Featured KidLit ⭐️ 100 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT SCHOOL 🏫

100 Things I Love About School … and More:
A conversation with Dasha Tolstikova and Leonard Marcus

When picture book artist Amy Schwartz died unexpectedly in February of 2023, at the age of 68, she left behind the finished manuscript for 100 Things I Love About School, the fourth title in a beloved series. Amy had not yet begun work on the final illustrations, but when artist Dasha Tolstikova agreed to step in to complete the book, she had Amy's very rough pencil sketches as well as drawings and designs from the earlier titles to inspire and guide her. Dasha has now created her own set of “100 Things” illustrations that beautifully capture the spirit of Amy's art while also bearing the mark of her own brilliant talent. Recently, Dasha talked about Amy and the challenges posed by this special project with writer-historian Leonard Marcus who, besides having been an occasional collaborator of Amy's, was married to her for 32 years.

	Dasha, one of the many reasons I'm so glad you have illustrated 100 Things I Love About School is that you knew Amy as a fellow illustrator and friend here in Brooklyn. What were some of your impressions of her?
	By the time we met, I was already such a fan of Amy's work and had been for a long time. The first book of hers I ever came across was Lucy Can't Sleep, and then I of course had to go back and look at everything else she had done. I loved particularly how she portrayed the very young children–with such humor and respect, it seemed to me. They are observed and described, visually and textually, and never pandered to.
	Even the youngest children in Amy's drawings look thoughtful and aware. And Amy always dressed her characters with a lot of flair, which I think was a way of showing that they were well cared for.
	Oh, I love that! How did you and Amy meet?
	Amy grew up in San Diego, and after graduating from the California College of Arts and Crafts came East with her portfolio, expecting to stay just long enough to line up a first publishing contract. Things turned out differently, however! Once here, she started to make new friends, found an agent and an apartment, enrolled in a class to hone her writing skills, and began to have a life in New York. Within a year or so, she had sold the now-classic Bea and Mr. Jones, and seen it well reviewed in the New York Times and featured on Reading Rainbow. Big things were happening for her. Around then, she joined an informal group of children's book people who got together for Chinese food once a month, mostly just to have fun and gossip about the publishing industry. I ended up in that group too, and that's where she and I first got to know one another.
	I'm curious about Amy's process. Was there a clear separation between writing and drawing as she worked? Or was it more of a blend?
	Amy really knew how to craft a picture book text, which as we both know is a lot harder than it looks. She had no shortage of ideas and was always working on one. For her, the text came first and served as a road map for the art. She tended to be confident in her creative choices, but also could be very collaborative, and often made changes in response to an editor's or art director's comment.
	Was research a part of Amy's process?
	Yes, she did a surprising amount of picture research. She often drew an object or character off-kilter, which for her was both a humorous gesture and a quiet acknowledgment of human imperfection. Even so, when she wanted to depict a certain kind of dog or car or piece of playground equipment, she always set out to show the essence of it. On the text side, while writing the “100 Things” books, she kept a rhyming dictionary handy that had belonged to her father, who was a part-time writer himself.
	What were her favorite subjects to write about and draw?

Amy's characters usually started out as a version of someone she knew. Her earliest books, for instance, Bea and Mr. Jones and Begin at the Beginning, are really about herself as a child. Later books, like A Teeny Tiny Baby and What James Likes Best, are about our son Jacob as a new-born and toddler. The frazzled, clueless father of A Teeny Tiny Baby is me! Later still, she made stories about nieces and nephews and even some of our neighbors' children as well as her German grandmother (her Oma) and other grownups who were important to her. In all these books, she explored childhood as a time for asking what if?, for facing challenges that might at first feel daunting or scary, and for learning what family and friendship are all about. She had an eye for the absurd and a talent for poking sly but gentle fun at all sorts of foolish behavior–whether that of a child or a grownup–and for recognizing the emotional truth in any situation. Amy also had a strong sense of place, which she associated with feelings of being grounded and loved. Although we visited southern California often, she missed her childhood home and took special pleasure in drawing the palm trees and lush foliage she had grown up around. Even when she was drawing in one of her lighter, looser styles, she depicted her characters' homes in precise detail, often furnishing a room with a chest of drawers or with chairs and tables remembered from the house she had grown up in. Patterns also delighted her–plaids, stripes, zig zags, polka dots–the wilder the better; and, as I've already mentioned, she enjoyed dressing her characters. Even with a pressing deadline hanging over her, she would sometimes redraw an illustration just to see how a character, like Dr. Fell in our book Mother Goose's Little Misfortunes, would look in a different outfit.

	But what, I wonder, would your answer be to this same question? What are your favorite subjects to write about and draw?
	For me drawing and writing are really just a way to figure out how the world works. I find that the world contains infinite mysteries – and I don’t mean just the regular mysteries of what’s at the bottom of the ocean or what makes a television work – but how and why are people who they are. And for me kids are the most interesting of people both because they are so entirely themselves and because they are so absorbed in learning everything all of the time. Ninety-nine percent of the time I would prefer to converse with a child than with a grown-up – so I naturally want to write and draw about and for them.
	Would you talk about the experience of illustrating 100 Things? Did illustrating this book remind you of your own earliest experiences of school?
	It honestly made me wish I was in pre-school RIGHT NOW! So many things I wish I was doing with my days – like squishing clay, and taking naps, and reading books in reading nooks. Although I suppose as a freelance writer and illustrator my life does resemble that of a preschooler some days. My own early school experiences were in Russia, where we have a very strong divide between first grade, which is considered REAL school and is very serious with reading and writing, and kindergarten, which kids can start going to as early as four, I think. I myself was actually a very home-bodied kid and did not really like going – I preferred to stay home and make up stories with my toys. I probably could have used a book like 100 Things to lure me in.

