Leuck, Laura 1962-

Personal

Surname is pronounced "luke"; born July 9, 1962, in Toms River, NJ; daughter of John L. (a health care consultant) and Gwen (a homemaker) Yoder; married Arthur R. Leuck (a facilities manager), September 15, 1984; children: Matthew, Shane. Education: Monmouth College, B.A. Hobbies and other interests: Traveling, hiking, films, theatre.

Addresses

Home and office—Princeton, NJ. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Poet and author of children's books. Worked for Asbury Park Press, Neptune, NJ.

Member

Authors Guild, Authors League of America, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Electronic Writer's Association.

Awards, Honors

Ben-Yitzhak Award, 1996, for Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling; Children's Choice Award, 1999, for My Monster Mama Loves Me So.

Writings

Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling, illustrated by Ora Eitan, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994.

My Brother Has Ten Tiny Toes, illustrated by Clara Vulliamy, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1997.

Teeny, Tiny Mouse: A Book about Colors, illustrated by Pat Schories, BridgeWater Books (Mahwah, NJ), 1998.

My Monster Mama Loves Me So, illustrated by Mark Buehner, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

Goodnight, Baby Monster, illustrated by Nigel McMullen, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC, illustrated by David Parkins, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

One Witch, illustrated by S.D. Schindler, Walker (New York, NY), 2003.

My Beastly Brother, illustrated by Scott Nash, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

My Creature Teacher, illustrated by Scott Nash, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Santa Claws: A Scary Christmas to All, illustrated by Gris Grimley, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2006.

I Love My Pirate Papa, illustrated by Kyle M. Stone, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2007.

For Just One Day, illustrated by Marc Boutavant, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2009.

Contributor of poetry and stories to periodicals, including Hopscotch and Turtle.

Leuck's books have been translated into French.

Sidelights

Through the use of verse, Laura Leuck creates picture books for young readers that teach children about the joy of language and illustrate basic concepts. While several of her books, such as Teeny, Tiny Mouse: A Book about Colors and Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling feature simple, reassuring themes, Leuck also taps into children's love of less-reassuring stories in books such as Goodnight, Baby Monster, My Creature Teacher, and Santa Claws: A Scary Christmas to All.

In Teeny, Tiny Mouse Leuck employs a simple, repetitive text that describes a young mouse touring his home—actually a lavishly furnished doll's house—with his mouse mother in tow. Children's Book Review Service contributor Arlene Wartenberg dubbed the book "clever" in its interactive concept, as the pair travel from room to room, each time posing readers a color-related

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question. Noting that the "book invites sharing and further color exploration," Christian Science Monitor contributor Karen Carden commended Teeny, Tiny Mouse for its "clear concepts and reassuring repetition."

Leuck relates the rituals associated with night and getting ready for bed in Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling. Such things as the moon in the sky, a bedtime story, a song, a teddy bear, and sweet dreams are described as a mother rabbit guides her young one towards sleep. "In spare, gently cadenced verse, newcomer Leuck beckons readers into the soothing rituals of nighttime," commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer, while School Librarian contributor David Lewis wrote that the book's rhythmic text, which describes "the gradual winding down of the toddler's day," is "genuinely charming."

Fuelled by Leuck's "well-cadenced, rhyming verse," in the opinion of Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan, I Love My Pirate Papa follows a sword-carrying buccaneer and his son as they ply the seven seas in the father's ship, dig up a treasure chest on a secret island, and have a jolly time aboard ship with the father's rowdy but good-hearted pirate crew. According to Phelan, the acrylic illustrations by Kyle M. Stone "successfully balance the darkly alluring danger of piracy with the boy's buoyant good spirits," and in School Library Journal Judith Constantinides predicted that children's love of pirates ensures that I Love My Pirate Papa "will surely be met with delight by the youngest buccaneers."

In My Monster Mama Loves Me So Leuck spins a tender tale featuring a green, round-eyed, sharp-toothed monster that only a monster mother could love. A reviewer for Early Childhood Educational Journal deemed the story "captivating" and maintained that the humorously illustrated book "hits the spot," while in School Library Journal, Amy Lilien-Harper praised Leuck for providing story-time aficionados with "a re-assuring message" packaged in "a funny, mildly scary story." A Publishers Weekly contributor had special praise for the author-illustrator collaboration, calling Mark Buehner's soft-edged illustrations "vibrant" and "cuddly," and predicting that Leuck's text, with its "tender tone," will make My Monster Mama Loves Me So a sure-fire "bedtime favorite for drowsy toddlers."

