Real-Life Sea Monsters

I am the illustrator of this book. Both myself and the author, Judith were hurt by this School Library Journal Review. It seems that the reviewer has forgotten how to look at a book as a child might, and instead goes on a personal rant against this "type" of book. She also obviously has a negative bias against digital artwork, some of which took me several weeks to produce. First off, The critique on the writing is absurd. Those forced alliterations were "tongue-in-cheek," planned that way to kick off each chapter. What better way to open a chapter then with a romanticized description and an art piece that was more painterly and more finished (her idea of inconsistent)? The creature pages will capture your child's imagination-I guarantee! As for the proportions of the character on the spread she mentions-I admit I do not go for strait out photo-realism. Their clothes look strange because it was a scene from the 60's and some clothing was worn tightly. This is some of my best work, and I stand by it. The Kracken scene alone took an entire week (unfortunately, it is obscured by a design back pane). Another great thing about this book is that it is bold in a time of "plain vanilla" art and writing. This book shows the creatures of legend in the exact way they were feared and perceived. Mermaids were beautiful and terrifying. Jenny Greenteeth will delight and chill. -Just a different perspective, from a source "close" to the project By the way, this book won the 2007 Children's Choice Award from the International Reading Association, which is an honor