Astronaut #8

Here's another mixed-media/digital creation. The thing I don't really like about working on the computer is that work never seems to be "done." One can keep tweaking and changing things forever.

Astronaut #7

A little change of pace here. This is a brush drawing, pencil overlay, scan of finger-painted construction paper, and topped off with digital color.

Furious George in Parenting Magazine

Here's a tiny review of "Furious George" in Parenting Magazine (School Years)

Furious George Review#2

Here's another nice review, this time from Kirkus Reviews...

"George, a very large ape, lives happily in the jungle until a man in a funny hat traps him. The man in the funny hat sells George to a zoo, but George doesn’t like being locked up. George goes bananas. The man in the funny hat finds him only to sell him to a construction crew. George works hard, but the foreman doesn’t give him water. When a brick falls on George’s head, George goes ape! Next the man in the funny hat sells George to a Broadway director. When the audiences laugh at him. George gets furious again. When the man in the funny hat sells George to a scientist who wants to shoot him into space, George finally uses his brain for a little creative revenge and a quick trip back to his beautiful jungle. Rex’s latest parody of a classic (Runaway Mummy, 2009, etc.) will tickle the funny bone with its mix of slapstick and deadpan silliness. The bright, digitally colored pencil illustrations hit just the right note of goofy mayhem to please fans of that OTHER George, especially those with an eye for detail. (Picture book. 4-7)"

—Kirkus, 4/1/10

Signing, May 15!

Furious George Goes Bananas will be in stores on May 13!



I'm doing a reading and signing on Saturday, May 15 at "The Voracious Reader," located at 1997 Palmer Ave, Larchmont. NY. I'll be there from 2:00 to 3:00.
The Voracious Reader





Here's a review of "Furious George" from Publisher's Weekly!

Furious George Goes Bananas: A Primate ParodyMichael Rex, Putnam, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-399-25433-8
Rex, creator of the Margaret Wise Brown parodies The Runaway Mummy and Goodnight Goon, takes on the Rey franchise in this escapade. His protagonist’s resemblance to Curious George is only in the details, since Furious George is a huge purple gorilla captured by an opportunist in a pith helmet. The “man in the funny hat,” a craven alter ego to Rey’s fatherly Man in the Yellow Hat, does not care for his captive. He peddles George to a zoo, construction site, Broadway show, and lab, growing richer by the sale. In a running gag that takes aim at the Rey books, he repeatedly refers to Furious George as a monkey, something each buyer attempts to correct. “[H]e ain’t a monkey, he’s an ape,” notes the construction foreman. “A monkey got a tail.” (Like Curious George, Furious doesn’t have one.) Enraged at being locked up, having to lay bricks, etc., Furious George “goes bananas” several times, though Rex makes it clear he’s not destructive by nature--he just wants to get home, which he eventually accomplishes. Rex preserves Rey’s comic-strip palette and earnest tone, while humorously delivering a message about avarice. Ages 5–8. (May)