{"id":4377,"date":"2011-04-24T00:01:09","date_gmt":"2011-04-24T07:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dvan.org\/?p=4377"},"modified":"2018-10-14T22:02:37","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T05:02:37","slug":"leuyen-pham-childrens-book-illustrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dvan.org\/2011\/04\/leuyen-pham-childrens-book-illustrator\/","title":{"rendered":"LeUyen Pham, Children’s Book Illustrator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Le Uyen Pham has a history like many of us Vietnamese Americans. She was born in Saigon in 1973, left in 1975 on a US transport, bounced around before settling near Pasadena, CA. She briefly attended UCLA for political science before her artwork was recognized for what it is, and she was accepted into the Art Center College of Design at Pasadena. She would briefly work at Dreamworks before quitting even that job to enter the finicky world of children’s picture books. Contributor Julie Nguyen reviews Le Uyen Pham’s work below.<\/em><\/p>\n

[before we begin: have you heard about our subscriber drive<\/a>? win an iPod and other prizes!]<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
LeUyen Pham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Le Uyen Pham usually squishes her name together as LeUyen Pham. I\u2019m not entirely sure why and haven\u2019t found out in any of the various interviews or bios I\u2019ve read but if ever I meet her, I\u2019m going to ask. She appears infrequently, seeming to modestly avoid the spotlight, but I recently read on her blog<\/a> that she\u2019ll be attending some book signings in San Francisco (where she also lives) on April 9th, April 17th, and May 7th.<\/p>\n

From her blog:<\/p>\n

April 9th
\nCHARLES M. SCHULZ MUSEUM
\nSecond Saturday Cartoonist Series
\n2301 Hardies Lane, San Rosa, CA 94503
\n1-3 pm<\/span><\/p>\n

April 17th
\nBooks Inc, Burlingame CA
\n1375 Burlingame Avenue
\nBurlingame, CA 94010<\/span><\/p>\n

MAY 7th
\nBooks Inc, Chestnut Street Store
\n2251 Chestnut Street
\nSan Francisco, CA 94123<\/span><\/p>\n

And more information about these signings here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So now I\u2019m going to backtrack and tell you who this lady is. She\u2019s most known for her charming work as a children\u2019s book illustrator. Let me just say that her drawings have more life in them than two hours of Pixar animation. From soft furry creatures under moonlit skies to simple brush strokes of vibrant, exuberant children, Pham puts life to a page like a magician. I\u2019m not kidding. Pick up Big Sister, Little Sister<\/em> or Freckleface Strawberry<\/em> to see what I mean. So many of the books she’s illustrated would not be the story they are without her drawings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nBig Sister, Little Sister<\/em> (2005) was her first authored book, originally written with the intention of being a personal birthday gift for her own ch\u1ecb. Happily, this book was shared with the world, and we get a sweet story that delivers snarky lines like: \u201cThe Big Sister thinks she\u2019s always right. I\u2019m the little sister. I know I\u2019m right.\u201d The illustrations are like the cream on the cake, depicting two funny girls exerting their vivacious personalities, caught between looking out for and squabbling with one another.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nPham\u2019s second authored book is a relatively new one having been published in 2010. It is dedicated to her two sons and is titled All the Things I Love About You<\/em>. I have to admit the prose in this story is a bit trite, but at least it\u2019s straightforward. You\u2019ll get lines like: \u201cI love when you hold my hand. And even when you let go…I know I haven\u2019t.\u201d The story is better told in the pictures, revealing a squirming, restless child escaping bare-bottomed, just out of reach.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThese are the only two books that Pham has authored. She\u2019s illustrated several more (totalling more than 30) and has represented a fine array of people of color (and furs) as well as a great diversity in genre and art style. From the beautiful tranquil forests of Can You Do This, Old Badger?<\/em> (by Even Bunting) to the rough edges of the violent adventure in the graphic novel Prince of Persia<\/em> (by Jordan Mechner) to the expressive minimalist of Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things<\/em> (by Lenore Look) to the optimistic energy of Grace For President<\/em> (by Kelly DiPucchio). But perhaps she\u2019s most famous for her work in the daffodil pages of Freckleface Strawberry<\/em> (by Julianne Moore), which was recently adapted into a musical. Her art was plastered across bus stops and taxis for weeks here in NYC, to the delight of my 3-year-old. We’re both fans.<\/p>\n

For the most part, we’ve enjoyed the books that LeUyen Pham has contributed to, and even if the story may be boring (as is the case for a minor few), at least we can always count on some endearing art to captivate us in some way.<\/p>\n

–Julie Nguyen<\/p>\n

Julie Nguyen likes toads a lot but only eats vegetables. She’s still wondering how she got picked up as a contributor on diaCRITICS. She enjoys drawing and creative writing, and has been self-educating herself on Vietnamese history, both the documented and the mythological, as well as improving her comprehension of the language so she can pass it on to her funny daughter. She resides in NYC.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/p>\n

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Le Uyen Pham has a history like many of us Vietnamese Americans. She was born in Saigon in 1973, left in 1975 on a US transport, bounced around before settling near Pasadena, CA. She briefly attended UCLA for political science before her artwork was recognized for what it is, and she was accepted into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[]},"categories":[7,62,98],"tags":[449],"yoast_head":"\nLeUyen Pham | Children's Book Illustrator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Contributor Julie Nguyen reviews Le Uyen Pham\u2019s work of illustrating children's books.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dvan.org\/2011\/04\/leuyen-pham-childrens-book-illustrator\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LeUyen Pham | Children's 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