Lillegard, Dee

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Lillegard, Dee

Personal

Married Wayne Stoker.

Addresses

Home and office—Castro Valley, CA.

Career

Poet and author of nonfiction books for children.

Writings

Where Is It?, illustrated by Gene Sharp, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1984.

(With husband, Wayne Stoker) I Can Be an Electrician, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1986.

(With Wayne Stoker) I Can Be a Welder, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1986.

I Can Be a Baker, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1986.

I Can Be a Carpenter, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1986.

My First Martin Luther King Book, illustrated by Helen Endres, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.

My First Columbus Day Book, illustrated by Helen Endres, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.

James A. Garfield: Twentieth President of the United States, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.

I Can Be a Secretary, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.

I Can Be a Plumber, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.

I Can Be a Beautician, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.

Percussion: An Introduction to Musical Instruments, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.

Woodwinds: An Introduction to Musical Instruments, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.

John Tyler: Tenth President of the United States, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1987.

Richard Nixon: Thirty-seventh President of the United States, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1988.

Strings: An Introduction to Musical Instruments, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1988.

Brass: An Introduction to Musical Instruments, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1988.

James K. Polk: Eleventh President of the United States, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1988.

Sitting in My Box, illustrated by Jon Agee, Dutton (New York, NY), 1989.

(With Wayne Stoker) America the Beautiful: Nevada, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1991.

My Yellow Ball, illustrated by Sarah Chamberlain, Dutton (New York, NY), 1993.

The Hee-Haw River, illustrated by Allan Eitzen, Holt (New York, NY), 1995.

The Day the Daisies Danced, illustrated by Rex Barron, Putnam's (New York, NY), 1996.

The Wild Bunch, illustrated by Rex Barron, Putnam's (New York, NY), 1997.

Tortoise Brings the Mail, illustrated by Jillian Lund, Dutton (New York, NY), 1997.

The Poombah of Badoombah, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, Putnam's (New York, NY), 1998.

The Song of Celestine, illustrated by Dean Morrissey, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1998.

The Big Bug Ball, illustrated by Rex Barron, Putnam's (New York, NY), 1999.

Tiger, Tiger, illustrated by Susan Guevara, Putnam's (New York, NY), 2002.

Who Will Sing a Lullaby?, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino, Knopf (New York, NY), 2007.

Balloons, Balloons, Balloons, illustrated by Bernadette Pons, Dutton (New York, NY), 2007.

POETRY

September to September: Poems for All Year Round: A Collection of Original Poems Especially Designed for Classroom Use, Children's Press (Chicago, IL), 1986.

Do Not Feed the Table, illustrated by Keiko Narahashi, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1992.

Wake up House!: Rooms Full of Poems, illustrated by Don Carter, Knopf (New York, NY), 2000.

Hello School!: A Classroom of Poems, illustrated by Don Carter, Knopf (New York, NY), 2001.

Go!: Poetry in Motion, illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev, Knopf (New York, NY), 2006.

Sidelights

Dee Lillegard is a poet and the author of nonfiction titles for children. Many of her books are about careers, holidays, and musical instruments. She has also written several picture books for young readers. Working with New Age writer James Redfield, she adapted Redfield's New York Times bestselling novel The Celestine Prophecy into a book for younger readers, The Song of Celestine.

My Yellow Ball contains a story about a ball game as well as a journey into the imagination. In the book, Lillegard's young narrator imagines where her ball might travel should she throw it high enough. The author adapts Aesop's fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" as the humorous picture book Tortoise Brings the Mail. Here slow Tortoise is a mail carrier, but he hands his job over to Rabbit, Crow, and Fox, when they insist that they are much faster. Of course, the faster animals fail, and Tortoise must persevere to make his customers happy. Reviewing Lillegard's work, a Publishers Weekly

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critic commented on the "simple, well-chosen language" in My Yellow Ball. "Youngsters will cheer for the underdog Tortoise and relish the ending," according to Lauren Peterson in a review of Tortoise Brings the Mail for Booklist. The "nicely paced tale offers a gentle lesson in appreciation," wrote a contributor to Publishers Weekly.

Lillegard draws on Middle-Eastern imagery for her tale The Poombah of Badoombah, a story about a prankster wizard. Though noting the inconclusive ending, a Publishers Weekly contributor commented of the picture book that "Lillegard's inventive verse and vocabulary … make for a peppy ride." In Tiger, Tiger, a young boy creates a tiger by waving a peacock feather on a hot day. Jody McCoy, writing in School Library Journal, considered the title "a perfect choice for reading aloud." In Who Will Sing a Lullaby? songbirds attempt to coax a young child to sleep. A Kirkus Reviews contributor considered the book "a sumptuous bedtime read."

Lillegard's poetry has been categorized in the Library of Congress "under both juvenile poetry and kitchen utensils," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor, who called her collection Do Not Feed the Table a "soufflé of a book." A collection of thirty-four poems about objects likely found at home, Wake up House!:Rooms Full of Poems features "Lillegard's simple, cheerful rhymes [that] find poetry in the ordinary," according to Hazel Rochman in Booklist.

Moving from home to the classroom, Lillegard has also written Hello School!: A Classroom Full of Poems. "The brevity of the poems … makes the book ideal" for teaching young readers about the concepts behind poetry, according to Marta Segal in Booklist. Judy Freeman, writing in Instructor, felt that the entries in the collection "highlight the objects students take for granted." Rather than using every day objects for inspiration, Lillegard wrote about vehicles and things that move in Go!: Poetry in Motion. Along with trucks and airplanes, the poems "celebrate kid-powered contraptions" such as wagons and skateboards, according to a critic for Kirkus Reviews. In Booklist, Rochman noted that the collection "establishes books as a part of children's everyday play."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2000, Hazel Rochman, review of Wake up House!: Rooms Full of Poems, p. 1026; August, 2001, Marta Segal, review of Hello School!: A Classroom Full of Poems, p. 2125; January 1, 2003, Lauren Peterson, review of Tiger, Tiger, p. 907; November 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Go!: Poetry in Motion, p. 57.

Detroit Free Press, April 6, 2007, Michele Siuda Jacques, "It's Never Too Early for a Little Poetry."

Horn Book, July-August, 1993, Lolly Robinson, review of My Yellow Ball, p. 445; May 15, 1997, Lauren Peterson, review of Tortoise Brings the Mail, p. 1580.

Instructor, August, 2002, Judy Freeman, review of Hello School!, p. 81.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2002, review of Tiger, Tiger, p. 1474; October 15, 2006, review of Go!, p. 1073; August 15, 2007, review of Who Will Sing a Lullaby?

Publishers Weekly, May 24, 1993, review of My Yellow Ball, p. 87; July 5, 1993, review of Do Not Feed the Table, p. 73; March 31, 1997, review of Tortoise Brings the Mail, p. 73; April 20, 1998, review of The Poombah of Badoombah, p. 65; June 22, 1998, review of The Song of Celestine, p. 90; May 17, 1999, review of The Big Bug Ball, p. 78; February 14, 2000, review of Wake up House!, p. 196; August 13, 2001, "School-time Rhymes," p. 314; September 10, 2001, review of Wake up House!, p. 95.

School Library Journal, December, 2000, review of Wake up House!, p. 54; July, 2001, Sheryl L. Shipley, re-

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of Hello School!, p. 95; December, 2002, Jody McCoy, review of Tiger, Tiger, p. 100; December, 2006, Susan Weitz, review of Go!, p. 125; February, 2007, Suzanne Myers Harold, review of Balloons, Balloons, Balloons, p. 90.