Notes

207 pages : illustrations (chiefly colour) Summary: Finlay MacDonald tells the tale of how a small girl raised in Kaingaroa Forest became the illustrator and virtuoso wordsmith behind so many picture books that are living classics.But this is not just a story about a storyteller, it is a book that explores Lynley Dodd's working world. What is the secret behind her stories' linguistic dexterity? How does her paintbrush capture the sometimes comic, sometimes tragic expressions of her animal characters with such precision? As well as many favourite and familiar book illustrations, this volume contains never-before-seen sketches and cartoons, character roughs and picture-book drafts.The Life and Art of Lynley Dodd is both a tale of remarkable success and a window into a brilliant creative mind.'People don't belive me when I tell them that Hairy Maclary fell out of a book - literally - but he did. It was just a scrap of paper I'd tucked between the pages of my ideas book, as you do. And I picked it up and thought, well, yes, I could do this. So I did.' (Publisher)