David Small completed his graduate studies in art at Yale University. In addition to children’s books, David makes editorial drawings for such publications as the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and is a frequent contributor to many national magazines. Recognition for Small’s books include The Caldecott Medal for So You Want To Be President?, The Caldecott Honor for The Gardener and One Cool Friend, and The New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year for The Library. Wildly kaleidoscopic and furiously cinematic, Small’s latest book, Home After Dark: A Novel (Liveright) is a literary tour-de-force that renders the brutality of adolescence in the so-called nostalgic 1950s, evoking such classics as The Lord of the Flies. Thirteen-year-old Russell Pruitt, abandoned by his mother, follows his father to sun-splashed California in search of a dream. Suddenly forced to fend for himself, Russell struggles to survive in Marshfield, a dilapidated town haunted by a sadistic animal killer and a ring of malicious boys who bully Russell for being “queer.” Told almost entirely through thousands of spliced images, Home After Dark becomes a new form of literature in this shocking graphic interpretation of cinema verité.
