Porfirio, Guy 1958-

Personal

Born 1958; married; children: two. Education: American Academy of Art, graduate; attended School of Visual Arts (New York, NY).

Addresses

Home—Tucson, AZ. E-mail—guyporfirio@msn.com.

Career

Artist and illustrator.

Illustrator

David F. Birchman, The Raggly, Scraggly, No-Soap, No-Scrub Girl, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard (New York, NY), 1995.

Marsha Wilson Chall, Happy Birthday, America!, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard (New York, NY), 2000.

Tony Johnston, Clear Moon, Snow Soon, Rising Moon (Flagstaff, AZ), 2001.

Kathleen Long Bostrom, Papa's Gift: An Inspirational Story of Love and Loss, Zonderkidz (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.

Lynn Crosbie Loux, The Day I Could Fly, NorthWord Press (Chanhassen, MN), 2003.

Dianne M. MacMillan, The Curse of Rafferty McGill, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2003.

Charles Tazewell, The Littlest Angel, Ideals Children's Books (Nashville, TN), 2004.

Clement C. Moore, The Night before Christmas, CandyCane Press (Nashville, TN), 2004.

Myrna Strasser, Silent Night, Holy Night, Zonderkidz (Grand Rapids, MI), 2004.

Billy Crystal, Grandpa's Little One, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

Martin Luther, From Heaven Above: A Christmas Carol, Concordia Publishing House (St. Louis, MO), 2006.

Sonia Levitin, Junk Man's Daughter, Sleeping Bear Press (Chelsea, MI), 2007.

Dandi Daley Mackall, The Legend of Saint Nicholas: A Story of Christmas Giving, Zonderkidz (Grand Rapids, MI), 2007.

Sidelights

Illustrator Guy Porfirio has provided the artwork for a number of well-received children's books, including Sonia Levitin's Junk Man's Daughter and Tony Johnston's Clear Moon, Snow Soon. "I think of what I do as telling a story without using words," Porfirio remarked to Foothills News contributor Heather Stanton, adding: "I always say that as you read, before you realize it you are visualizing the story and pictures are forming in your mind."

One of Porfirio's early efforts, creating artwork for Happy Birthday, America! by Marsha Wilson Chall, focuses on a small-town family's Fourth of July celebration. "The clan's high spirits resonate in the intentionally grainy, sun-dappled watercolor and colored-pencil art," noted a contributor in Publishers Weekly, and JoAnn Jonas observed in School Library Journal that the characters' "facial expressions show the excitement and fun of the event." A young boy tries to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus in Johnston's Clear Moon, Snow Soon, a work told in verse. Here Booklist reviewer Ilene Cooper described Johnston's narrative as "warm and soothing," adding that "Porfirio's glowing oil paintings capture that same mood."

Junk Man's Daughter centers on the members of an immigrant family and their struggle to survive in the United States of America. According to Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman, Porfirio's illustrations for this book "include effective scenes of the family—hopeful, hard at work, angry, and blissful." A child's first birthday is the focus of Grandpa's Little One, a tale by actor and comedian Billy Crystal. Here Porfirio's pictures "convey the affection between grandfather and his cherubic granddaughter," remarked a critic in Publishers Weekly.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 1995, Hazel Rochman, review of The Raggly, Scraggly, No-Soap, No-Scrub Girl, p. 82; May 1, 2000, John Peters, review of Happy Birthday, America!, p. 1676; November 1, 2001, Ilene Cooper, review of Clear Moon, Snow Soon, p. 482; December 1, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of Junk Man's Daughter, p. 48.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2007, review of Junk Man's Daughter.

Publishers Weekly, June 5, 2000, review of Happy Birthday, America!, p. 94; September 24, 2001, review of Clear Moon, Snow Soon, p. 52; March 6, 2006, review of Grandpa's Little One, p. 72.

School Library Journal, June, 2000, JoAnn Jonas, review of Happy Birthday, America!, p. 102; October, 2001, review of Clear Moon, Snow Soon, p. 66; October, 2003, Ann Joslin, review of The Day I Could Fly, p. 129; December, 2003, Donna Cardon, review of The Curse of Rafferty McGill, p. 120; April, 2008, Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, review of Junk Man's Daughter, p. 115.

ONLINE

Foothills News Web site,http://www.thefoothillsnews.com/ (May 28, 2008), Heather Stanton, "Foothills Resident Makes Career out of Passion for Drawing."

Guy Porfirio Home Page,http://guyporfirio.com (January 20, 2009).