Hoyt, Ard

Personal

Born in Temple, TX; married; children: three daughters. Education: Art Center College of Design, graduate.

Addresses

Home and office—Bentonville, AR.

Career

Illustrator.

Awards, Honors

Henry Bergh Children's Book Award, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 2004, and Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Book Award Gold Seal, 2005, both for Saying Goodbye to Lulu.

Illustrator

John Lithgow, I'm a Manatee, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2003.

Mary Casanova, One-Dog Canoe, Melanie Kroupa Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Karma Wilson, Mr. Murry and Thumbkin, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2004.

Corinne Demas, Saying Goodbye to Lulu, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2004.

Amy E. Sklansky, My Daddy and Me, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2005.

Donna Jo Napoli, Bobby the Bold, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2006.

Carol Weis, When the Cows Got Loose, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2006.

Steve L. Layne, Love the Baby, Pelican Publishing (Gretna, LA), 2007.

Linda Skeers, The Impossible Patriotism Project, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2007.

Mary Casanova, Some Dog!, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2007.

Michael P. Spradlin, Daniel Boone's Great Escape, Walker & Co. (New York, NY), 2008.

Ronald Kidd, Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa Major, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2008.

Mary Casanova, Utterly Otterly Day, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2008.

Laurie Halse Anderson, The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2009.

Sidelights

Born in Texas, Ard Hoyt attended Pasadena, California's prestigious Art Center College of Design before embarking on his career as a children's book illustrator. Working in pen-and-ink, colored pencil, and water color, he has created artwork for writers such as Mary Cassanova, Corinne Demas, John Lithgow, and Linda Skeers. Recalling the picture books that he loved as a child, Hoyt noted on the Corinne Demas Web site that "these books took me places I had never imagined I could go, and I have been traveling ever since in stories and in pictures of my own."

Although Hoyt has illustrated a wide variety of picture books, he is best known for his illustrations of animals—particularly dogs. "The hilariously exaggerated

facial expressions on the animals are the highlight" of Hoyt's artwork for Casanova's humorous story in One-Dog Canoe, according to Booklist contributor Diane Foote, while in School Library Journal Jane Marino maintained of the same book that the artist's soft-toned "watercolor illustrations give the animals lots of personality." According to Booklist critic Julie Cummins, Hoyt's "well-crafted, breezy drawings animate the flurry and frenzy" of the canine cast in Some Dog!, another collaboration with Casanova, while in Corinne Demas's poignant picture book Saying Goodbye to Lulu a Kirkus Reviews writer concluded that the artist's "perceptive illustrations in watercolor with colored pencil and ink … add a timeless, cozy quality that contributes to the story's reassuring tone." In Booklist, Carolyn Phelan also cited his work for Demas's award-winning picture book, writing that "Hoyt's expressive illustrations … reflect the tone of the text and show the child's sadness [at the death of a beloved pet] without sentimentality."

Hoyt's art injects humor into Carol Weis's When the Cows Got Loose, a circus story in which "expressive mixed-media images … will easily draw interest, giggles, and requests for repeated viewings," according to Booklist critic Gillian Engberg. Showing his versatility as an artist, Hoyt has also created art for historical titles such as Ronald Kidd's Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa Major, in which his "finely crosshatched line drawings, to some extent exaggerated like political cartoons, convey brainy fun," according to a Publishers Weekly critic. The Impossible Patriotism Project, a story by Skeers in which a boy defines what patriotism means to his military family, benefits from Hoyt's detailed cartoon images, which School Library Journal critic Mary Hazelton described as "humorous" and "sure to be welcomed by proud families and friends of soldiers who are engaged in battle."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 2003, Diane Foote, review of One-Dog Canoe, p. 1072; June 1, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Saying Goodbye to Lulu, p. 1730; April 1, 2006, Michael Cart, review of Bobby the Bold, p. 49; June 1, 2006, Gillian Engberg, review of When the Cows Got Loose, p. 90; April 1, 2007, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Love the Baby, p. 58; May 1, 2007, Julie Cummins, review of Some Dog!, p. 96; May 1, 2007, Jennifer Mattson, review of The Impossible Patriotism Project, p. 100; May 15, 2008, Abby Nolan, review of Utterly Otterly Day, p. 50.

Horn Book, March-April, 2007, Robin Smith, review of Some Dog!, p. 178.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2002, review of One-Day Canoe, p. 1846; May 15, 2004, review of Saying Goodbye to Lulu, p. 490; August 15, 2003, review of I'm a Manatee, p. 1075; April 15, 2006, review of Bobby the Bold, p. 412; June 1, 2006, review of When the Cows Got Loose, p. 582; February 15, 2007, review of Some Dog!; May 15, 2007, review of The Impossible Patriotism Project.

Publishers Weekly, December 9, 2002, review of One-Dog Canoe, p. 81; July 21, 2003, review of I'm a Manatee, p. 195; July 12, 2004, review of Saying Goodbye to Lulu, p. 63; January 21, 2008, review of Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa Major, p. 170.

School Library Journal, March, 2003, Jane Marino, review of One-Dog Canoe, p. 178; October, 2003, Be Astengo, review of I'm a Manatee p. 129; July, 2004, Lauralyn Persson, review of Saying Goodbye to Lulu, p. 69; September, 2004, Andrea Tarr, review of Mr. Murry and Thumbkin, p. 184; June, 2006, Linda M. Kenton, review of Bobby the Bold, p. 123; August, 2006, Carolyn Janssen, review of When the Cows Got Loose, p. 100; March, 2007, Genevieve Gallagher, review of Some Dog!, p. 156; July, 2007, Martha Topol, review of Love the Baby, p. 80; August, 2007, Mary Hazelton, review of The Impossible Patriotism Project, p. 93.

ONLINE

Corinne Demas Web site,http://www.corinnedemas.com/ (July 15, 2008), "Ard Hoyt."