for almost 80 books. It was later on when he felt comfortable enough to add his own text to the drawings. one aspect of his style of illustrating is that he always includes humorous object s in the background of his pictures. My favorite example of this is Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo. The petite Critter books have umteen characters that are present in the background of the story but never mentioned in the text (such as the frog, mouse, and the spider).Frogs real appear in numerous of his books, from his wordless series to the Little Critter books. The lines he uses to draw his nature scenes are usually nongeometric curves that convey a harmonious and lifelike feeling. His work has also been recognized for the detailed metric grain it displays. In Shibumi and the Kitemaker, his use of value to draw extravagant backgrounds and faces that practically glow allows the pictures to seem realistic and cardinal dimensional. In 1973, Mayer and his wife Marianne bought a farm in Connecticut.On the farm they were surrounded by many animals and nature, which significantly influenced his work. All of Mayers books feature some part of the outdoors and nature in them. His illustrations routinely feature large trees that are drawn in great detail. All of the characters in his Little Critter series are animals and the of import character lives outside the big city in a wooded area. Mayer began publishing with Golden Press after his first divorce, with Marianne, in 1978. With Golden Press he started the Little Critter and the Little Monster series.Children are able to create powerful links between themselves and his books because of all of the familiar incidents he writes about, like going to bed ( reasonable Go to Bed), overcoming your fears (There are Monsters Everywhere), or dealing with the frustration of constantly being told what to do and what not to do (When I Get Bigger and I Was So Mad). Mayer married his stand by wife, Jo, in 1979, and they had two children together. Mayer started working from his home in Bridgewater, Connecticut, surrounded by his two young children.This situation was most likely brought about another major theme in his works, family. Some particular titles in the Little Critter series where he has adventures with only one of his family members are skillful Me and My Dad, Just Grandma and Me, Just Me and My Mom, Just Grandpa and Me, The New Baby, and Just Me and My Cousin. In the other books, Critter usually relies on his family members to help him do things like bake a cake for his teacher (The Best Teacher Ever) or help doing his cognizance fair poster (Just a School Project).Mercer Mayers main characters are usually independent, strong willed, and a bit on the rebellious/wild side. His characters arent cowardly to take action and overcome obstacles in piece to do what they know is the right. In The Queen Who Loved to Dance, after the King made it smuggled to sing and dance, the Queen had to stop doing those things she enjoyed the most because even a queen must obey the law. In Shibumi and the kitemaker, Princess Shibumi knew that she must give up the comfortable life she led in the palace in order to help the poor people of her city.In Theres a Nightmare in My Closet, the main character is a male child who is absolutely terrified of what might be lurking behind the closet door. One night he decides that it is time to face his nemesis. In full armor and weapon in hand, the boy attacks his monster and makes the poor thing cry. Even though the boy is mad, he understands what it is like to be afraid and decides to let the monster sleep in his bed with him. Mayer received the National Book Festival creative person of the Year award in 2007. Contrary to what his professors thought, Mayers illustrations are very popular with all audiences.Mayer shortly lives in Roxbury, Connecticut with his third wife Gina, with whom he co-writes many of the popular Little Critter books. He continues to draw inspiration from his grandchildren, who as he says, Always remind me what it was like. I am a big lover of Mercer Mayers writing and illustrations. However, the di splay of gender stereotyping is definitely an unfortunate part of the content in many of Mayers picture books. In Mayers Little Critter series the mom is almost always shown in the kitchen, doing laundry, or cleaning the house, whereas his dad is rarely depicted in the house.My favorite book of Mayers is Just a Mess, because my room is always a disaster. I remember one particular occasion when I was frantically searching for my softball cleats before a Little League game and couldnt find them anywhere. I have always struggled with what goes along with growing up like being great and organized, sleeping without the closet light on, going to bed at a decent hour, not juggling eggs, and other un-fun stuff. My favorite quote of Mayers is Its real fun to be an old kid.

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