Burke, Jim 1973-

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Burke, Jim 1973-

Personal

Born 1973, in Manchester, NH; son of Tom (a business owner) and Marjorie (a teacher) Burke; married; wife's name Suzanne. Education: Syracuse University, B.F.A., 1996.

Addresses

Home and office—Brooklyn, NY. E-mail—jimburkeart@aol.com.

Career

Author and illustrator. Freelance illustrator; Pratt Institute, New York, NY, instructor in painting.

Member

Society of Illustrators.

Awards, Honors

Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award and Parent's Choice designation, both 2003, and Massachusetts Center for the Book Honor designation and Teacher's Choice Book Award, International Reading Association, both 2004, all for My Brother's Flying Machine; Platinum Award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, and Original Art Show Award of Excellence, both for A Christmas Gift for Mama; Society of Illustrators Gold Medal; awards of excellence from Print's Regional Design, Communication Arts magazine, New York Art Directors Club, and Graphis magazine.

Illustrator

Jonathan Levin, editor, Poetry for Young People: Walt Whitman, Sterling Pub. (New York, NY), 1997.

Clyde Robert Bulla, Shoeshine Girl, HarperTrophy (New York, NY), 2000.

Lauren Thompson, A Christmas Gift for Mama, Scholastic Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Jane Yolen, My Brothers' Flying Machine: Wilbur, Orville, and Me, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2003.

Jack Norworth, lyricist, Take Me out to the Ball Game: The Sensational Baseball Song, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2006.

Barbara Timberlake Russell, Maggie's Amerikay, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2006.

Jane Yolen, Johnny Appleseed, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2008.

Sidelights

Jazz music is an important component of illustrator Jim Burke's creative process. During an apprenticeship with famed artist Mark English in Kansas City, Missouri,

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Burke attended his first live jazz performance, and the musical genre has greatly influenced his art work ever since. As Burke commented on his home page, as an artist he attempts to use the tools of his trade in the same way that musical performers employ their instruments: "There is an honest bond and trust between a musician and his instrument, as there is between a painter and his brush. It is my goal to capture this dynamic relationship on my canvases." As a freelance illustrator, Burke creates designs for a variety of clients and has also illustrated books for well-known children's author Jane Yolen.

Burke has been acknowledged by critics for his ability to create images that are lifelike, a reviewer for Publishers Weekly describing his illustrations for Take Me out to the Ball Game: The Sensational Baseball Song as "stunning, realistic oil paintings." Based on a song written by vaudevillian and songwriter Jack Norworth in 1908, Take Me out to the Ball Game incorporates the lyrics of Norworth's famous baseball-themed anthem into Burke's text about the famous and controversial match between the New York Giants and the Chicago Cubs. In addition to Norworth's lyrics, Burke also includes informative sidebars featuring facts about the 1908 game, aspects that "hits a line drive straight into baseball's storied past," in the opinion of a Kirkus Reviews critic. Marilyn Taniguchi, reviewing the work for School Library Journal, noted that with Take Me out tothe Ball Game Burke "has fashioned a sparkling introduction to an exhilarating period in baseball history."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 2003, Carolyn Phelan, review of My Brothers' Flying Machine: Wilbur, Orville, and Me, p. 1208; September 1, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of A Christmas Gift for Mama, p. 133; April 1, 2006, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, Take Me out to the Ball Game: The Sensational Baseball Song, p. 44; May 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Maggie's Amerikay, p. 93.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May, 2006, Elizabeth Bush, Take Me out to the Ball Game, p. 392.

Christian Science Monitor, April 3, 2003, review of My Brothers' Flying Machine, p. 20.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2003, review of My Brothers' Flying Machine, p. 482; November 1, 2003, review of A Christmas Gift for Mama, p. 1320; February 1, 2006, Take Me out to the Ball Game, p. 135; April 15, 2006, review of Maggie's Amerikay, p. 415.

Publishers Weekly, March 24, 2003, review of My Brothers' Flying Machine, p. 75; September 22, 2003, review of A Christmas Gift for Mama, p. 71; March 6, 2006, review of Take Me out to the Ball Game, p. 73.

Reading Teacher, November, 2004, review of My Brothers' Flying Machine, p. 287.

School Library Journal, March, 2003, Harriett Fargnoli, review of My Brothers' Flying Machine, p. 225; October, 2003, Susan Patron, review of A Christmas Gift for Mama, p. 68; April, 2006, Marilyn Taniguchi, Take Me out to the Ball Game, p. 123; April, 2006, Barbara Auerbach, review of Maggie's Amerikay, p. 116.