Paraskevas, Betty

PERSONAL:

Married; husband's name Paul; children: Michael.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Southampton, NY.

CAREER:

Writer. Author of children's books.

WRITINGS:

ILLUSTRATED BY SON, MICHAEL PARASKEVAS

On the Edge of the Sea, Dial Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Shamlanders, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1993.

The Strawberry Dog, Dial Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Junior Kroll, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1993.

Junior Kroll, Esquire, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1993.

A Very Kroll Christmas, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1994.

Junior Kroll and Company, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1994.

Monster Beach, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1995.

Gracie Graves and the Kids from Room 402, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1995.

The Ferocious Beast with the Polka-Dot Hide, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1996.

Cecil Bunions and the Midnight Train, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1996.

The Tangerine Bear, HarperCollins Publishers (New York, NY), 1997.

Maggie and the Ferocious Beast: The Big Scare, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1999.

Hoppy & Joe, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1999.

Maggie and the Ferocious Beast: The Big Carrot, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2000.

Did You See That Eagle?, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2000.

On the Day the Tall Ships Sailed, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2000.

Nibbles O'Hare, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2001.

Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2001.

Peter Pepper's Pet Spectacular, Rainbow Bridge Publishing (Greensboro, NC), 2007.

Chocolate at the Four Seasons, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2007.

Also author of newspaper comic strip Junior Kroll, illustrated by Michael Paraskevas.

ADAPTATIONS:

Gracie Graves and the Kids from Room 402 was adapted as a cartoon series for television titled The Kids from Room 420, Fox Family Channel; The Tangerine Bear has been adapted for video, Artisan Entertainment; also adapted for television are Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, Nickelodeon, and Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

SIDELIGHTS:

Betty Paraskevas is a writer of picture books for children, all of which have been illustrated by her son, Michael Paraskevas. Many of their books and characters have been adapted for film and television. "It's remarkable, but everything they do sells to TV," the duo's book editor, David Gale, noted in an article by Warren Strugatch in the Long Island Business News. "These are simple stories that really reflect kids' experiences in a warm and funny way." In their first book together, On the Edge of the Sea, the Paraskevases tell the story of a happy day at the beach. Their next book, Shamlanders, features a little red-headed boy caught in a strange southwestern landscape populated by polka-dot monsters and people wearing masks and pinstripe suits. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that "the [book's] verse is sprightly and engaging."

Several of the author's books, beginning with 1993's Junior Kroll, feature a mischievous little boy who lives in a rich enclave by the sea, has an old-fashioned bowl-shaped haircut, and anachronistically wears a bow tie, white shirt, and dress shorts. Junior's adventures are told in verse and also appear in a newspaper comic strip by the mother-and-son duo. Once again commenting in the Long Island Business News, book editor Gale noted that "people … appreciate this man in a child's body," adding that "Kroll is an innocent with an insightful way of looking at the world."

A Very Kroll Christmas takes the young reader from Thanksgiving dinner on through Christmas day as the likable Kroll spreads Christmas cheer. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that "the sly humor throughout is infectious." In Junior Kroll and Company, the author presents twelve poems that tell the story of the toddler as he learns to play music, to waltz, and gets some interesting new pets. Booklist contributor Kay Weisman called the book "a delightful, sophisticated choice that will appeal to mischievous listeners everywhere."

Adapted as a cartoon for television, the book Gracie Graves and the Kids from Room 402, published in 1995, features the teacher Miss Graves and her classroom of madcap students. Through rhyming poems, the author tells of the students' adventures in the classroom. April Judge, writing in Booklist, called the book a "whimsical look into classroom life." A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that the author and artist Michael Paraskevas "have a handle on gradeschool grotesquerie." Another 1995 book by the Paraskevases, titled Monster Beach, features a young boy who keeps imagining that he sees a sea monster that turns out to be a blow-up raft that helps three boys when they swim out too far into the ocean. In her review in Booklist, Lauren Peterson noted that the "charm of the book lies in the clever rhyming text."

Cecil Bunions and the Midnight Train was called a "a peculiar tale" by a Publishers Weekly contributor. The narrator of the story is a young boy who at first doesn't realize that he's having a nightmare as he finds himself on a mysterious train with people who have faces like bizarre masks. When he meets a man on the train, Cecil Bunions, another human like himself, the two conspire to escape by detaching the caboose, sending the boy through the clouds to his bedroom floor where he wakes up. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that the author's "rhymes … suggest a quickening pace and the necessity of escape."

In another book adapted for television and titled The Tangerine Bear, the author tells the story of toy bear whose grin has been sewn on upside down, making it unlikely that any family will buy him. He ends up in a secondhand shop where he meets similarly malformed toys and animals. Eventually, a man shows up offering to buy the bear, who imagines himself heading off to a loving family. Stephanie Zvirin, writing in Booklist, noted that the author "has written a quiet, positive story but also one with a good deal of subtext."

In Hoppy & Joe, Joe is a lonely little dog spending a summer at the beach with his owner, Gino, who operates an ice stand. Joe eventually meets Hoppy the seagull after rescuing Hoppy from the rocks. Hoppy, however, has lost part of his leg and Joe nurses him back to health. Soon, the two become fast friends. Booklist contributor Julie Corsaro commented that young readers "will … admire … Joe's faithful friendship." A Publishers Weekly contributor referred to the book as "another feather in the Paraskevases' cap."

Maggie and the Ferocious Beast: The Big Scare is a follow up to The Ferocious Beast with the Polka-Dot Hide, whose characters were adapted for a Nickelodeon television series. The polka-dot beast along with friends Maggie and a pig named Hamilton Hocks tell each other their biggest fears, which range from goblins to mice. In the process, they find that talking about their fears helps to lessen them. Maggie and the gang return in Maggie and the Ferocious Beast: The Big Carrot. In this tale, Maggie and friends help Nedley the rabbit dig up an enormous carrot that turns out to be very bad tasting and so it is turned into a birdhouse by Maggie and her friends.

