Mira Reisberg

A Sesame Street Read-A-Long. Recommended by the Elementary School Library Collection.
A KCET/Storytime Featured Title.

Kirkus "Attractively illustrated in sophisticated desert colors, the bold designs framed in imaginative borders, incorporate Native American motifs." 5/91

Publishers Weekly "Reisberg's vivid fanciful illustrations perfectly depict the Southwestern setting: the many comical touches include a derby sporting father and a heavily made-up mother. The paintings' sparkling borders make splendid use of regional flora and fauna." 12/89

The Reading Teacher "The illustrations are bright and clever, especially the way the snakes' faces and patterns vary according to age and gender. Humorous and warm." 10/91

Children's House/Children's World "Using brightly colored paper and gouache paints, the baby rattlesnake and his family are as loveable as Dino the Dinosaur." The Bloomsbury Review "The artwork dances on the page with bright colors, visual puns and pleasing shapes: this is the kind of book to delight both children and older folks who have the privilege to introduce the tale over and over again." 5/91

Books of the Southwest "With great illustrations that make rattlesnakes' markings into colorful contemporary designs." The Mecklenburg Gazette "Artist Veg Reisberg portrays a loveable, but spunky fellow. Her portrait of a father sporting a derby hat, and mother complete with ruby-red lips, is endearing. Try not to smile as they envelop their little one in a heart-shaped, snakey hug." 5/93

San Francisco Chronicle "Reisberg's gouache paints and cut paper cunningly adapt Southwest Indian art traditions. The vigorous bold colors and patterns appear nearly three dimensional so much so that in places, you could just reach out and touch the sand." 5/90

.A UNICEF - Ezra Jack Keats Award Citation. A Reading Rainbow Selection. Recommended by the Elementary School Library Collection. Parents Choice Approved Book.

Kirkus "Appropriately illustrated in bold colors and stylized forms that recall Central American folk art." 8/89

Horn Book Magazine "with vibrant illustrations in full color, will encourage discussion and delight children."

Books of the SouthWest "Delightful colorful illustrations face brief pages of text in both English and Spanish"

Utne Reader "Reisberg's primitive drawings are bright and full of detail."

Recommended by the Elementary School Library Collection.

Publishers Weekly "The highly stylized art dramatic in its colors, patterns and evocation of fairy tale Eastern Europe further enhances the story's appeal." 11/90

Kirkus "The story is illustrated with sturdy forms and bright colors that pay homage to its traditional origins." 12/90

Bookwatch "Reisberg's color drawings enhance this gentle story of love."

Children's Advocate "Sarito Pinto says she likes the vivid pictures because there is a lot of detail in them."

Focus "Reisberg has dressed the book's pages in the bright colors of traditional Estonian crafts. Elinda's clothing is typically Eastern European, as are details of daily life, like the good luck stork who feeds the new born goddess. Fantastic representations of the Sun, Moon and other celestial visitors will also captivate young reader." 2/92

San Francisco Chronicle "Best Bets of 1992" Selection.

School Library Journal "Bold detailed paintings in a primitive style feature family members and household scenes surrounded by borders filled with items relating to the text. Reisberg has added a further sense of realism by incorporating small family photographs into several of her illustrations."

Hungry Mind Review "What makes this book shine are the fascinating illustrations by Mira Reisberg - brightly colored family scenes that sometimes fuse real family photos from the author and illustrator's families into the background of the illustrations. Like framed icons, the interior pictures enrich the story being told and often heighten the symbols of the family's life in a manner reminiscent of Chagall. The mixed media presentation is vivid, historically fascinating, and lends a sense of mystery to the family's journey."

Moment Magazine "Reisberg's exuberant painting - collages evoke the era in a style that combines folk art and contemporary design."

San Francisco Chronicle "Touching scenes"

Small Press Magazine "Mira Reisberg's bold colorful illustrations incorporate tiny photographs of people and places and are bordered to suggest framed family portraits."

Kirkus "In the intensely tropical colored paintings, cats are purple, memories are turquoise, and a many hued bus announces that its destination is "El Mundo" ("The World"). Fireflies and a number of photographs figure into the illustrations, each of which has a uniquely appropriate border."

Booklist "Bold cheery illustrations will help attract readers to the unusually sophisticated (though still accessible) text." 1/98

School Library Journal "Reisberg's brilliantly colored, primitive illustrations and arresting borders add immeasurably to the sense of place. This is a sure winner for storytimes."

Multicultural Review "The illustrations are bright, dynamic." 12/97

Five Owls "The fourteen self-portraits in this book are bright bold, clear and awash with color. they may make you smile or laugh, give you pause, or transport you to another world. Each one is a delight, and together they are mesmerizing."

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "The text is involving and friendly, each individual artist giving a tiny gift of self as they relate his or her "why I make art story"; Mira Reisberg tells how her mother, a holocaust survivor, gave her her first art supplies saying "I can't give you a beautiful world, but you can make one for yourself." 2/98

Kirkus "Australian born Mira Reisberg's gallery of inspirational figures includes Groucho Marx. Although done in individual styles, the art's crisp lines, bold colors and commonality of feeling creates a visual unity unusual to albums of this sort, a unity reinforced by the artists' unforced, natural-sounding, statements." 2/99

Hungry Mind Review "Mira Reisberg's family tree or "Ancestral Wall of Wonderful Relatives" includes portraits not only of her parents and grandparents but also of the Kouri (Aboriginal) people from Australia where she grew up, Albert Einstein, Groucho Marx and Hannah Senesh, Jewish poet and Resistance fighter killed in the Holocaust."

Booklist "Mira Reisberg is inspired by her Jewish grandparents, and also by a wide range of artists from Frida Kahlo to Groucho Marx. The pictures are as lively, colorful and diverse as the stories, blending realism, metaphor and memory." 1/99