A Celebration of Colorful Critters

By Sally Lodge, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 8/30/2007

A motorcycle-riding snake, tea-drinking gnus and a red carpet-strolling leopard are some of the eccentric creatures Robert L. Forbes introduces in Beastly Feasts! A Mischievous Menagerie in Rhyme, which The Overlook Press will publish next month. Accompanying Forbes’s poems are fanciful illustrations by British artist Ronald Searle, whose many books include Searle’s Cats and Cat O’Nine Tales and whose art has appeared in magazines and newspapers worldwide.

This is the first children’s book by Forbes, who has pursued several other careers. He is v-p of Forbes Inc. and president of ForbesLife magazine, and has authored numerous articles on food and travel, produced documentary films and coauthored Toy Boats 1870–1955: A Pictorial History. Additionally, he spends time across the Atlantic, as the proprietor of an organic vineyard in the Languedoc region of France.

What inspired him to publish a book of children’s poems? “My love of animals and my love of poetry,” Forbes answers. “My wife and I like to go to the zoo and see the wonders of nature there and I had written a number of poems based on those visits. And some of the poems I wrote for the book are based on other experiences. ‘Spike the Biker,’ for instance. I spent many days and thousands of miles riding on motorcycles with my dad [Malcolm S. Forbes] and I began thinking, ‘What is the most unlikely critter to get on a bike?’ and a snake came to mind.”

Forbes is a long-time fan of Searle, who has contributed illustrations to ForbesLife. “I thought there was no one better to illustrate my poems, and imagine my absolute delight when he agreed to. He is now 87 and at the very top of his form. Each time I send off poems to him and he returns a batch of drawings I feel like a kid at Christmas-time.”

The project landed at Overlook thanks to what he terms a “lucky connection.” A friend of his, Maria B. Campbell, who heads a scouting agency, is a friend of Peter Mayer, Overlook’s publisher and CEO, who acquired the book. After the original editor left the company, Aaron Schlechter inherited the task of editing Beastly Feasts! The book, Schlechter says, “came into place very smoothly. Bob has a passion for poetry, knows quite a bit about publishing and was a pleasure to work with.”

The most challenging part of the project, recalls the editor, was procuring good reproductions of Searle’s art, which is created using numerous media, including pencil, markers, crayon and liquid paper. “It’s sometimes hard to get good color matches when you’re working with Wite-Out,” Schlechter says. “We had to go back and scan the art multiple times to pick up all the details.”

Searle’s original artwork for Beastly Feasts! will be on display at the Forbes Gallery on lower Fifth Avenue from September 8–29 and at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London from October 12–31. At the end of September, Forbes will embark on a five-city tour to promote the book.

The prolific poet has written enough animal poems (which Searle has already illustrated) to fill at least one sequel to Beastly Feasts! and he expects there might be additional children’s books in his future. “I’m not exactly sure what other books I might do,” he muses, “but I know I will always use poetry and rhyme to get where I want to go.”