Petach, Heidi

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PETACH, Heidi

Personal

Surname pronounced "Pea-tack"; born April 12, in St. Charles, IL; daughter of William Ray (a minister and clerical worker) and Gracelyn "Billie" (a piano teacher; maiden name, Polstra) Augsburger; married Jay Vance Petach (an audio engineer), August 2, 1980; children: Jeff. Education: Indiana University, B.Mus. (with high distinction), 1972, M.Mus. (with highest distinction), 1975; Cincinnati Academy of Design, two-year certificate, 1982. Religion: Presbyterian.

Addresses

Home— 8943 Renetta Ct., Cincinnati, OH, 45251. E-mail— [email protected].

Career

Fiber artist; former author and illustrator; former concert pianist. Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati, OH, worked in public relations. Exhibitions: Cool Jazz Cats was selected for the Crochet Guild of America's "Rhythm of Crochet" traveling exhibit, 2003-04.

Member

Southwest Ohio Crochet Guild.

Awards, Honors

People's Choice Award for Best-in-Show, Crochet Guild of America's Chain Link Conference, 2002, for Fantasy Fish wall hanging.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Jonah: The Inside Story, Standard Publishing (Cincinnati, OH), 1989.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: A Counting Rhyme, Western Publishing (Racine, WI), 1994.

Daniel and the Lions, Standard Publishing (Cincinnati, OH), 1995.

Goldilocks and the Three Hares, Putnam & Grosset (New York, NY), 1995.

Wee Three Pigs, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 2002.

Also the author of two fiber arts design booklets, Hooked on Fish and Purr-sonality Cats.

ILLUSTRATOR

Wanda Hayes, A Child's First Book of Bible Stories, Standard Publishing (Cincinnati, OH), 1983.

Erma Reynolds, 101 Bible Action Games for Children of All Ages, Standard Publishing (Cincinnati, OH), 1986.

Darlene Freeman, I Can Jump, Checkerboard Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Lisa Meltzer, reteller, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Checkerboard Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Debby Slier, reteller, The Brementown Musicians, Checkerboard Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Joanne Barkan, Water, Water Everywhere, Silver Press (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1990.

Joanne Barkan, Air, Air All Around, Silver Press (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1990.

Joanne Barkan, Fire, Fire Burning Bright, Silver Press (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1990.

Joanne Barkan, Rocks, Rocks Big and Small, Silver Press (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1990.

Annie Ingle, Rainbow Babies, Random House (New York, NY), 1992.

Annie Ingle, The Monster That Glowed in the Dark, Random House (New York, NY), 1993.

Diane Molleson and Sarah Savage, Easy Science Experiments, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Katharine Ross, The Little Ballerina, Random House (New York, NY), 1994.

Portia Aborio, Pig Out!, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 1997.

Bea Sloboder, The Mermaids' Ball, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 1998.

Jennifer Dussling, Pink Snow and Other Weird Weather, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 1998.

Natasha Wing, The Night Before Valentine's Day, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 2000.

Also the illustrator of other books for children.

Sidelights

Artist Heidi Petach has provided drawings for numerous picture books since her first illustrating job, A Child's First Book of Bible Stories, in 1983. But drawing is not Petach's only artistic skill: before turning to illustration, she was a highly accomplished concert pianist. Petach quit playing shortly after a disastrous (through no fault of her own) recital in the small town of Lithopolis, Ohio, in the late 1970s, and Lithopolis also played a role in Petach's later decision to give up illustrating. Both times, before going to Lithopolis, Petach had already started to become dissatisfied with her career. "I was feeling seriously dog-eared, in a burned-out sense," Petach told Cincinnati Post interviewer David Wecker, referring to the sixteen-hour days that resulted from her high popularity as an illustrator. So when she was asked to speak at the Young Authors Conference there and realized as soon as she walked into the room that it was the same place where she had fought with an untuned, falling-apart piano twenty years earlier, it seemed to be a sign to again pursue a new occupation.

During her time working on children's books, Petach created two self-illustrated fractured fairy tales, Wee Three Pigs and Goldilocks and the Three Hares. The former, a Christmas story, features pigs named Comet, Cupid, and Rudolph acting out the traditional story of the three pigs, with Santa Claws in the role of the Big Bad Wolf. Their building materials have been updated—Comet uses old computer boxes, and Cupid candy canes—and the book is filled with puns, such as "the three little pigs had a great time 'bacon' Christmas cookies." Such puns also feature prominently in Goldilocks and the Three Hares. As a reviewer wrote in Publishers Weekly, "Petach wastes no opportunities for silly scenarios, and her wordplay is of the no-holdsbarred variety."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Petach, Heidi, Wee Three Pigs, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH), February 13, 2001, Sara Pearce, review of The Night Before Valentine's Day, p. C03.

Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH), March 17, 2001, David Wecker, interview with Petach, p. 1C.

Publishers Weekly, November 13, 1995, review of Goldilocks and the Three Hares, p. 60.

School Library Journal, July, 1990, Gloria Amann, review of Air, Air All Around, Water, Water Everywhere, Fire, Fire Burning Bright, and Rocks, Rocks Big and Small, p. 67; May, 1991, Lauralyn Persson, review of The Chicken Pox Party, p. 86; April, 1996, Blair Christolon, review of Goldilocks and the Three Hares, p. 116; October, 2002, Eva Mitnick, review of Wee Three Pigs, p. 62.