Wild Child -first review from Publishers Weekly

cover art for WILD CHILD, written & illustrated by Steven Salerno
(Abrams Books for Young Readers, August 2015)

WILD CHILD
written & illustrated by Steven Salerno
Abrams Books for Young Readers, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4197-1662-1
release date: Aug. 4, 2015/ available now online at Barnes & Noble, and Amazon

Publishers Weekly 
picture book review (May 25, 2015)

“The jungle can be a scary place,” begins Salerno, and his battle royale of an opening scene proves it, as an elephant and rhino point sharp tusks at each other, a gorilla swats at a vulture, snakes and leopards hiss, and a lion and crocodile leap into the fray. But the arrival of a “wild child” who is “Constantly grabbing, pinching, and pooping!” and “Forever pulling, kicking, and crying!” has these kings and queens of the jungle desperate to soothe the ill-tempered babe. Working in mixed-media, Salerno uses slashes of black crayon to outline his characters—it’s perhaps the perfect medium for conveying unadulterated rage, either human or animal. With fierce frowning eyebrows, a scribble of hair, and not a stitch of clothing, the wild child looks like a feral cousin to the star of Salerno’s Harry Hungry!; the animals’ attempts to sooth the child with bugs (the anteater) or roaring (the lion) only fuel its anger. Forceful writing and the improbable gracefulness Salerno bestows on this kicking, biting, punching machine make this a furiously fun read. 
Ages 4–8. (Abrams Books, Aug. 2015)

Visit stevensalerno.com to view my illustration portfolios, as well as my many picture books for children.

WILD CHILD ...my next picture book!

In August 2015 Abrams Books will release my latest picture book, WILD CHILD -my 22 illustrated picture book for kids, the 4th as both author & illustrator. (My first book with Abrams Books, and working with the wonderful editor Tamar Brazis)

Posted here is the final cover... a sneak peak!

It's the story of a new kind of creature suddenly appearing in the jungle and terrifying all the other animals with its annoying, relentless, bad behavior. Out of desperation to restore peace back to their jungle each of the animals try to tame this wild new creature, but without results. It just becomes wilder! Then the Gorilla finally figures out a way to tame it, at least for a little while...

The picture book will be officially released in August, but will probably become available on-line at Barnes & Noble and Amazon even earlier...

Sometime soon I will post more samples from the book including sketches, how I created the illustrations, etc...

Visit stevensalerno.com to view my illustration portfolios and all my picture books for kids. 

Eccentric is the New Normal -PANTALOON is back!

See all my portfolio samples at stevensalerno.com 

Posted above is one of the illustrated scenes from my latest children's book, PANTALOON, just released by Random publishing house in April of this year. (see earlier posts about this picture book by clicking here and here) 

This is the full view of the actual gouache painting (Winsor & Newton designer gouache on Arches 260 lb hot press paper)... in the final printed book the image is cropped slightly as the image bleeds off the page spread on all sides. Pantaloon, the main character of the story, is an obsessed, antsy, quirky, poodle bent on becoming a baker's assistant just so he can get close to all the pastries and sweets he adores. In this scene he's in the tub, wearing all his favorite hats, lamenting on his failed attempts at becoming the baker's new assistant. Pantaloon is a Kathryn Jackson story, and first published in 1951 as a Simon & Schuster Little Golden Book classic, with wonderful illustrations by Leonard Weisgard. 

The remake of the 2010 book called for all new illustrations, and I had the terrific honor of being able to give my stylistic visual spin on the story ... Look for it in the bookstores!