Bianca with David Litchfield on Cress Watercress

In this episode, Bianca talks with multi-award-winning illustrator and author David Litchfield about his artwork in Cress Watercress, a novel written by Gregory Maguire, the author of the incredibly popular books in the Wicked Years series, including Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which inspired the musical.

David Litchfield started to draw when he was very young, creating comics for his older brother and sister. Since then his work has appeared in magazines, newspapers, and books and on T-shirts. His first picture book, The Bear and the Piano won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. He is also the illustrator of Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and War Is Over by David Almond. David lives with his family in Bedford, England.

Order a copy of Cress Watercress on Bookshop.org, Amazon, or Audible.

Transcription:

You can read the transcription on The Children's Book Review.

Resources:

https://www.davidlitchfieldillustration.com/

https://gregorymaguire.com/

When the Sky Glows

Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder

Cosgrove Hall

The Bright Agency

Camberwell College of Art

Easy Riders, Raging Bull by Peter Biskind

Discussion Topics:

• About David Litchfield
• About Cress Watercress
• The influence of classic books, such as Wind in the WIllows
• The significance of using both dark and light artwork
• David Litchfield's creative process and character development
• The characters of Cress Watercress
• Staying motivated creating books for children
• Advice on becoming a children's book illustrator
• The art teacher and life moments that have inspired David Litchfield
• Writing for the middle middle-grade audience
• Identifying as a reader
• David Litchfield's hopes for Cress Watercress