Hartung, Susan Kathleen

Personal

Born in Ann Arbor, MI. Education: School of Visual Arts (New York, NY), B.F.A. (illustration), 1990.

Addresses

Home—Brooklyn, MI. E-mail—mailbox@susanhartung.com.

Career

Illustrator of children's books, 1993—. Has worked in advertising, design, and photography. Picture Book Artists Association, corporate cofounder and former vice president; University of Michigan School of Art and Design, interim lecturer. Exhibitions: Illustrations included in Society of Illustrators Original Art Exhibition, 1999, 2000, 2005; Bookman Gallery, 2000; Mill River Gallery, 2000; and Children's Hospital of Michigan, 2006. Work included in permanent collection at Mazza Museum, Findlay, OH.

Member

Graphic Artist Guild, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Picture Book Artists Association.

Awards, Honors

Ezra Jack Keats Award, 1999, for Dear Juno; CBC Children's Choice designation, 2001, for One Dark Night; International Reading Association Children's Book Award, and Parents Choice Silver Honor Medal, both 2002, both for One Leaf Rides the Wind.

Illustrator

Soyung Pak, Dear Juno, Viking (New York, NY), 1999.

Sigmund Brouwer, The Little Spider, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2001.

Lori Morgan, I Went to the Beach, R.C. Owen Publishers (Katonah, NY), 2001.

Hazel J. Hutchins, One Dark Night, Viking (New York, NY), 2001.

Karyn Henley, Rag Baby, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2002.

Celeste Davidson Mannis, One Leaf Rides the Wind: Counting in a Japanese Garden, Viking (New York, NY), 2002.

Julie Markes, Where's the Poop?, HarperFestival (New York, NY), 2004.

Dori Chaconas, Christmas Mouseling, Viking (New York, NY), 2005.

Lola M. Schaefer, Mittens, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

Lola M. Schaefer, Follow Me, Mittens, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2007.

Lola M. Schaefer, What's That, Mittens?, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2008.

Rita M. Bergstein, Your Own Big Bed, Viking (New York, NY), 2008.

Sidelights

Susan Kathleen Hartung has been drawing avidly since she was a young child, and she finds great joy in earning her living as a book illustrator. Hartung established her reputation creating art for Soyung Pak's Dear Juno, a picture book that won the Ezra Jack Keats Award. Since then the artist has earned praise for creating detailed illustrations in such books as Hazel J. Hutchins's One Dark Night, Celeste Davison Mannis's One Leaf Rides the Wind: Counting in a Japanese Garden, Rita M. Bergstein's Your Own Big Bed, and Lola M. Schaefer's "Mittens" beginning reader series.

Hartung was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "I started drawing as soon as I could hold a crayon," she recalled on her home page. "I drew all the time, on anything." By the time she went to high school she was sure that she wanted to be an artist. She attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, majoring in illustration and graduating in 1990. After that she worked various part-time jobs while trying to make a name for herself in the picture-book market. Her big break came in 1998 when she contracted with Viking to provide the pictures for Dear Juno.

In Dear Juno Pak tells a story about a Korean American boy who learns to communicate with his far-away grandmother using drawings, photographs, and pressed leaves. Juno can't read, but he is still able to understand his grandmother's letters and to respond to them with pictures and photos that reveal his own feelings. Calling Dear Juno "a simple but moving story about communicating across distances," a Publishers Weekly reviewer described Hartung's illustrations as "well designed and touching."

Jonathan is glad to have shelter in Hutchins's One Dark Night. A violent thunderstorm is on the horizon, and as it approaches the boy sees a mother cat carrying a kitten and searching for safety. He lets the pair come inside, but the mother cat dashes outside again after depositing the kitten in the house. By the time the storm hits, two kittens are already inside, and Jonathan helps the mother cat carry her last baby to safety. Some critics particularly liked the way Hartung contrasts the growing menace of the storm with the interior of Jonathan's bright, comfortable home. A Horn Book reviewer, noting the "elemental power and high drama" of the story, observed that "art and text ably capture the atmosphere of a summer storm." In School Library Journal, Shara Alpern wrote that "the heart of this story is its illustrations," and went on to describe One Dark Night as a "wonderful read-aloud."

