Murphy, Mary 1961-

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Murphy, Mary 1961-

Personal

Born 1961, in Ireland. Education: College of Marketing and Design (Dublin, Ireland), degree (illustration); advanced diploma in visual communications. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, walking, swimming, cycling.

Addresses

Home—Galway, Ireland.

Career

Author and illustrator. Freelance illustrator for design and advertising companies; teacher of illustration.

Awards, Honors

English 4-11 Book Awards shortlist, English Association, 1998, and Gold Medal, Parenting magazine, both for I Like It When—; Bisto Book of the Year shortlist, Children's Books Ireland, 1998-99, for Please Be Quiet, and 2003-04, both for I Kissed the Baby and Little Owl and the Star.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

I Like It When—, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1997, bilingual edition published as I Like It When—/Me gusta cuando—, Harcourt Brace (Orlando, FL), 2006.

You Smell and Taste and Feel and See and Hear, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 1997.

Please Be Quiet!, Methuen (London, England), 1998, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.

You Choose, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.

If…, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.

Here Comes Spring and Summer and Fall and Winter, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 1999.

My Puffer Train, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.

I Make a Cake, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.

Caterpillar's Wish, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 1999.

Roxie and Bo Together, paper engineering by Mat Johnstone, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 1999.

I Am an Artist, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.

I Feel Happy and Sad and Angry and Glad, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2000.

Christmas Is the Best Bit, Mammoth (London, England), 2000.

Some Things Change, Mammoth (London, England), 2000, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2001.

Here Comes the Rain, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2000.

All the Little Ones—and a Half, Red Fox (London, England), 2001.

Koala and the Flower, Egmont Children's (London, England), 2001, Roaring Brook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2002.

How Kind!, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

Little Owl and the Star: A Christmas Story, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

The Flyaway Alphabet, Egmont (London, England), 2003, published as The Alphabet Keeper, Knopf (New York, NY), 2003.

I Kissed the Baby!, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Moonchap, Red Fox (London, England), 2003.

(With Mark Oliver) Foley and Jem, Little Tiger (London, England), 2004.

Comet the Fairy Dog, Bodley Head (London, England), 2006.

Panda Foo and the New Friend, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2007.

OTHER

(Illustrator) Gordon Snell, The Tex and Sheelagh Omnibus, Children's Poolbeg (Dublin, Ireland), 1996.

Parrot Park, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg, Walker (London, England), 2006.

Comings and Goings at Parrot Park, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg, Walker (London, England), 2008.

Sidelights

Irish author/illustrator Mary Murphy has become known for creating books that appeal to the very youngest readers. Her use of bright colors and bold shapes is designed to appeal to toddlers who are just beginning to discover books. Many of her works feature penguins that are anthromorphized in order to be able to share the favorite things and experiences of Murphy's young audience. From her work for toddlers, Murphy has also expanded into books for beginning readers with Parrot Park and Return to Parrot Park, each containing linked stories about a large Irish family.

In her picture book I Like It When— a young penguin tells her mother about the things she likes to do. Calling I Like It When— "an exceptionally warm little book," a Publishers Weekly critic noted that "Murphy's artwork achieves an expressive simplicity." In Booklist Hazel Rochman similarly praised the book's "bright, clear pictures" and added that I Like It When— "is a book to read and act out."

In Please Be Quiet! Penguin has trouble playing without making extra noise. A Horn Book reviewer noted of the book that "young children will recognize the child faced with the near-impossible task of being quiet…, and will be gently reassured by the parent who loves him, noise and all." The simple stories in I Am an Artist and I Make a Cake are paired with "appealing artwork [that] will make these titles popular with toddlers," according to School Library Journal contributor Lisa Falk. In the flip-books If … and You Choose, "the can-do attitude of this little penguin will keep children coming back for more," Susan Marie Pitard wrote in another School Library Journal review.

Murphy's popular penguin characters deal with more complex ideas in Some Things Change. After looking at things like the sky, water and ice, and walls in a room (whose colors can change), Murphy concludes with something that never changes: a mother's love. Connie Fletcher observed in Booklist that, as the ideas in SomeThings Change get more complex, Murphy's "art, in brilliant primary colors with arrestingly simple figures, provides further clarification." "Young children will appreciate the verisimilitude and comforting notes that Murphy hits just right," a Publishers Weekly writer wrote. This "engaging book," Genevieve Ceraldi stated in a School Library Journal review of Some Things Change makes "an often-scary concept seem like a comfortable, everyday experience."

Murphy has also written and illustrated books that feature a puppy exploring the world around him. In You Smell and Taste and Feel and See and Hear, the puppy learns about his senses with his mother's help. While Booklist contributor Stephanie Zvirin wrote that the book's text seems "uneven," she nonetheless added that "Murphy's naive-style pictures … make the book special." A Publishers Weekly writer observed that "this delightful, distinctive volume pleases just about all the senses." The seasons are the focus of Here Comes Spring and Summer and Fall and Winter, which Carolyn Phelan, writing in Booklist, called "the perfect follow-up to Eric Hill's Spot series." Murphy's puppy character also explores emotions in I Feel Happy and Sad and Angry and Glad, about which School Library Journal contributor Joy Fleishhacker cited the author/illustrator's "colorful, eye-catching illustrations." Phelan concluded of I Feel Happy and Sad and Angry and Glad that "young children will enjoy this forthright picture book."

