Shepperson, Rob

Personal

Male.

Addresses

E-mail—robshepperson@earthlink.net.

Career

Illustrator.

Writings

ILLUSTRATION

The Sandman, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1989.

Kenneth C. Davis, Don't Know Much about George Washington, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

Christina Allen, Hippos in the Night: Autobiographical Adventures in Africa, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

Carolyn Coman, The Big House, Front Street Books (Asheville, NC), 2004.

Kenneth C. Davis, Don't Know Much about Abraham Lincoln, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Elizabeth Starr Hill, Wildfire!, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2004.

Kenneth C. Davis, Don't Know Much about Thomas Jefferson, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

Charlotte Pomerantz, Thunderboom!: Poems for Everyone, Front Street Books (Asheville, NC), 2005.

Carolyn Coman, The Big House, Puffin Books (New York, NY), 2007.

David L. Harrison, Bugs: Poems about Creeping Things, Wordsong (Honesdale, PA), 2007.

Sidelights

Illustrator Rob Shepperson's artwork for Charlotte Pomerantz's playful verse collection Thunderboom!: Poems for Everyone is conveyed in pen-and-ink illustration with watercolor, a combination that adds "humor, charm and a sense of coherence to the collection," in

the opinion of a Kirkus Reviews writer. Thunderboom! attempts to widen the literary horizons of young readers by presenting over fifty verses that encourage children to read aloud. Hazel Rochman, writing in Booklist, commented that Shepperson easily adds to the variety of poems by creating illustrations that "reflect both rambunctious nonsense and the occasional quiet moments" in Pomerantz's work. A Children's Bookwatch reviewer noted that Thunderboom! is "nicely enhanced" with Shepperson's illustrations.

Shepperson's black-and-white artwork for The Big House helps to emphasize the gothic undertones of Carolyn Coman's story. The Big House centers on Ivy and Ray, two siblings whose parents have been sent to jail on charges of embezzlement. In an ironic turn of events, the pair are sent to live with wealthy Marietta Noland, the same woman who accused Ivy and Ray's parents of criminality. After arriving at Marietta's estate, La Grande Maison, the children hope to discover a way to free their parents. A critic for Kirkus Reviews described Shepperson's drawings as "splendid, Quentin Blake-style illustrations," adding that they "further enliven" Coman's already lively text. In a similar fashion, School Library Journal contributor B. Allison Gray commented of The Big House that "Shepperson's drawings make the story even more amusing."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of Hippos in the Night: Autobiographical Adventures in Africa, p. 1467; September 15, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Wildfire!, p. 245; September 15, 2004, Ilene Cooper, review of The Big House, p. 242; April 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Thunderboom!: Poems for Everyone, p. 45.

Children's Bookwatch, July, 2006, review of Thunderboom!

Horn Book, November-December, 2004, Roger Sutton, review of Wildfire!, p. 710; January-February, 2005, Christine M. Heppermann, review of The Big House, p. 91.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2004, review of The Big House, p. 862; October 1, 2004, review of Wildfire!, p. 961; March 1, 2006, review of Thunderboom!, p. 237.

Publishers Weekly, January 13, 2003, review of Hippos in the Night, p. 61; September 6, 2004, review of The Big House, p. 63.

School Library Journal, January, 2003, Sue Sherif, review of Don't Know Much about George Washington, p. 154; April, 2003, Patricia Manning, review of Hippos in the Night, p. 171; February, 2004, Patricia Ann Owens, review of Don't Know Much about Abraham Lincoln, p. 160; November, 2004, B. Allison Gray, review of The Big House, p. 138; December, 2004, Laura Scott, review of Wildfire!, p. 110; May, 2005, Susan Shaver, review of Don't Know Much about Thomas Jefferson, p. 146; May, 2006, Lee Bock, review of Thunderboom!, p. 116.