One Leaf Rides the Wind uses haiku and images from a Japanese garden to teach counting concepts. Guided by Mannis's text, young readers are encouraged to find the items they have counted hiding in a double-page spread. Marilyn Taniguchi, writing in School Library Journal, described the book as "elegantly and respectfully presented," particularly through Hartung's "pleasing and evocative" illustrations, created using oil paint glazes.

In Bergstein's Your Own Big Bed a young boy learns that many creatures—in the ocean, at the zoo, and on the family farm—grow bigger and change the way they spend their days and nights, including even human creatures like him. Calling Your Own Big Bed "a lovely, sensitive offering," Booklist critic Gillian Engberg added that "Hartung's careful blue palette portrays nighttime as restful and inviting rather than scary." Hartung's glazed oil paintings also bring to life Dori Chaconas's version of the nativity tale in Christmas Mousling, as a mother mouse searches for a warm nest for her newborn on a cold and snowy night. Reviewing Christmas Mousling, Engberg wrote that "Hartung's delicate, soft-toned illustrations … amplify the contrast between the blustery winter forest and the safety and warmth of the mange." Praising Chaconas's "repetitive text," a Horn Book contributor concluded that the illustrator's "blustery" images "convey … the wintry night and the warm and loving tableau in the stable."

In addition to picture books, Hartung has also created illustrations for several book series for young children. In the beginning readers Mittens, as well as What's That, Mittens? and Follow Me, Mittens, she follows the adventures of a curious young tiger kitten, producing what School Library Journal critic Elaine Lesh Morgan dubbed "simple and uncluttered" illustrations in muted tones. In School Library Journal, Gloria Koster noted of What's That, Mittens? that Hartung's "soft pastel illustrations are simple and uncluttered and enhance the quiet tone of" Schaefer's story, and a Kirkus Reviews writer described the series as "a sweet, sturdy addition to the growing array of very first readers." "Charming … illustrations expose Mittens's proud and confident personality," concluded Sarah Holla in a School Library Journal appraisal of Follow Me, Mittens.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 1999, Lauren Peterson, review of Dear Juno, p. 636; May 15, 2001, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of One Dark Night, p. 1758; October 15, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of Christmas Mouseling, p. 55; April 15, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Mittens, p. 55; July 1, 2008, Gillian Engberg, review of Your Own Big Bed, p. 75.

Horn Book, July, 2001, review of One Dark Night, p. 440; November-December, 2005, review of Christmas Mouseling, p. 691.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2002, review of One Leaf Rides the Wind: Counting in a Japanese Garden, p. 1136; November 1, 2005, review of Christmas Mouseling, p. 1191; May 15, 2006, review of Mittens, p. 523; April 15, 2007, review of Mittens.

Publishers Weekly, October 25, 1999, review of Dear Juno, p. 79; September 24, 2001, review of The Little Spider, p. 53; September 2, 2002, review of One Leaf Rides the Wind, p. 75; September 26, 2005, review of Christmas Mouseling, p. 85.

School Library Journal, June, 2001, Shara Alpern, review of One Dark Night, p. 118; October, 2002, Marilyn Taniguchi, review of One Leaf Rides the Wind, p. 149; June, 2006, Elaine Lesh Morgan, review of Mittens, p. 126; July, 2007, Sarah O'Holla, review of Follow Me, Mittens, p. 84; May, 2008, Gloria Koster, review of What's That, Mittens?, p. 108; July, 2008, Martha Simpson, review of Your Own Big Bed, p. 66.

ONLINE

Susan Kathleen Hartung Home Page,http://www.susanhartung.com (July 30, 2008).

HARTUNG, Susan Kathleen

Personal

Born in Ann Arbor, MI; daughter of a college professor and a registered nurse. Education: School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, B.F.A., 1990.

Addresses

Home —Brooklyn, MI. Agent —c/o Illustrator Correspondence, Viking Press, 40 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail —mailbox@susanhartung.com.