The author features a patriotic rhyming song for On the Day the Tall Ships Sailed. The song tells of an eagle soaring above ships on the Hudson River during the Fourth of July. The book includes sheet music with the lyrics. Writing in Booklist, Kay Weisman noted that the picture book "is a good choice for story hours." Carnival animals are the featured characters in Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse. In addition to Marvin, there are Elizabeth the Emotional Pig and Stripes the Tiger. When Marvin goes to New York on the promise of fame by talent agent, Swifty, he ends up working in Central Park giving rides to tourists. Eventually, however, Marvin ends up on Broadway only to miss his carnival home. Noting the "lively text," Ilene Cooper also wrote in Booklist that the story contains "plenty of fun."

Called a "tongue-in-cheek tale" by Booklist contributor Ilene Cooper, Nibbles O'Hare features a rabbit who steals vegetables from a restaurant and gets chased by the owner, which Nibbles seems to enjoy. Soon Nibbles is on wanted posters pasted up by the owner, leading Nibbles to impersonate the Easter Bunny. "The content nicely veers between sophisticated and silly," noted Cooper.

Paraskevas based Chocolate at the Four Seasons on a true story that happened to casting director/producer Bonnie Timmermann, who was looking after a friend's dog while staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York. In the book, the author tells the story of Chocolate the Chihuahua being treated like royalty at the hotel and going from a shy dog to serenading guests at the piano. A contributor to Publishers Weekly wrote that Chocolate "effortlessly wins the affections of the staff and guests."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 15, 1992, Ilene Cooper, review of On the Edge of the Sea, p. 1850; January 15, 1994, Julie Corsaro, review of Shamlanders, p. 938; April 15, 1994, Kay Weisman, review of Junior Kroll and Company, p. 1537; June 1, 1995, Lauren Peterson, review of Monster Beach, p. 1788; December 1, 1995, April Judge, review of Gracie Graves and the Kids from Room 402, p. 639; November 1, 1997, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The Tangerine Bear, p. 483; August, 1999, Julie Corsaro, review of Hoppy & Joe, p. 2066; October 15, 2000, Kay Weisman, review of On the Day the Tall Ships Sailed, p. 446; December 15, 2000, Ilene Cooper, review of Nibbles O'Hare, p. 828; May 1, 2001, Ilene Cooper, review of Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse, p. 1692.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December, 1996, review of Cecil Bunions and the Midnight Train, p. 147; November, 1997, review of The Tangerine Bear, p. 95.

Five Owls, March, 1993, review of Junior Kroll, p. 90.

Long Island Business News, January 21, 2000, Warren Strugatch, "Beyond Junior Kroll: A Mother-Son Creative Team," p. 6.

Publishers Weekly, August 31, 1992, review of On the Edge of the Sea, p. 77; October 25, 1993, review of Shamlanders, p. 60; September 19, 1994, review of A Very Kroll Christmas, p. 28; February 27, 1995, review of Monster Beach, p. 102; September 18, 1995, review of Gracie Graves and the Kids from Room 402, p. 131; August 19, 1996, review of Cecil Bunions and the Midnight Train, p. 65; July 28, 1997, review of The Tangerine Bear, p. 73; May 17, 1999, review of Hoppy & Joe, p. 78; May 17, 1999, review of On the Edge of the Sea, p. 81; August 23, 1999, review of Maggie and the Ferocious Beast: The Big Scare, p. 56; May 22, 2000, review of The Ferocious Beast with the Polka-Dot Hide, p. 95; June 5, 2000, Karen Raugust, "A Frown Turned Upside-Down," p. 25; June 26, 2000, review of On the Day the Tall Ships Sailed, p. 75; September 18, 2000, review of The Tangerine Bear, p. 113; October 23, 2000, review of Junior Kroll, p. 78; December 4, 2000, review of Nibbles O'Hare, p. 73; March 12, 2001, review of Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse, p. 90; June 3, 2002, review of Hoppy & Joe, p. 91; April 23, 2007, review of Chocolate at the Four Seasons, p. 49.

Reading Teacher, February, 1999, review of The Tangerine Bear, p. 510.

School Library Journal, January, 1994, Shirley Wilton, review of Shamlanders, p. 96; May, 1994, Lisa Dennis, review of Junior Kroll and Company, p. 109; June, 1995, Marcia Hupp, review of Monster Beach, p. 94; November, 1995, Kay E. Vandergrift, review of Gracie Graves and the Kids from Room 402, p. 92; July, 1996, Heide Piehler, review of The Ferocious Beast with the Polka-Dot Hide, p. 70; December, 1996, Judith Constantinides, review of Cecil Bunions and the Midnight Train, p. 103; May, 1999, Susan Pine, review of Hoppy & Joe, p. 94; October, 1999, Kathleen M. Kelly MacMillan, review of Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, p. 122; October, 2000, Lisa Gangemi Krapp, review of On the Day the Tall Ships Sailed, p. 133; December, 2000, Kathie Meizner, review of Maggie and the Ferocious Beast: The Big Carrot, p. 122; April, 2007, Amy Lilien-Harper, review of Chocolate at the Four Seasons, p. 114.

Smithsonian, November, 1995, review of Monster Beach, p. 172.

ONLINE

Animation World Magazine,http://www.awn.com/mag/ (February 7, 2008), Raymond Palma, "The Hottest Family in Animated TV: Betty and Mickey Paraskevas."