This year’s National Book Festival poster illustrator, Peter Ferguson, has created a visual puzzle of literary characters eagerly listening to a book being read aloud. There are 17 books in Ferguson’s drawing. One is being read aloud, a rabbit is holding a second and there are 15 other books in the foreground.
Right: 2010 National Book Festival poster illustrator Peter Ferguson.
All told, 18 characters are depicted, not including the child reading in the chair. Children and adults alike can have fun spotting these characters and researching their origin in the wonderful world of literature. Questions and answers about the poster can be found on the “Eye Spy” feature on the National Book Festival Kids and Teachers website at www.loc.gov/bookfest/kids-teachers/.
Ferguson set his sights on an illustration career after seeing the movie “Star Wars” and resolving to draw spaceships. After graduating from the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto in 1992, he began his career as a professional illustrator, using oil as his medium of choice. Ferguson’s ability to conceptualize clients’ ideas as well as his distinctive characters gave him a running start in the editorial and book publishing markets. His clients include Marvel Comics, the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He is the illustrator of Michael Buckley’s “Sisters Grimm” series, among other works.
