Nancy Speir

Nancy Speir (born April 25, 1958) is an American sculptor, painter, and graphic artist. She is best known as an illustrator of children's books.

Biography

Early life Nancy Speir was born on April 25, 1958, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her father, Charles Lucas Speir, was an electrician for American Airlines who died of brain cancer when Speir was three years old. Then she and her family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Her mother, Elaine Le Blanc-Speir, née Palmier, "remarried a cruel and emotionally unstable" alcoholic. Speir often moved within Kansas City as a child, and she had few friends due to the transient lifestyle. She loved animals but had to give up her pets when she moved. She managed the trauma of her youth by drawing. She was an artist and supervisor at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, MO, and Palo Alto, California. She was a designer for Sanrio, Inc. Publishers Weekly wrote, "a spare, cartoon quality evokes an easygoing, childlike feel".

Kirkus Reviews noted how in Teacher: Showing, Helping, Caring (Marshall Cavendish, 2009), "Speir’s bright acrylics depict a multiethnic classroom full of all the right impedimenta (computer, chalkboard, reading corner) and presided over by a white, bespectacled, pixie-cut woman" in a critical review that ended, "It’s too bad, though, that neither author nor illustrator chose to break the stereotype just a teensy bit".

Selected works Henny Penny. Written by Wallace C. Wadsworth. Checkerboard Press, 1986. Mr. Boffin. Written by Laurence Schorsch. Checkerboard, 1993. The Animal Picnic. Written by Leslie D. Perkins. Scholastic, 1994. Eliza's Kindergarten Surprise. Written by Alice B. McGinty. Amazon Children's Publishing, 2007. My First Airplane Ride! Written by Patricia Hubbell. Marshall Cavendish, 2008. Teacher: Showing, Helping, Caring. Written by Patricia Hubbell. Marshall Cavendish, 2009. Check It Out! Written by Patricia Hubbell. Marshall Cavendish, 2011. Eliza's Kindergarten Pet. Written by Alice B. McGinty. Two Lions, 2012.