R.W. Alley

Thanks for taking a look at my books.

I have been making up stories and drawing pictures to illustrate them for about as long as I can remember. In many ways, I still spend my days the same way I did when I was ten. This is somewhat confusing to my wife and children, but I don’t seem to be able to help myself.

I had my first look at the world at the Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lexington, Virginia. Before first grade, I also took in the view from: Richmond, Virginia; Morristown, New Jersey; Irving, Texas; and Poughkeepsie, New York. From first to third grade, Columbia, South Carolina was home and I went to school at Heathwood Hall. Finally we settled in Annapolis, Maryland. Fourth to sixth grade was at Germantown Elementary. From seventh grade on, my mom drove me every day to Severn School in Severna Park, Maryland. Did I mention I am an only child?

In college (Haverford College, outside of Philadelphia) I studied the History of Art and tried very hard to have a serious-sounding career as a scholar. But, my mind wandered. Soon I was doodling in the margins and dreaming up stories. Right after graduating I sold one of these stories to a New York publisher. They let me do the pictures, too. THE GHOST IN DOBB’S DINER was published in 1981. I have been making stories and pictures ever since. One of my favorite books that I have both written and illustrated, THE CLEVER CARPENTER, is still in print somewhere in France. There it’s called LES GROSSES BETISES DE MONSIEUR DEBOIS.

At the moment, I am mostly an illustrator. I get to work with many authors who write about a wide variety of characters. I am always learning to draw something new.

Picture books are especially challenging to develop. For example, Susan Katz wrote a wonderful collection of poems about a class that takes field trips to all sorts of museums. For MRS. BROWN ON EXHIBIT AND OTHER MUSEUM POEMS (2002) I had to draw everything from a crawl-through model of the heart to a live butterfly exhibit. For ZIGGY’S BLUE-RIBBON DAY by Claudia Mills (2005), the challenge was to imply a school-wide track and field day while at the same time focusing closely on our hero, Ziggy, and his classmates. And, for DEAR SANTA by Bill Harley (2005), the illustrations had to also include letters written by the main character, Jimmy Dobbins. In fact the whole story is told through Jimmy’s letters; there are no other words in the book. This was very tricky.

Early readers, or beginning readers, are very different from picture books. They are almost like plays. There is very little description; even about what the characters look like; sometimes even whether the characters are humans or animals. Mostly the characters just talk to each other. You might think this would make for dull pictures. But, actually, just the opposite is true. As an illustrator you’re really forced to use your imagination. And very often it makes for some of your best work. Right now I am doing a new series of early readers by Kate McMullan about two buddies and their school adventures. PEARL AND WAGNER, TWO GOOD FRIENDS is just came out in 2003. PEARL AND WAGNER, THREE SECRETS will be out in the spring or summer of 2004. I like these guys a lot. I have also illustrated four books about THE KNOW-NOTHINGS by Michele Sobel Spirn (1995, 1997 and 2000) and two books about DETECTIVE DINOSAUR by James Skofield (1996 and 1998 and maybe another one in a year or two?)

Chapter books have black and white drawings. And not on every page either. This is hard for a picture book/​early reader artist to come to terms with. For Jean Van Leeuwen’s GREAT GOOGLESTEIN MUSEUM MYSTERY, I submitted about twice as many picture ideas than could ever hope to be fit into a two hundred page book. The editors were amused. Once they were revived.

Since 1997, I have been the illustrator for the new Paddington Bear books. The series is co-published in the U.S. and England and available in foreign language editions throughout Europe. The books are all written by Paddington’s creator, Michael Bond. Some are well known Paddington stories and many are brand-new adventures.

Please go to the Paddington link up top for a complete list of the Paddington books I have had a hand in.

During the school year I am happy to travel to schools to talk about making pictures and making stories for children. Mostly I stay close to home, but I have been known to drive out of state. This is a big thing for someone living in Rhode Island.

Please go to the Visit link up top for school and other visit details.

I will try to update this site every month or so. But this is a new thing for me so I don’t know what to expect.

Thanks for stopping by.