Evans, Lezlie

Personal

Married; children: six.

Addresses

Home and office—VA.

Career

Children's book author.

Member

Utah Children's Writers and Illustrators.

Writings

Rain Song, illustrated by Cynthia Jabar, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

If I Were the Wind, illustrated by Victoria Lisi, Ideals Children's Books (Nashville, TN), 1997.

Snow Dance, illustrated by Cynthia Jabar, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1997.

Can You Count Ten Toes?: Count to 10 in 10 Different Languages, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.

Sometimes I Feel like a Storm Cloud, illustrated by Marsha Gray Carrington, Mondo (Greenvale, NY), 1999.

Can You Greet the Whole Wide World?: 12 Common Phrases in 12 Different Languages, illustrated by Denis Roche, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2006.

The Bunnies' Picnic, illustrated by Kay Chorao, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2007.

The Bunnies' Trip, illustrated by Kay Chorao, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2008.

Sidelights

Lezlie Evans creates children's books that cover a range of themes while helping children explore and enjoy the world around them. Evans uses poetry in her children's titles, which include Rain Song, Sometimes I Feel like a Storm Cloud, and The Bunnies' Picnic, creating rhyming and lilting verses that capture and engage young readers. A few of Evans' picture-book titles feature bilingual texts, introducing young children to the many different languages that are spoken around the world. Reviewing The Bunnies' Picnic in Booklist, Carolyn Phelan drew attention to Evans' "bouncy, rhyming text" and Kay Chorao's sun-filled illustrations, dubbing the picture book "a cheerful romp for young children."

In Can You Count Ten Toes?: Count to 10 in 10 Different Languages the narrator teaches young readers how to count in languages that include Japanese, Russian, Zulu, French, Tagalog, and Spanish. Children are also presented with an array of unique items to count, from toes and lightning bugs to angelfish and planets. Hazel Rochman, reviewing the work for Booklist, noted that Evans' educational and rhyming text will allow "children to see the fun of words in translation." A similar work, Can You Greet the Whole Wide World?: 12 Common Phrases in 12 Different Languages teaches children how to greet others in a dozen unique ways. In her book, Evans also includes a pronunciation guide as well as a world map that indicates where each language is spoken. School Library Journal critic Margaret R. Tassia regarded Evans' globally focused title as a "great way to introduce the many similarities and interests of children around the world," while Carolyn Phelan wrote in Booklist that Can You Greet the Whole World? "encourages courtesy as well as multilingual expression."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 1995, Hazel Rochman, review of Rain Song, p. 1331; August, 1997, Ilene Cooper, review of If I Were the Wind, p. 1905; October 1, 1997, Lauren Peterson, review of Snow Dance, p. 336; March 15, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of Can You Count Ten Toes?: Count to 10 in 10 Different Languages, p. 1331; December 15, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of Sometimes I Feel like a Storm Cloud, p. 789; May 1, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of Can You Greet the Whole Wide World?: 12 Common Phrases in 12 Different Languages, p. 85; December 1, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, The Bunnies' Picnic, p. 51.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, March, 1995, review of Rain Song, p. 234; December, 1997, review of Snow Dance, p. 123.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2006, review of Can You Greet the Whole Wide World?, p. 457; December 1, 2006, review of The Bunnies' Picnic, p. 1219.

Library Media Connection, January, 2007, review of Can You Greet the Whole Wide World?, p. 68.

Publishers Weekly, March 13, 1995, review of Rain Song, p. 69; March 22, 1999, "Increase Your Foreign Word Power," p. 94.

School Library Journal, July, 1995, Karen K. Radtke, review of Rain Song, p. 61; June, 1997, Sally R. Dow, review of If I Were the Wind, p. 86; December, 1997, Karen James, review of Snow Dance, p. 88; June, 1999, JoAnn Jonas, review of Can You Count Ten Toes?, p. 114; June, 2006, Margaret R. Tassia, review of Can You Greet the Whole Wide World?, p. 135; January, 2007, Julie Roach, review of The Bunnies' Picnic, p. 92.