Still Life

“London and Zelinsky have created something unendingly fun but also deeply meaningful: Art takes on a life of its own, no matter how much the artist thinks the work can be controlled!” —Brian Selznick, Caldecott Medal–winning author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret

A still life painting is a painting where everything is supposed to stay still. But what if it doesn’t? Acclaimed author Alex London and Caldecott Medal–winning artist Paul O. Zelinsky bring exquisite life and adventure to this slyly funny and inventive picture book for fans of Christopher Denise’s Knight Owl and Corinna Luyken’s The Book of Mistakes. 

Every young artist has drawn or painted a still life scene. Perhaps it is a bowl of fruit, or a toy, or a vase of flowers, or a chair. The only rule is that a still life painting must stay still.

But staying still is hard! Especially for a curious mouse and a hungry dragon and a no-nonsense princess. Will the artist notice that his still life painting is breaking all the rules?

From award-winning author Alex London and Caldecott Medal–winning artist Paul O. Zelinsky, Still Life is a funny, subversive, and clever picture book that brings a painting to wildly imaginative life. Readers will pore over all the silly and surprising details in the illustrations—which tell a story of daring rescues, dashing heroes, and found friends. With its inventive humor, Still Life is for readers of Battle Bunny and David Ezra Stein’s Interrupting Chicken.

Alex London is the acclaimed author of more than thirty books for children and teens, including the picture book Still Life, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. His middle grade novels include The Princess Protection Program, Search & Rescue, Dog Tags, and two titles in the 39 Clues series. For young adults, he’s the author of the cyberpunk duology Proxy and the epic fantasy series Black Wings Beating, which were both named to numerous best-of-the-year lists. He has been a journalist and human rights researcher reporting from conflict zones and refugee camps, a young adult librarian with the New York Public Library, and a snorkel salesman. He lives with his husband, daughter, and hound dog in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Paul O. Zelinsky is the illustrator of many acclaimed books for children. He is the illustrator of Kelly Bingham’s Z Is for Moose and Circle, Square, Moose; Jack Prelutsky’s Awful Ogre’s Awful Day; Emily Jenkins’s Toys Go Out; Alex London’s Still Life; and Anne Isaac’s Dust Devil. He is also the creator of the now-classic interactive book The Wheels on the Bus. His retelling of Rapunzel was awarded the 1998 Caldecott Medal. Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, and Swamp Angel, with different authors, all garnered him a Caldecott Honor. Paul O. Zelinsky lives in New York.