Original "No, David!" shows art-life links

How much of David Shannon's distinctively imaginative work as an author and illustrator is based in real life? Actually quite a bit, as Shannon showed the conferees who attended the Primary Literature Luncheon on Monday at IRA's 51st Annual Convention. One of his best-known works, the Caldecott Honor Book No, David!, is actually based on drawings he did when he was 5, showing himself doing things he shouldn't have. (The teeth are pointy because that's how the original had them.) His work became more sophisticated as he got older, garnering him recognition for editorial cartoons and for book illustrations that merge whimsy and menace, tension and tenderness. Good Boy, Fergus! is about his real-life dog, and Alice the Fairy is based on his real-life daughter. "Some of this I made up," he said about Alice the Fairy, "but a lot of it is direct quotes."