Marisabina Russo
Author of The Bunnies Are Not in Their Beds
About the Author
Marisabina Russo is a children's book author and illustrator. She has written and illustrated over twenty books for children and young adults. Her most notable books include The Line Up Book (winner of the IRA Children¿s Book Award) and Always Remember Me (an ALA Notable Book). She was born in New show more York, New York and graduated from Mount Holyoke College with BA in Studio Art in 1971. She began her career as a freelance illustrator. Her work appeared frequently in The New Yorker and included several covers. She then went on to illustrate a book of poetry for children, Vacation Time by Nikki Giovanni. She started publishing her own stories with Greenwillow Books in 1986. Russo¿s books come from her childhood memories and her experiences as a mother. Her illustrations, painted in gouache, are colorful and two-dimensional, reminiscent of folk art. Ms. Russo has also written young adult novels. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: credit: Gerard Malanga
copyright: Marisabina Russo
Works by Marisabina Russo
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1950-05-01
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Mount Holyoke College (BA, Studio Art, 1971)
Boston Museum School - Occupations
- illustrator
children's book author
children's book illustrator - Short biography
- Marisabina Russo, née Stark, was born in New York City and grew up in Queens. She knew she wanted to be an artist from an early age. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a BA in Studio Art in 1971, and began her career as a freelance illustrator. Her work appeared frequently in The New Yorker and included several covers. She then went on to illustrate a book of poetry for children, Vacation Time by Nikki Giovanni. She started publishing her own stories in 1986. To date, she has written and illustrated more than 20 books for children and young adults.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Manhattan, New York, USA (born)
Queens, New York, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- New York, USA
Members
Reviews
Too tall to play jump-rope with the other bunnies, too heavy to use the see-saw, and too large-footed to join in the playground games of hop-scotch, Amelia was one very big, and very unhappy bunny. Inventing ways to keep herself occupied during recess (and to keep her mind off her social isolation), she took to watching the clouds, listening to the wind, and thinking important thoughts. And then one day, a very small bunny named Suzanne came to school, and was likewise ostracized by the show more other bunnies, because of her unusual size. Would Amelia and Suzanne bond over their common isolation? Or would their differences in size - even greater than that between the general class population, and either of them - keep them apart...?
A story about learning to accept and celebrate one's own unique body - its size and shape, its differences from the bodies of others - A Very Big Bunny delivers a very important and much-needed message in an entertaining and non-didactic way. I don't know that I found it a particularly brilliant example of the picture-book genre, or that I was terribly thrilled with the solution Suzanne dreams up, to the "issue" of class picture day, but I appreciated the general direction of the story, and thought the gouache artwork was colorful and engaging. All in all, a sweet little book, one I would recommend to young readers who feel embarrassed by their bodies (which, in our image obsessed culture, is probably quite a few of them), or mourn the fact that they don't "fit in." show less
A story about learning to accept and celebrate one's own unique body - its size and shape, its differences from the bodies of others - A Very Big Bunny delivers a very important and much-needed message in an entertaining and non-didactic way. I don't know that I found it a particularly brilliant example of the picture-book genre, or that I was terribly thrilled with the solution Suzanne dreams up, to the "issue" of class picture day, but I appreciated the general direction of the story, and thought the gouache artwork was colorful and engaging. All in all, a sweet little book, one I would recommend to young readers who feel embarrassed by their bodies (which, in our image obsessed culture, is probably quite a few of them), or mourn the fact that they don't "fit in." show less
I was fascinated by the first half as the author described being a devout Catholic in elementary school with a single mother, Sabina Russo, who had converted from Judaism. There is real energy in the scenes with the Sabina's sisters and mother who remain Jewish, chide Sabina for her conversion, and wonder at the little aspiring nun in their midst. Slowly, we are given the stories of how the members of the family survived the Holocaust and migrated to America to start their lives anew. We are show more also introduced to Sabina's half-brothers, one of whom is an artist who hangs with Allen Ginsberg and deals with mental health issues.
Unfortunately, the second half of the book sort of drops those threads and starts to become a more generic string of anecdotes about being a teenage girl growing up in 1960s. As the book is limited to the timeframe of 1957 to 1967, we only see Russo age from basically seven to seventeen. The ending with her going off to college at Mount Holyoke feels more arbitrary than an organic coming-of-age moment. And the next fifty years are reduced to an unsatisfying epilogue and end notes with short biographical sketches of what happened to the various family members before their deaths. show less
Unfortunately, the second half of the book sort of drops those threads and starts to become a more generic string of anecdotes about being a teenage girl growing up in 1960s. As the book is limited to the timeframe of 1957 to 1967, we only see Russo age from basically seven to seventeen. The ending with her going off to college at Mount Holyoke feels more arbitrary than an organic coming-of-age moment. And the next fifty years are reduced to an unsatisfying epilogue and end notes with short biographical sketches of what happened to the various family members before their deaths. show less
This book dealt with some hard themes. The father has to run away and hide, and when the soldiers come to collect him and he is gone, they threaten to take the mom instead. They are able to get the mom to escape, and the children have to live without her for a period of time. Eventually, they escape too, and are reunited.
One thing I liked about the book was when they found out that the dad died (sad), the entire page was black with no illustrations. It helped set the serious tone and also show more the plain blackness helped to focus on the words and the reinforce a feeling of despair and change, as the page was different from the rest of the entire book, which was colorful and generally hopeful in tone.
I didn't like that there was not a single person in the book who was not white.
I also felt that the danger was at most points pretty trivialized, and the reasons for the war and what was going on was not really explained in detail at all. show less
One thing I liked about the book was when they found out that the dad died (sad), the entire page was black with no illustrations. It helped set the serious tone and also show more the plain blackness helped to focus on the words and the reinforce a feeling of despair and change, as the page was different from the rest of the entire book, which was colorful and generally hopeful in tone.
I didn't like that there was not a single person in the book who was not white.
I also felt that the danger was at most points pretty trivialized, and the reasons for the war and what was going on was not really explained in detail at all. show less
An absolutely terrible book. I have no idea what function the adult bunnies in the book were supposed to serve, but it certainly wasn't that of parents, since they were clearly unable to execute discipline (or even, apparently, fathom the concept in any form). It's one thing to have book show naughty children - children are naughty, fine. It's quite another to have overt, blatant disobedience shown 4-5 times (I can't recall how many times the "parents" went up the stairs to tell their demon show more children to go to bed), with absolutely no consequences. And "being too tired to stay awake" is not a consequence.
No, I'm not kidding with this review. Yes, I used scare quotes for parents on purpose. This book seriously pissed me off. show less
No, I'm not kidding with this review. Yes, I used scare quotes for parents on purpose. This book seriously pissed me off. show less
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- Rating
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