I’m Gonna Paint: Ralph Fasanella, Artist of the People

The life of visionary folk artist and labor organizer Ralph Fasanella stunningly illustrated for picture book readers.

Winner of the Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children’s Literature
Winner of the Silver Medal at the Society of Illustrators’ Original Art Show

Born in 1914 New York City to Italian immigrants, Ralph Fasanella’s youth was one of dress factories, union meetings, and Momma’s stories of the Bread & Roses Strike around the dinner table. By teaching himself how to paint, Ralph discovered he could use art to fight for working people.

Anne Broyles taps into Ralph’s indomitable spirit to show his evolution as an artist, while Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s energetic art leaps off the page with wonder and homages to Ralph’s style.

Meticulously researched with quotes from Ralph, the robust back matter includes reproductions of his paintings, historical photos, a timeline, a bibliography, a source notes, and much more.

A Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustration Winner
A Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year

Anne Broyles is a world traveler, vegan cook, hiker, art lover, avid reader, and children’s book author. Her published books for children include Arturo and the Bienvenido Feast, Arturo and the Navidad Birds, Priscilla and the Hollyhocks and Shy Mama’s Halloween, which have won International Latino Book Awards, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, and Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. Anne is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. She lives in Portland, Oregon in a multi-generational household that also includes three cats and a dog named Clover.

Victoria Tentler-Krylov is a trained and practicing architect, as well as a children’s and editorial illustrator, who grew up in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and studied architecture and urban design at Cooper Union and Columbia University. Books she’s illustrated for children include The Cyclops of Central Park, for which she was named an Ezra Jack Keats Award Honoree. Her art has also been published in the New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe. Victoria lives in New Jersey with her family.