Read All About Denise Brunkus!
You
name it and Denise Brunkus has done it! She worked for a museum copying
illuminated manuscripts, designed stickers, toys, and greeting cards. She has
appeared in national magazines and has even airbrushed art on motorcycles! She
has illustrated more than 60 books. Her most famous work is the Junie B. Jones
series by Barbara Park. Brunkus currently lives in Massachusetts.
As a child, she practiced drawing by
copying the comics out of the Sunday newspaper. As she got older, the world
around her inspired her to draw more and more. At seventeen, the local PTA asked her to
illustrate a booklet for them, and they paid her! That was her first art job
and the start of her career. The art director at Parents magazine asked Brunkus to do an illustration for the
magazine after she saw her greeting card designs. For many years after that,
she appeared regularly in an assortment of national magazines. A publishing
house noticed her illustrations and gave her the opportunity to illustrate her
first book. She has been illustrating children’s books ever since. Brunkus’
favorite part of being an illustrator is being able to settle into a particular
world where she gets to spend time with some very interesting characters.
Creating a Style
All Her Own
Making art has always been Brunkus’
favorite thing to do. As a young artist, she used crayons and paints to make
pictures and cards. She also created dolls and puppets using sticks, Kleenex,
and scraps of fabrics. Now days, Brunkus creates her illustrations using
several types of medium. The most common are watercolor, color pencils, and
pencil. Her illustrations in Junie B. Jones are black and white and the
majority of her other works are in color. Her work has a style of its own, and you
can typically pick her characters out of a crowd!
A Few
((of her many))
Good Books!
Swallow, Pamela Curtis. Groundhog Gets Say. Illustrated
by Denise Brunkus. 2005. Scholastic Inc.
Groundhog
is tired of being forgotten after Groundhog Day is over! Groundhog enlists his
biggest fan and reporter to get the truth out about Groundhogs! Groundhog
teaches the reporter how groundhogs dig their holes, what species they belong
to, what they eat and much more! I love the illustrations in this book, these
characters are full of personality, and the illustrations reflect that!
Isaacs,
Anne. My Teacher for President.
Illustrated by Denise Brunkus. 2004.
Scholastic Inc.
A
boy thinks that his teacher, Mrs. Robinson, would make the perfect president!
To get the word out, he writes a letter to Channel 39 to let them know why she
is the woman for the job! Mrs. Robinson loves white houses, goes to a lot of
meetings, and thinks health care is important. She is a good listener and
possesses many other qualities of a good president. His only request is that
she does not leave until the end of the school year! 
Park, Barbara. Junie B., First Grader (at last!). Illustrated by Denise Brunkus.
2001. Scholastic Inc.
It’s
a brand new year for Junie B. Jones. Goodbye kindergarten, hello first grade! A
new year means new everything, a new classroom, new teacher, and new children!
Junie B. is not sure how she feels about all the change, and things seem to be
getting worse. When everyone else is reading the words off the board, Junie B.
can’t seem to do it. Could it be that Junie B. needs glasses? No one in the
class will like her with glasses…or will they?
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