Graeme Base

1
Graeme Base

• Author
• Illustrator
• Musician
• -Peter A. Brown
• EDUC 717
• Summer, 2006

2
A Life, Briefly Told

• born in England, April 6, 1958
• family moved to Australia when he was 6
• grew up (and still resides) in Melbourne
• lives with his wife and three children

3
Artistic Yearnings

• at the age of 12, Graeme knew he wanted to be an
  artist (a commercial artist! he would declare
  at the time)
• after high school, Graeme studied graphic design
  at the Swinbourne Institute of Technology
• worked in advertising (It paid well, but I hated
  it!)

4
Career Beginnings

• 3 advertising jobs in 2 years
• fired from the last of these for incompetence
• did some free lance art work for book publishers
  (mainly covers)
• while showing his portfolio around, Graeme played
  in a band, Rikitikitavi, for five years
• a sort of English technofunk

5
Early Efforts

• Illustrator - Dann, M. (1982) Adventures with My
  Worst Best Friend. New York, NY Oxford Universty
  Press
• Author/Illustrator Base, G. (1983). My Grandma
  Lives in Gooligulch. Australia Penguin.
• Illustrator Carrol, L. Jabberwocky. New York,
  NY. Abrams.

6
International Acclaim!

• after a few small books, and a few illustrating
  jobs, Graeme hits it big!
• Base, G. (1986). Animalia. New York, NY Abrams.

7
Animalia

• is characterized by richly detailed pictures and
  playfully alliterative phrasings
• items beginning with the pages letter are hidden
  throughout each illustration

8
A Confirmed Success!

• Bases international success is solidified with
  his next childrens book
• Base, G. (1989). The eleventh hour. New York, NY
  Abrams.

9
The Eleventh Hour

• The Eleventh Hour is a mystery which invites the
  readers to solve a central problem who ate the
  feast?
• clues are hidden throughout the book, in the
  text, the pictures, and the borders
• many of the clues are in codes which the readers
  are encouraged to break, creating a highly
  interactive reading experience

10
The Eleventh Hour

• A little later in the day some guests played
  Snakes and Ladders,
• Upon a board that squirmed and turned with
  Pythons, Asps and Adders.
• The board was set, the race was on, the game had
  just begun,
• Then Thomas went and ate the dice, so no one ever
  won.

11
The Eleventh Hour

• And meanwhile, midst Egyptian columns, row on
  silent row,
• A Seeker searched while others Hid a game that
  all will know.
• But though her eyes were large and bright, the
  Cats success was small,
• For while she searched with utmost care, she
  found no one at all.

12
Other Key Works of the 1990s

• (1995). Animalia coloring book. New York, NY
  Abrams.
• (1996). The discovery of dragons. New York, NY
  Abrams
• (1998). The sign of the seahorse. New York, NY
  Abrams.

13
The Worst Band in the World

• in 1999 Graeme called on his musical expertise to
  write the story of 13-year-old Sprocc who leaves
  Planet Bipp to compete in the Worst Band in the
  Universe competition
• this book was released with an original CD of
  music by the entrants

14
The Waterhole

• an imaginative counting book, each page brings a
  different type of animal to the jungle waterhole
• many other jungle animals are hidden within the
  illustrations
• (2001) The waterhole. New York, NY Abrams.

15
Truck Dogs

• more in the lines of a chapter book
• aimed at a higher level reader than most of his
  other books
• in the distant future, evolution has created a
  dominant life form that is part dog and part
  machineand which acts like both!

16
Truck Dog

• Bullworth was big as TruckDogs go, a
  bulldog/dozer with a huge mouth, chunky
  caterpillar tracks and a thick stumpy tail. Like
  all TruckDogs he was half vehicle, half dog. He
  ran on diesel, plus some oil for his hydraulics,
  but unlike his Mongrel Pack friends who scarffed
  dog food and gnawed on old bones, Bullworth was a
  vegetarian and ate cabbages by the ton.
• (2003). Truckdogs. New York, NY Amulet.

17
Among the Many Awards

• YABBA (Young Australia Best Books Award
• 2004 TruckDogs
• 1989 The Eleventh Hour
• 1987 Animalia
• KOALA (Kids Own Australian Literature Award)
• 2004 TruckDogs
• 1989 The Eleventh Hour
• 1988 Animalia
• Dromkeen Medal Winner
• 1998 Animalia
• CBC Book of the Year
• 1989 The Eleventh Hour (joint winner)

18

• Within the pages of this book
• You may discover, if you look
• Beyond the spell of written words,
• A hidden land of beasts and birds.
• Graeme Base
• Animalia