Woodruff, Liza 1971(?)-

Personal

Born c. 1971, in RI; married; husband's name Tom; children: Thomas, Eden. Education: Muhlenberg College, degree (art and French); Art Institute of Boston, degree (illustration). Hobbies and other interests: Skiing, hiking, swimming, gardening.

Addresses

Home—Charlotte, VT. Agent—Bernadette Szost, Portfolio Solutions, 136 Jameson Hill Rd., Clinton Corners, NY 12514. E-mail—liza@lizawoodruff.com.

Career

Children's book illustrator. Horn Book magazine, Boston, MA, former member of circulation and marketing department.

Illustrator

Cindy Neuschwander, Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream: A Mathematical Story, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1998.

Willy Welch, Dancing with Daddy, Whispering Coyote Press (Dallas, TX), 1999.

Marielle Alison, How to Be a Bride and a Flower Girl, Too!, Little Simon (New York, NY), 1999.

Martha F. Brenner, Stacks of Trouble, Kane Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Annie Cobb, The Long Wait, Kane Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Jan Wahl, Mabel Ran away with the Toys, Whispering Coyote (Watertown, MA), 2000.

Ron Roy, Who Cloned the President?, Golden Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Ron Roy, Kidnapped at the Capital, Golden Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Deck the Halls, HarperFestival (New York, NY), 2003.

DeMar Regier, What Time Is It?, Children's Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Donna Marie Pitino, Too-Tall Tina, Kane Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Dorian Cirrone, Lindy Blues: The Missing Silver Dollar, Marshall Cavendish (New York, NY), 2006.

Dorian Cirrone, Lindy Blues: The Big Scoop, Marshall Cavendish (New York, NY), 2006.

Sidelights

Illustrator Liza Woodruff had an interesting start to her career in children's literature: before she became an illustrator she worked as a book reviewer for Boston's well-respected Horn Book magazine. Woodruff, who grew up in Rhode Island, began at Horn Book following

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her graduation from the Art Institute of Boston with a degree in illustration. She credits the five years she worked at the magazine with building her familiarity with the best authors and illustrators of children's books, as well as with gaining the mentors who encouraged her efforts to become a published illustrator.

Woodruff's first illustration project, creating artwork for Cindy Neuschwander's Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream: A Mathematical Story, was released in 1998. Reviewing the book for Booklist, Carolyn Phelan cited the "deft drawing, bright hues, and buoyant good humor of Woodruff's ink-and-watercolor illustrations" as contributing to the story's interest. The illustration projects that have followed included beginning readers by Martha F. Brenner, Ron Roy, and Dorian Cirrone, as well as picture books such as Jan Wahl's Mabel Ran away with the Toys, which features what School Library Journal reviewer Elizabeth Maggio described as "large and richly colored illustrations … [that] humorously follow the text." One of Woodruff's more recent projects, creating art for Cirrone's "Lindy Blues" chapter-book series earned the illustrator similar praise. Rachael Vilmar noted in School Library Journal that Woodruff's pen-and-ink "full-page drawings and spot art enliven" Cirrone's story in Lindy Blues: The Missing Silver Dollar.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2998, Carolyn Phelan, review of Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream: A Mathematical Story, p. 239.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2006, review of Lindy Blues: The Missing Silver Dollar, p. 227; September 15, 2006, review of Lindy Blues: The Big Scoop, p. 949.

School Library Journal, June, 2000, Anne Knickerbocker, review of The Long Wait, p. 104; September, 2000, Elizabeth Maggio, review of Mabel Ran away with the Toys, p. 210; February, 2001, Holly T. Sneeringer, review of Stacks of Trouble, p. 92; September, 2006, Rachael Vilmar, review of Lindy Blues: The Missing Silver Dollar, p. 164; October, 2006, Adrienne Furness, review of Lindy Blues: The Big Scoop, p. 103.

ONLINE

Liza's Art Blog,http://www.lizawoodruffart.blogspot.com (August 8, 2007).

Liza Woodruff Home Page,http://www.lizawoodruff.com (August 8, 2007).