Naughty Boy

"Slighter, jollier, and sweeter than much of the Keats corpus, the poem is illustrated with delicate watercolor sketches in green and sepia on white space (these come across as long-cherished memories or dreams) interspersed with full-bleed pages of impressionistic full-color art that introduce each of the poem’s four stanzas. The lively illustrations incorporate vignettes, montages, and continuous narration . . . Silverstein resists the temptation of modernizing the poem for contemporary audiences, instead opting for a timeless aesthetic that recalls European illustration of the golden age of children’s literature."—Kirkus Reviews 

PRAISE FOR GRANT SILVERSTEIN'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF 'THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE FROGS AND THE MICE':

"The characters of this dazzling epic spring to life (and death!) in Grant Silverstein's exquisitely detailed drawings."—Ann Temkin, Chief Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art

"The illustrations by Grant Silverstein maintain this balance, taking the combatants seriously (or as seriously as one can take the skinny legs of a standing frog wielding a beet leaf for a shield) and conveying the intensity of the battle."—Light Poetry Magazine

"The main section presents the poem interwoven on every page with Silverstein’s pencil drawings — of frogs and mice and weasels and hawks and snakes and gods with human faces. At first, I thought of the illustration as maybe somewhat analogous to medieval illumination. But as I read on, I realized it wasn’t that at all. There’s too much drama in the drawings’ visual punctuation. I instead came to appreciate their larger role as visual harmonics — a substitute for a lyre, of sorts, accompanying the combined voices of bard and translator. They are an integral part of the success of this small volume, which I am very glad to have read."—Los Angeles Review of Books

"Grant Silverstein’s gracious etchings of animals and gods evoke well-known drawings by Renaissance artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, and provide a lively visual counterpart to the narrative."—Bryn Mawr Classical Review