Capek, Michael 1947-

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CAPEK, Michael 1947-

PERSONAL: Born September 19, 1947, in Covington, KY; son of Harold (in business) and Naomi (Larken) Capek; married Terri Richardson (a teacher), June 14, 1969; children: Christopher, Kari Jo. Education: Cumberland College, B.A., 1969; Eastern Kentucky University, M.A., 1976. Hobbies and other interests: Photography, nature.

ADDRESSES: Home—5965 Tipp Dr., Taylor Mill, KY 41015. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Walton-Verona High School, Walton, KY, teacher of English, 1969-96.

MEMBER: Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

AWARDS, HONORS: Merit Honor Award, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, 1993, for article in Cricket magazine; Young Readers Book Award, Scientific America, 1996, for Murals: Cave, Cathedral, to Street.

WRITINGS:

Artistic Trickery: The Tradition of Trompe L'Oeil Art, Lerner Publications (Minneapolis, MN), 1995.

Murals: Cave, Cathedral, to Street, Lerner Publications (Minneapolis, MN), 1996.

A Ticket to Jamaica, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 1998.

Jamaica ("Globe-Trotters Club" series), Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 1999.

A Personal Tour of a Shaker Village, Lerner Publications (Minneapolis, MN), 2001.

Lively Stones: A Narrative History of Belleview Baptist Church, Tennessee Valley Publishers (Knoxville, TN), 2002.

Contributor to Heath Middle Level Literature: Grade 8, D.C. Heath, 1994, and to other textbooks. Contributor of numerous stories and articles to periodicals, including Highlights for Children, Ranger Rick, Short Story Digest, Images, Cricket, and Adventure; contributor of devotionals to Encounter! and Essential Connection.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A young adult biography of artist/animator Winsor McCay; a young adult historical novel about the U.S. Camel Corps experiment of 1855.

SIDELIGHTS: A former educator, author Michael Capek has contributed numerous stories, poems, devotionals, and articles to children's magazines. In addition, he has penned several nonfiction titles for young readers, among them Artistic Trickery: The Tradition of Trompe L'Oeil Art and the award-winning Murals: Cave, Cathedral, to Street, both of which educate young people about art styles and history. A high school teacher who taught in his home state of Kentucky for almost thirty years, Capek once cited a "need to instruct, which I've always felt," as his main motivation for writing.

Capek's first book, 1995's Artistic Trickery, written for readers aged ten and above, is an overview of the decorative art style known as trompe l'oeil (meaning "fool the eye") and of the artists who created it, from the Roman Empire to the present day. Trompe l'oeil, pronounced "tromp-loy," is a technique painters employ to achieve a result that is so realistic that it appears to be the actual subject depicted or a photograph of it. As Capek's title implies, many trompe l'oeil artists have used their talents to create visual tricks that amuse and fool the eye. In his book, Capek includes reproductions of trompe l'oeil artworks, profiles of artists working in the tradition, and a discussion of the various categories of this type of artwork, such as food, doors, people, and money. Artistic Trickery was generally well received by critics, among them a Publishers Weekly reviewer who praised Capek's "clear, comprehensive text." The reviewer remarked that in this book "one of the more oddball traditions in art gets a well-deserved spotlight." Julie Yates Walton of Booklist lauded Capek for writing so "engagingly" and "appreciatively of his subject."

Capek takes on another form of art in Murals: Cave, Cathedral, to Street. According to Carolyn Phelan of Booklist, he compiles a "well written" and "informative history" of an art form that dates as far back as prehistorical man. Capek begins by discussing modern-day murals that can be found on buildings and works backward to explore the works of important twentieth-century muralists such as Diego Rivera and Wendell Jones, classical works such as Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, murals of the Aztecs, Toltecs, Mayans, Egyptians, Romans, Christians, and others in the ancient world, and the prehistoric cave paintings discovered in France. By providing information on how artistic styles have changed over the years, Capek has written a book that serves as "a good starting point for the student who wants to learn more about art," Jeanne M. McGlinn noted in Voice of Youth Advocates.

In addition to books on art, Capek has also authored several books that take young readers to unusual locations he himself has found of interest. In Jamaica, part of Carolrhoda's "Globe-Trotters Club" series, readers gain an in-depth knowledge of Jamaica, including the island's topography, weather, language, holidays, religions, folktales, and sports. Capek stays closer to his Kentucky home in two nonfiction titles: A Personal Tour of a Shaker Village and Lively Stones: A Narrative History of Belleview Baptist Church. Bringing his audience back in time to the mid-nineteenth century, Capek recreates for readers the thriving Shaker community of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, through stories, photographs, maps, and descriptions of day-to-day life there. In her review of A Personal Tour of a Shaker Village for Horn Book Guide, Anne St. John praised the book for presenting young people with "a personalized picture of the past." The 200th anniversary of one of Boone County, Kentucky's first churches was the inspiration for Lively Stones, which includes profiles of ten of the church's most noted parishioners. Capek said of the book, "Though it's naturally aimed at a serious, adult audience, I ultimately wrote Lively Stones for that same inquisitive child for whom I write all my books."

Capek once commented: "My main motivation in writing for children is always to excite and influence readers' thinking in some way, the way I was aroused and influenced as a child by the books I read. Invariably, when I write, it's for the child-self that hides deep inside me. It's hard to please that child and even harder to move him. He's incredibly innocent, but brutally honest. And unless I'm quick about it, I'll lose him. He's got better things to do than listen to some adult ramble on. If I can make him laugh or make him think or make him care, I've succeeded. My entire writing life is dedicated to pleasing that child.

"I've written a lot of fiction," Capek continued, "but for sheer challenge there's nothing like nonfiction. I love it—to paraphrase John F. Kennedy—not because it's easy, but because it's hard to do well. To write fact that compels like fiction, that's a lofty goal, in my opinion."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1 and 15, 1995, Julie Yates Walton, review of Artistic Trickery: The Tradition of Trompe L'Oeil Art, p. 1758; June 1 and 15, 1996, Carolyn Phelan, review of Murals: Cave, Cathedral, to Street, p. 1687.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July-August, 1995, p. 379.

Horn Book Guide, fall, 2001, Anne St. John, review of A Personal Tour of a Shaker Village, p. 330.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 1996, p. 527.

Publishers Weekly, May 8, 1995, review of ArtisticTrickery, p. 298.

School Library Journal, July, 1995, p. 84; October, 1996, p. 154; August, 2001, Wendy Lukehart, review of A Personal Tour of a Shaker Village, p. 192.

Scientific American, December, 1996, p. 120.

Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 1996, Jeanne M. McClinn, review of Murals, pp. 226-227.