Parsons, Garry

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Parsons, Garry

Personal

Born in England.

Addresses

Home—England. Office—07931 923934 Studio 002, 2 Limesford Rd., London SE15 3BX, England. Agent—Meiklejohn Illustration, 5 Risborough St., London SE1 0HF, England. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Illustrator and author of children's books.

Awards, Honors

Red House Children's Book Award, Stockport (England) Schools Book Award, and AOI Images 28 Children's Book Silver award, all 2004; Nottingham Children's Book Award, and Bronze Award, Society of Artists Agents Illustration Awards, both 2005; Perth & Kinross Word's Out! Picture Book award, 2006.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Krong!, Bodley Head (London, England), 2005, Tiger Tales (Wilton, CT), 2006.

ILLUSTRATOR

Valerie Bloom, compiler, On a Camel to the Moon, and Other Poems about Journeys, Belitha (London, England), 2001.

Judy Waite, Digging for Dinosaurs, Red Fox (London, England), 2001, Crabtree (New York, NY), 2004.

Jonathan Shipton, Emily's Perfect Pet, Gullane (London, England), 2002.

Kes Gray, Billy's Bucket, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Sue Mayfield, The Four Franks, Egmont (London, England), 2003, Crabtree (New York, NY), 2006.

Sandra Glover, Monkey-Man, Orchard (London, England), 2003.

Louise Cooper, Butch the Cat-Dog, Pearson Longman (Harlow, England), 2003.

Kate Agnew, editor, What's Cool about School?, Egmont (London, England), 2003.

Kate Agnew, editor, Would You Believe It?, Egmont (London, England), 2003.

Kate Agnew, editor, A Family like Mine, Egmont (London, England), 2003.

Kate Agnew, editor, Give Me Some Space!, Egmont (London, England), 2003.

Julia Donaldson, The Wrong Kind of Bark, Egmont (London, England), 2004, Crabtree (New York, NY), 2005.

Jane Clarke, Dino Dog, Corgi Pups (London, England), 2004.

Karen Wallace, Ooh La La, Lottie, Kingfisher (Boston, MA), 2004.

Jane Clarke, G.E.M, Red Fox (London, England), 2006.

Brian Moses, Trouble at the Dinosaur Café, Walker & Co. (New York, NY), 2006.

Lucy and Stephen Hawking, with Christophe Gafard, George's Secret Key to the Universe, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

Jane Clarke, Stuck in the Mud, Puffin (London, England), 2007, Walker & Co. (New York, NY), 2008.

(With Nick Sharratt) Kes Gray, Daisy and the Trouble with Life, Red Fox (London, England), 2007.

Malachy Doyle, The Football Ghosts, Egmont (London, England), 2007.

Jeane Willis, Ouch in My Pouch, Puffin (London, England), 2008.

Lucy and Stephen Hawking, George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2009.

Contributor of illustrations to periodicals, including Runner's World, Printweek, and MacUser.

ILLUSTRATOR; "DREAM TEAM" SERIES

Ann Coburn Showtime, Walker (London, England), 2006.

Ann Coburn Flying Solo, Walker (London, England), 2006.

Ann Coburn Speed Challenge, Walker (London, England), 2007.

Ann Coburn Daydream Shift, Walker (London, England), 2007.

Sidelights

British illustrator Garry Parsons has combined his career creating editorial cartoons for magazines and newspapers with work creating art for children's books. In addition to his original self-illustrated picture book Krong!, about a boy whose life is disrupted when a spaceship lands in his backyard, Parsons has also contributed artwork to picture books and beginning readers by writers such as Malachy Doyle, Kes Gray, and Julia Donaldson. Collaborating with Ann Coburn, he has also illustrated several volumes in Coburn's "Dream Team" series of beginning readers. The acrylic paintings Parsons contributed to Gray's picture book Billy's Bucket were cited by Booklist critic Carolyn Phelan as "jaunty" additions to the text, "making this witty, offbeat picture book an entertaining choice," Phelan wrote, while in School Library Journal Madeline Walton-Hadlock concluded of Jane Clarke's Stuck in the Mud that Parsons' "bright paintings … and simple, yet expressive cartoon animals are well suited to very young listeners."

In one high-profile illustration project, Parsons has teamed up with noted physicist Stephen Hawking and Hawking's daughter Lucy Hawking on several stories designed to make the complex understandable to general readers. In George's Secret Key to the Universe, a boy named George befriends his eccentric neighbors, a scientist named Eric and Eric's daughter, Annie. While helping his new friends with their experiments, George becomes fascinated with physics and is ultimately taken on an amazing adventure by the scientist's supercomputer, Cosmos. Continuing to pursue their search for life in the universe, Eric and Annie are again joined by George in George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt. Here Parsons' illustrations follow the two children as they join Annie's cousin Emmett and travel through space in search of alien life. Noting the wealth of factual information nested within the Hawkings' "fast-paced story," Booklist critic Debbie Carton dubbed George's Secret Key to the Universe "a charmingly illustrated chapter book," and in Publishers Weekly a reviewer asserted that "Parsons's cartoons enhance the broad appeal of this book."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2003, Carolyn Phelan, review of Billy's Bucket, p. 1989; December 1, 2007, Debbie Carton, review of George's Secret Key to the Universe, p. 40; February 15, 2008, Shauna Yusko, review of Stuck in the Mud, p. 86.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2003, review of Billy's Bucket, p. 804; August 1, 2006, review of Trouble at the Dinosaur Café, p. 793; October 1, 2007, review of George's Secret Key to the Universe.

Publishers Weekly, May 12, 2003, review of Billy's Bucket, p. 65; March 10, 2008, review of Stuck in the Mud, p. 80; October 1, 2007, review of George's Secret Key to the Universe, p. 57.

School Library Journal, September, 2006, Andrea Tarr, review of Trouble at the Dinosaur Café, p. 180; December, 2007, Steven Engelfried, review of George's Secret Key to the Universe, p. 132; February, 2008, Madeline Walton-Hadlock, review of Stuck in the Mud, p. 84.