Manya Stojic (1967-) Biography

Born 1967, in Yugoslavia. Education: Belgrade Faculty of Applied Arts and Design, B.A. (graphic design).

Addresses

Agent—Peters, Fraser & Dunlop, Drury House, 34-43 Russell St., London WC2B 5HA, England.

Career

Author, illustrator, and graphic designer.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Rain, Crown (New York, NY), 2000.

Oblici (title means "Shapes"), Kreativni Centar (Belgrade, Yugoslavia), 2002.

Wet Pebbles under Our Feet, Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.

Snow, Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.

Hello World! Greetings in Forty-two Languages around the Globe!, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002.

Zamslite Deco, Kreativni Centar (Belgrade, Yugoslavia), 2003.

Baby Goes Too!, Chrysalis Books (New York, NY), 2003.

ILLUSTRATOR

Ken Wilson-Max, A Book of Letters, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002.

Sidelights

Yugoslavian-born author and illustrator Manya Stojic creates simple texts, then enriches them with her brightly colored acrylic paintings. Her picture books Snow and Rain focus on the change in weather from an animal's perspective, while a human child's viewpoint is reflected in both Wet Pebbles under Our Feet and the 2002 book Hello World! Greetings in Forty-two Languages around the Globe!, which includes pictures of children uttering the same friendly "Hello!," each in their own native language. Described as a "fast-moving" story by Booklist contributor Kathy Broderick, Snow follows geese, rabbits, a fox, a moose, and other cold-climate animals as they prepare for their first snowfall, while Rain similarly focuses on African creatures who sense that the seasonal rains are fast approaching their dry savannah home. Despite its simple text, Rain provides more than an entertaining story, according to Booklist reviewer Ilene Cooper, who cited the book for providing "an easy entry into a discussion of weather patterns and how they affect habitat." Snow also contains an easy-to-read text, making the book's highlight Stojic's brightly colored paintings. According to Broderick, these pictures "capture the physicality of the animals in a brief, transforming moment in time": the season's first snowfall.

Wet Pebbles under Our Feet is the story of a little girl who listens to her mother and uncles talk about their memories of growing up on a coastal island, where the beach and sea was a major part of their life. Traveling with these older relatives and hearing them relate their fond memories of childhood, the girl feels more comfortable about visiting the group's ultimate destination: the island home of her grandmother, where she has never been. In School Library Journal Lisa Gangemi Krapp wrote that Stojic's "bold brush strokes" complement a simple text full of "warmth and detail," while a Kirkus Reviews critic praised the "bold text [that] splashes across the lavishly applied swirls of paint that fill each page." Citing the "elegant simplicity" of Stojic's story, a Publishers Weekly reviewer added that readers of Wet Pebbles under Our Feet will share the excitement of the young protagonist as she "takes her own first walk on the pebbly island shore and implants herself into the family's story."

In addition to writing and illustrating her own books, Stojic has created illustrations for Ken Wilson-Max's concept book A Book of Letters. A lift-the-flap book, A Book of Letters contains not only one page for every letter of the alphabet; it also contains actual letters in the form of a chain of correspondence begun by Zuzu, who sends a brief note to friend Abby, who sends a brief note to a friend with a name beginning with "B" and so on until the chain comes full-circle back to Zuzu. The final page is an envelope containing a pull-out list of all the names of the twenty-six letter-writers, listed in order from A to Z.