As Murphy wrote on the Candlewick Press Web site, How Kind! is about "the great feelings kindness generates, for giver and receiver. It's about how kindness spreads—and how givers always receive." The good deeds begin with Hen giving an egg to Pig, who then gives Rabbit a carrot, inspiring a chain of kindnesses. A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that Murphy's "streamlined compositions complement the straightforward message" in a book that is "sure to resonate with its intended preschool audience." While School Library Journal contributor Laurie Edward dubbed the story "a bit simplistic and didactic," she added that "most children will appreciate the repetition and eye-catching illustrations" in How Kind! As a Kirkus Reviews writer concluded: "For just plain storytime fun or for introducing the concept of karma, this is a winner."

Murphy explores the fun to be found in libraries and words in several of her books. In Koala and the Flower young Koala discovers that the best place to find information is in her colorful local library. In Booklist Ilene Cooper noted that the book's "enticing story and child-friendly art" make it "a great choice to introduce young ones to the library." The Alphabet Keeper has a captive alphabet escape prison and elude capture by using letters to change words. A Publishers Weekly reviewer enjoyed the "laugh-out-loud, alphabetic flight of fancy" of this offering, adding that the art's "light, cartoonish touch accentuates the slapstick." The book has "wordplay that will delight children particularly as they master the trick," a Kirkus Reviews writer stated, calling The Alphabet Keeper "a witty and inventive story."

Murphy looks at the joys of having a newborn in the house in I Kissed the Baby! As a series of animals visit a baby, "Murphy makes creative use of color on the edges of the black-and-white pages," Kathleen Kelly MacMillan observed in her School Library Journal review of the work. At the end, a bold splash of yellow shows that the newborn baby is a duckling. In Horn Book Lauren Adams praised the "big, bold images and … bright, rhythmic text," while a Publishers Weekly writer noted that Murphy's "high-contrast pictures and exclamatory text are guaranteed eye and ear magnets for littlest ones." "Murphy wrings so much emotion out of bare-bones graphic art," Cooper noted that "her book crackles with love, exhilaration, and even sweetness." I Kissed the Baby "is ebullient and adorable," a Kirkus Reviews critic concluded, calling it "a knock-out in design and concept."

The author-illustrator creates her own version of the nativity in Little Owl and the Star: A Christmas Story. Little Owl is sitting on a tree, waiting, when a star beckons him to follow. Little Owl ends up outside the manger, where the baby Jesus smiles at him. In School Library Journal Susan Patron noted that Murphy's story is "told with neat economy of words," while her art "adds to the genuine childlike quality." A Kirkus Reviews writer similarly observed that, with "just a few poetic words" and "visually arresting art," Murphy crafts a "simple and touching Christmas story." As Martha V. Parravano concluded in Horn Book: "This revisioning of the Nativity story is elegantly simple, exactly right for young listeners."

Panda Foo and the New Friend shows a group of friends learning to accept a newcomer. Murphy deals with this issue with "a straightforward simplicity that is entirely apropos for the preschool set," a Kirkus Reviews writer noted, making Panda Foo and the New Friend "an excellent tale to share."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of I Like It When—, p. 1338; December 1, 1997, Stephanie Zvirin, review of You Smell and Taste and Feel and See and Hear, pp. 642-643; June 1, 1999, Carolyn Phelan, review of Here Comes Spring and Summer and Fall and Winter, p. 1843; March 1, 2000, Carolyn Phelan, review of I Feel Happy and Sad and Angry and Glad, p. 1251; March 15, 2001, Connie Fletcher, review of Some Things Change, p. 1405; August, 2002, Ilene Cooper, review of Koala and the Flower, p. 1974; April 1, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of I Kissed the Baby!, p. 1403.

Horn Book, September, 1999, review of Please Be Quiet!, p. 598; March, 2001, review of Some Things Change, p. 199; July-August, 2003, Lauren Adams, review of I Kissed the Baby!, pp. 445-446; November-December, 2003, Martha V. Parravano, review of Little Owl and the Star: A Christmas Story, p. 733.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2002, review of How Kind!, p. 663; January 1, 2003, review of The Alphabet Keeper, p. 64; May 1, 2003, review of I Kissed the Baby!, p. 680; November 1, 2003, review of Little Owl and the Star, p. 1319; August 1, 2007, review of Panda Foo and the New Friend.

Publishers Weekly, January 27, 1997 review of I Like It When—, p. 105; October 6, 1997, review of You Smell and Taste and Feel and See and Hear, p. 82; March 5, 2001, review of Some Things Change, p. 78; April 15, 2002, review of How Kind! pp. 62-63; December 9, 2002, review of The Alphabet Keeper, pp. 82-83; April 7, 2003, review of I Kissed the Baby!, p. 64.

School Library Journal, April, 2000, Joy Fleishhacker, review of I Feel Happy and Sad and Angry and Glad, p. 110; June, 2000, Lisa Falk, review of I Am an Artist and I Make a Cake, and Susan Marie Pitard, reviews of If … and You Choose, both p. 122; March, 2001, Genevieve Ceraldi, review of Some Things Change, p. 215; July, 2002, Laurie Edwards, review of How Kind!, p. 97; March, 2003, Marianne Saccardi, review of The Alphabet Keeper, p. 200; May, 2003, Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of I Kissed the Baby!, p. 126; October, 2003, Susan Patron, review of Little Owl and the Star, p. 66; August, 2007, Martha Simpson, review of Panda Foo and the New Friend, p. 86.