The Rockingham News
Friday, August 4, 2006
By Kathleen D. Bailey

By the book
Illustrator tells young audience how library helped her get started

RAYMOND – MaryAnna Austrew knew early on that her daughter Neva would be some kind of an artist. “When she was 2, she went around writing her name on everything,” she said.

Neva Austrew is still writing her name, but now she’s writing it on copies of her first published book. Austrew, a professional illustrator, did the illustrations for “Daddy’s Girl,” written by Breena Jacobs of Washington, D.C. and published by Bookworm Books. She talked about her work to a young audience at the Dudley-Tucker Library as part of the Summer Reading Program Thursday, July 27.

Austrew grew up in Raymond and honed her skills in Raymond schools. A children’s literature class at Raymond High School helped her to focus her energies. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from Syracuse University.

Austrew has never laid eyes on Breena Jacobs, the author of “Daddy’s Girl.” They met online. “She was looking for an illustrator, and I was looking to illustrate,” Austrew said. It took her about three months to do the art for the book. Jacobs first self-published the book, but it has since been picked up by a distributor, the Independent Publishing Group, and is receiving national distribution.

The story tells of a young African-American girl and her bond with her father. The vibrant paintings take children through a day of meals, driving to school, play, and that all-important bedtime story and good-night prayer.

According to the jacket notes, the book was intended to give a positive impression of African-American fathers. Jacobs is planning more books with African-American protagonists and themes.

While the heroine is African-American, Austrew pointed out to her young audience that the book is really about love. “Did you come here tonight with someone you love?” she asked.

“I came with three people,” one boy responded.

After she read the book, Austrew demonstrated her sketching talent with pictures of a mother and baby elephant and a mother and a baby giraffe. She raffled the pictures by having kids guess a number, and two children went home with an original Neva Austrew.

Austrew patronized the Children’s Room when she was little. “I love this library,” she said with a smile. Her favorite children’s books were “Tikki Tikki Tembo,” “The Jolly Postman,” and “The Country Bunny.” She admitted to “cleaning out” the children’s book bin at the recent library book sale.

She learned her trade from those early library visits. Her favorite illustrators are Maurice Sendak, Tomie de Paola and Eric Carle. She also likes Betsy Lewin, who illustrated a book called “Click Clack Moo.”
Austrew hopes to do more books, and is thinking about graduate school. In the meantime, she works as a freelance illustrator. “That means taking any work that comes my way.” She recently illustrated the annual report for New Hampshire Healthy Kids. In addition, she teaches illustration at the Currier Art School in Manchester and at the Kimball-Jenkins Estate in Concord.

If she has her way, her future will include more picture books. “You get to use your imagination, to think back to when you were younger,” Austrew said. “It keeps you young. Children don’t take life so seriously, and they know what’s important. They’re an audience open and ready for ideas.”
How would she advice a child interested in illustration? “Draw every day,” Austrew said. “Find something that inspires you, and just keep drawing. When I was your age I was inspired by Disney characters. I drew them from coloring books, movies.”

And practice writing your name.