Lane Smith has been deconstructing things ever
since he fractured his first fairy tale, The True Story of the
Three Little Pigs, with Jon Scieszka. He's poked fun at science and math (Science
Curse; Math Verse, both with text by Scieszka), has taken a stab at
the future (Madam President, which he wrote and illustrated) and a crack
at the history books, when he imagined the mischievous childhoods of the Fab
Four Founding Fathers: John, Paul, George & Ben. It's a Book!,
which Smith wrote and illustrated, takes things a bit further: a jackass
questions a monkey about the very nature of the bound book itself ("Can it
text? Tweet? Wi-fi?")! Here Smith discusses the influencing factors that
led him to this moment. It's
a Book! (Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan, ages 4-8) was published August
10, 2010.
On your nightstand now:
ChapStick, Gringos by Charles Portis, pen and paper, Marvel Masterworks: Rawhide Kid Vol II, iPod, Selected Short Stories of William Faulkner (Modern Library), booklight.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Some favorites: Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Poe, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Jean Shepherd's stuff, Major Matt Mason (Big Little Book #22).
Your top five authors:
Flannery O'Connor, Charles Schulz, Truman Capote, George Saunders, Italo Calvino.
Book you've faked reading:
Epson 10000 XL Scanner manual. Overwritten, dense and confusing. The illustrations are unimaginative as well.
Book you are an evangelist for:
True Grit by Charles Portis.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Oh lord, I have hundreds. And many in languages I can't read. Check out my site curiouspages.blogspot.com/ for some of my favorites.
The five artists you most admire:
Edward Hopper, Paul Klee, Edward Gore, Jean Dubuffet, Alexander Calder.
Book that changed your life:
Calvino's Marcovaldo. Like Buster Keaton on the page.
Favorite line from a book:
"And it was still hot."--From Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The Nick Adams Stories by Hemingway.