Career

Full time illustrator of children's books, 1998—. Has worked in advertising, design, and photography. Managing director, PictureBook Artists.com.

Member

Graphic Artist Guild, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Awards, Honors

Ezra Jack Keats Award, 1999, for Dear Juno.

Writings

illustrator

Soyung Pak, Dear Juno, Viking (New York, NY), 1999.

Sigmund Brouwer, The Little Spider, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2001.

Lori Morgan, I Went to the Beach, R.C. Owen Publishers (Katonah, NY), 2001.

Hazel J. Hutchins, One Dark Night, Viking (New York, NY), 2001.

Karyn Henley, Rag Baby, Tyndale House (Wheaton, IL), 2002.

Celeste Davidson Mannis, One Leaf Rides the Wind: Counting in a Japanese Garden, Viking (New York, NY), 2002.

Sidelights

Susan Kathleen Hartung has been drawing avidly since she was a young child, and she is thrilled that she can make a living as a book illustrator. Hartung established her reputation with the 1999 title Dear Juno, a picture book that won the Ezra Jack Keats Award. Since then the artist has earned praise for such books as One Dark Night and One Leaf Rides the Wind: Counting in a Japanese Garden.

Hartung was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On her Web site she said, "I started drawing as soon as I could hold a crayon. I drew all the time, on anything." By the time she went to high school she was sure that she wanted to be an artist. She attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, majoring in illustration and graduating in 1990. After that she worked various part-time jobs while trying to sell herself as an illustrator. Her big break came in 1998 when she contracted with Viking to provide the pictures for Dear Juno.

In Dear Juno by Soyung Pak, a Korean American boy learns to communicate with his far-away grandmother using drawings, photographs, and pressed leaves. Juno can't read, but he is still able to understand his grandmother's letters and to respond to them with pictures and photos that reveal his own feelings. Calling Dear Juno "a simple but moving story about communicating across distances," a Publishers Weekly reviewer described Hartung's illustrations as "well designed and touching."

Jonathan is glad to have shelter in Hazel J. Hutchins's One Dark Night. A violent thunderstorm is on the horizon, and as it approaches Jonathan sees a mother cat carrying a kitten. He lets the pair come inside, but the mother cat dashes outside again after depositing the kitten in the house. By the time the storm hits, two kittens are already inside, and Jonathan helps the mother cat carry her last baby to safety. Some critics particularly liked the way Hartung contrasts the growing menace of the storm with the interior of Jonathan's bright, comfortable home. A Horn Book reviewer, noting the "elemental power and high drama" of the story, observed that "art and text ably capture the atmosphere of a summer storm." In School Library Journal, Shara Alpern wrote: "The heart of this story is its illustrations." Alpern went on to describe One Dark Night as a "wonderful read-aloud."

One Leaf Rides the Wind: Counting in a Japanese Garden, by Celeste Davidon Mannis, uses haiku and images from a Japanese Garden to teach counting concepts. At the book's end, young readers are encouraged to find the items they have counted hiding in a double-page spread. Marilyn Taniguchi in School Library Journal found the book "elegantly and respectfully presented," particularly through Hartung's "pleasing and evocative pen-and-ink and watercolor art."

Some years ago Hartung returned to rural Michigan to live in an old farmhouse. When she takes a break from her illustration work, she often visits schools to talk to children about a career in the arts.

Biographical and Critical Sources

periodicals

Booklist, November 15, 1999, Lauren Peterson, review of Dear Juno, p. 636; May 15, 2001, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of One Dark Night, p. 1758.

Horn Book, July, 2001, review of One Dark Night, p. 440.

Publishers Weekly, October 25, 1999, review of Dear Juno, p. 79.

School Library Journal, June, 2001, Shara Alpern, review of One Dark Night, p. 118; October, 2002, Marilyn Taniguchi, review of One Leaf Rides the Wind: Counting in a Japanese Garden, p. 149.

online

Susan Kathleen Hartung Home Page, http://www.susanhartung.com/. (June 8, 2004).*