	You have such a joyful and distinctive sense of color. This makes me wonder about how you became the artist you are now.
	That is so nice to hear! Thank you, Leonard! I love thinking about color and which colors go with each other. I came up through various art educations – an art school in Russia, which was quite academic, then when we moved to America I took art classes in high school and college – which were less technically rigorous but more freeing emotionally. After college, I moved back to Russia for a time and for a while studied oil painting, which is when I think I began to really think about color. My instructor was from an impressionist school and my own approach to color is fully intuitive. Don’t tell my design students! – but I don’t really understand things like color theory – I go by feel and sight.
	You had to draw so many characters for this book. How did you keep track of them all? How did you manage to give each one a different look and personality?
	I had the best time coming up with the characters – between rough sketches and final art I came up with little stories about each of them in my head – which made it easy to keep each of them their own person. And I LOVE hearing you talk about how much Amy enjoyed dressing her characters – I thought SO MUCH about what each one of them would wear – every outfit felt very important as a way to highlight their personalities. After about a hundred kids, I began to run out of ideas but then I borrowed my friend’s Montessori school yearbook, and also would take copious notes on my phone of cool outfits I saw kids wear in my neighborhood. Can I close by saying what a joy it was to illustrate this book? I loved working on it, trying to inhabit a little bit of Amy’s wonderful cozy book world. Thank you for entrusting me with it.

And thank you, Dasha.

ABOUT the BOOK

❤️ 100 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT SCHOOL 🏫

written by Amy Schwartz, illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova
An exuberant tribute to school from award-winning writer Amy Schwartz and illustrator Dasha Tolstikova. Includes a poster of all 100 things on the back of the jacket―perfect for an inspiring message on a classroom wall.

From Amy Schwartz, beloved author of 100 Things That Make Me Happy, 100 Things I Love to Do with You, and 100 Things I Know How to Do, comes this celebration of all the best things about school.

The rhyming text is perfect for classroom or playroom read-alouds, and charming illustrations by Dasha Tolstikova cover everything―big, small, serious, and silly―the littlest scholars look forward to in the classroom.

Class pet
The alphabet
Stencils
Pencils…

📝 About Amy Schwartz

Amy Schwartz (1954–2023) was a beloved author and illustrator who made more than sixty picture books, including Bea and Mr. Jones, a Reading Rainbow featured title; What James Likes Best, a Charlotte Zolotow Award winner; A Teeny Tiny Baby; I Can’t Wait!; Busy Babies; 13 Stories about Harris; 13 Stories About Ayana; and the 100 Things series. From the very beginning of her career, Amy had an impeccable eye and ear for the specific details of the lives of young children, and this gave her books a universal honesty that touched readers of all ages.

📝 About Dasha Tolstikova

Besides illustrating books I enjoy (in no particular order) walks in the woods, mysteries, and pastries. I like winter (SNOWSHOEING!) and dislike summer (TOO! HOT!) I also like drawing NOT for books – so if you happen to be an art director – keep me in mind for things like PACKAGE DESIGN, TEXTILE DESIGN (I am dying to do a line of silk scarves!), EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION, LOGO DESIGN etc.  Some people I have worked with in the past include: Random House, Harper Collins, Enchanted Lion Books, Groundwood Books, New York Magazine, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, HBO, Middlebury Alumni Magazine, and Moscow News.

Connect with Dasha Tolstikova

Website | Instagram

📝 About Leonard Marcus

Leonard’s pathfinding writings and exhibitions have earned him acclaim as one of the world’s preeminent authorities on children’s books and the people who create them. He is the author of more than 25 award-winning biographies, histories, interview collections, and inside looks at the making of children’s literature’s enduring classics. His reviews and commentary have been featured in the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, The Horn Book, and on numerous radio and television programs including Good Morning America, All Things Considered, PBS NewsHour, BBC Radio 4, CBC As It Happens, Beijing Television, and Radio New Zealand, among others.

A founding trustee of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Leonard curated the New York Public Library’s landmark exhibition The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter, as well as a long roster of touring exhibitions highlighting the art of Golden Books, Alice and Martin Provensen, Leonard Weisgard, Bernard Waber, Jules Feiffer, Garth Williams, and others. He has served as a consultant to the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, National Book Foundation, Bank Street College of Education, American Writers Museum, Bard Graduate Center, National Book Council (Singapore), Lamsa Media (UAE), and Trust Bridge Media (China). In 2007, the Bank Street College of Education awarded Leonard an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. In 2019, Leonard became the first American to win the Shanghai-based Chen Bochui Foundation International Children’s Literature Award for “special contributions to the development of Chinese children’s literature.”

His literary archive is now in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University. Leonard teaches at New York University and the School of Visual Arts, and speaks to audiences throughout the US and around the world.

Born in Mount Vernon, New York and educated at Yale and the Iowa Graduate Writers’ Workshop, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Connect with Leonard Marcus

Website | Facebook