What Would Happen?
By Crispin Boyer
Illustrated by Joe Rocco
Ages 8-12
National Geographic Society
Softcover, 176 pages © 2017
What would Happen explores all kinds of scenarios that would or could happen if the world was just a slightly different place. Each scenario is examined with real scientific, historical, and cultural facts in mind. This out-of-the-box book encourages readers to cultivate a better understanding of the world as it is—and as it could be!
Crispin Boyer lives in Xcalak, a small fishing village in Mexico, where he writes about history, wildlife, and technology. The Illustrator is Los Angeleno Joe Rocco whom we are featuring this week at TribeLA Magazine.
Halloween Motel
By Sean Diviny
Illustrated by Joe Rocco
Harper Collins Children’s Books
Ages 4 and up
Look out! Beware of checking in! Oh, you’ll SCREAM without a doubt And JUMP out of your skin! Check in…if you DARE! According to the School Library Journal, Kindergarten-Grade2-An amusing holiday read aloud, told in rhyme, with illustrations that kids will pore over.
Snow Inside the House
By Sean Diviny
Illustrated by Joe Rocco
Harper Collins Children’s Books
Ages 4-8
For those who would like snow this holiday season, this is the story of one little girl and one amazing snowstorm. Grab your coat and mittens and come along to the zaniest, coldest house around! Imagine sliding down the stairs on a sled, zipping through the halls on a snowmobile, building snowmen in the living room, and inviting penguins and polar bears over for playtime! The fun is nonstop when it snows inside instead of out in this winter wonderland of words and images. With a rollicking, rhyming text and delightfully playful illustrations, Snow Inside the House is an icy treat for readers young and old.
TribeLA Magazine Acrostic Interview.2 with Joe Rocco
Influence: What would you like to share with our audience and what effect do you hope to have on us?
The work coming out of National Lampoon from the late 70’s to the early 80’s affected me so much as a teenager, especially the work of Buddy Hickerson who is a dear friend today and who happens to live in Hollywood. I also loved Mark Marek and Everett Peck who I likewise discovered through National Lampoon magazine in the 1980’s. And in the work I do for children’s publishing and magazines I would say that I’ve been influenced by the work of Mary Blair, Henrik Drescher, Theodor Geisel and Charles M. Schulz.
Back: If you could choose a past literary/art/music movement to be a part of, which would you choose?
I wish I could have been alive and working back during the heydays of American Illustration from the teens through the 1960’s. Illustrators were not only compensated really well, they were celebrated. It was an incredibly noble profession back then but with the advent of the digital world people today tend to think the software is doing all of the work.
To be continued…
Currently, Joe Rocco is working on the web comic “Fluffer and Nutter” and occasionally on a single panel comic titled “Enquiring Minds”. He tells us, “I moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn more than a decade ago to pitch animated projects and be close to the Entertainment community to work in that world more.”
Want more Joe? Here are a few links you might like:
Main website: http://www.secretsaucestudio.com
Radio Interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/interview-with-2667888
https://www.patreon.com/JoeRocco
If you missed yesterday’s introduction of Joe Roccco, click the link below:
New Year ART REVIEW with “The Jewish Origins” of Superman by “Joe Rocco