Molly Schaar Idle is an American children's book illustrator, author and animator. In 2014, she was awarded a Caldecott Honor for her picture book Flora and the Flamingo .[ 1]
Life and career Molly Idle was born in Los Angeles, California and moved with her family to Tempe, Arizona when she was six years old.[ 2] She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Arizona State University .[ 3] After college, she began her career as an animator for DreamWorks , working as an inbetweener and breakdown artist [ 4] [ 5] for five years. She worked on the films The Road to El Dorado , Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas .[ 6] She also was an animation artist for PBS Kids .[ 3] She left DreamWorks after the studio transitioned to computer animation.[ 7]
Idle's illustrated book, Emma's Gift , was published in 2003. Between 2004 and 2007, her self-illustrated books were published as part of the In God We Trust series of fiction.[ 3]
Idle began a wordless picture book series, starting with the publishing of her book Flora and the Flamingo in 2013. The book received a Caldecott Honor in 2014.[ 3]
Her drawing technique uses a layering of color pencil drawings.[ 4]
Selected works Zombelina (2013), illustrator[ 8] Rodeo Red (2015), illustrator; written by Maripat Perkins[ 9] Coral (2020)
Flora seriesFlora and the Flamingo (2013)Flora and the Penguin (2014)Flora and the Peacocks (2016)Flora and the Ostrich: An Opposites Book (2017)Flora and the Chicks: A Counting Book (2017)[ 3]
Rex seriesTea Rex (2013)Camp Rex (2014)Sea Rex (2015)Santa Rex (2017)Pearl (2018)[ 3]
References ^ Saxon, Antonia (September 9, 2014). "Q & A with Molly Idle" . Publishers Weekly . Retrieved February 13, 2021 . ^ Morrison, Kara (April 12, 2015). "Local Caldecott-winning author shares favorite books" . Arizona Republic . pp. 9D. Retrieved February 23, 2021 . ^ a b c d e f Stock, Jennifer, ed. (2018). "Molly Idle". Something About the Author . Vol. 326. Gale. pp. 107– 110. Retrieved February 13, 2021 . ^ a b Manley, Janet (May 18, 2020). "Author-Illustrator Molly Idle On How Having Children Changes The Way You Read" . Romper . Retrieved February 13, 2021 . ^ Bird, Betsey (May–June 2015). "Apples to elephants: artists in animation" . The Horn Book Magazine . Vol. 91, no. 3. p. 34. Retrieved February 13, 2021 . ^ Willett, Johanna (March 13, 2014). "Success hinges on spirit of story: Movies to Books" . Arizona Daily Star . pp. E014. Retrieved February 23, 2021 . ^ Náñez, Dianna M. (September 19, 2009). "Author/illustrator finds joy of motherhood/art career" . Arizona Republic . p. 8. Retrieved February 23, 2021 . ^ "Zombelina | From the Zombelina series" . Kirkus Reviews . August 1, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2020 .^ Russo, Maria (March 12, 2015). "Here Comes Trouble" . The New York Times . Retrieved June 17, 2020 .