Monsters also figure in Goodnight, Baby Monster and Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC, the latter illustrated by David Parkins. In Goodnight, Baby Monster, which School Library Journal reviewer Rosalyn Pierini described as "a gentle, rhyming story chock-full of nighttime creatures both real and imaginary," Leuck uses poetic prose to offset imaginary terrors of the night and render them harmless, as a host of scary nocturnal creatures are revealed to be stuffed animals sharing the bed with a mother and child reading a good-night tale. Twenty-six monstrous children, arranged alphabetically according to type, march across the pages of Jeepers Creepers. The group gathers together for a fun-filled first day of school in this picture book that a Kirkus Reviews critic called a "cheerful offering" from Leuck.

My Beastly Brother and My Creature Teacher both feature quirky illustrations by artist Scott Nash and "a steady beat of humorous, monster-inspired verse," in the opinion of a Publishers Weekly critic, reviewing My Beastly Brother. Idiosyncratic illustrations by S.D. Schindler grace the pages of One Witch, a counting book with a difference. Readers learn the recipe for a distasteful witches' brew containing everything from straw-stuffed scarecrows to fish tails and bird claws through a rhyming text that a Kirkus Reviews contributor described as "jaunty." In School Library Journal James K. Irwin praised the story as "romping" and spiced with "plenty of alliteration," while in Booklist, Gillian Engberg deemed One Witch "a great choice for October preschool read-alouds."

Leuck teams up with quirky artist Gris Grimly to treat readers to a twisted version of a traditional holiday story in Santa Claws. Here, in a story that has been compared to filmmaker Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas, she introduces monster siblings Zack and Mack. After decorating their living room with dead pine tree bones and other gruesome objects, hanging up their odoriferous stockings with care, and cooking up some poisonberry pie for a Santa-style snack, the boys crawl off to bed, leaving the room to the equally monstrous Santa who dashes through the night pulled by fire-breathing dragons. While writing that the story could have veered further into the creepy, School Library Journal contributor Maureen Wade praised Leuck's rhythmic text as "clever and amusing." Calling Santa Claws "mischievously macabre," a Kirkus Reviews writer had special praise for Grimly's "weirdly edgy but not too terribly scary illustrations."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 1994, Carolyn Phelan, review of Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling, p. 1841; April 15, 1997, Julie Corsaro, review of My Baby Brother Has Ten Tiny Toes, p. 1436; September 1, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of One Witch, p. 136; September 15, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of I Love My Pirate Papa, p. 72.

Children's Book Review Service, spring, 1998, Arlene Wartenberg, review of Teeny, Tiny Mouse: A Book about Colors, p. 136.

Christian Science Monitor, September 24, 1998, Karen Carden, "Bright Books Teach Smart Concepts," p. B9.

Early Childhood Educational Journal, winter, 1999, review of My Monster Mama Loves Me So, p. 106.

Horn Book, fall, 1997, Martha V. Parravano, review of My Baby Brother Has Ten Tiny Toes, p. 253.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2003, review of One Witch, p. 912; August 1, 2003, review of Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC, p. 1019; November 1, 2006, review of Santa Claws, p. 1131; August 15, 2007, review of I Love My Pirate Papa.

Publishers Weekly, April 11, 1994, review of Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling, p. 63; March 15, 1999, review of Teeny, Tiny Mouse, p. 61; September 27, 1999, review of My Monster Mama Loves Me So, p. 103; August 4, 2003, reviews of One Witch, p. 77, and My Beastly Brother, p. 79.

School Librarian, November, 1996, David Lewis, review of Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling, p. 147.

School Library Journal, March, 1997, Patricia Pearl Doyle, review of My Brother Has Ten Tiny Toes, pp. 160-161; May, 1998, Jody McCoy, review of Teeny, Tiny Mouse, p. 120; January, 2000, Amy Lilien-Harper, review of My Monster Mama Loves Me So, pp. 106-107; September, 2002, Rosalyn Pierini, review of Goodnight, Baby Monster, p. 198; August, 2003, James K. Irwin, review of One Witch, p. 136; March, 2004, Nancy A. Gifford, review of My Beastly Brother, p. 172; July, 2004, Grace Oliff, review of My Creature Teacher, p. 81; October, 2006, Maureen Wade, review of Santa Claws, p. 97; September, 2007, Judith Constantinides, review of I Love My Pirate Papa, p. 169.

Times Educational Supplement, September 27, 1996, Ann Treneman, review of Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling, p. 2.