He really draws them in

By Lynne Heffley

Aug. 5, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

A metal doll’s house, worn stuffed animals, a school library’s well-used card catalog -- its drawers packed with paints, inks and pens -- battered guitars and ancient amplifiers, books spilling from shelves, paintings and drawings pinned to walls:

This is children’s artist Barney Saltzberg’s environment, a cluttered West L.A. garage studio where books, art and songs are born, where an adult’s inner child is always welcome.

Saltzberg, father of two, is a compact and fit 49, with a receding hairline, round specs and a sketchbook and guitar at the ready. Although not a household name, he’s an increasingly successful hyphenate in children’s entertainment: an author-illustrator, singer-songwriter-musician.

His many books include the hot-selling “Kisses” board book series for preschoolers (“Peekaboo Kisses,” “Animal Kisses” etc.) and “Crazy Hair Day,” a gently humorous tale for elementary-age readers about a kid’s worst day ever, eased by friendship and kindness.

On Sunday, Saltzberg will perform a family concert with his band of professional musicians as part of the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum’s Family Fundays series in Topanga.

He’ll throw some art and storytelling into the mix too.

“I do a song called ‘Shopping With My Dog,’ where I try to draw a dog and can’t, so kids in the audience have to help me,” he said. “I’ll have volunteers come up and do squiggles that I’ll make into something, and I always talk about where I get my ideas for songs.”

If music is one of Saltzberg’s lifelong loves, talking about ideas and inspiring children to tap into their own creativity is his passion.

When Saltzberg isn’t in his studio, performing in concert or teaching UCLA Extension classes in children’s book writing and illustration, he’s in schools, libraries and bookstores across the country, with his guitar, books, slides, laptop and easel, talking with gentle zeal about how stories can be found just about anywhere.

A coffee stain on a page (“it’s a monster”), or even ceiling tiles (“it’s a spaceship”), can ignite the imagination.

His wife’s enthusiastic support at their children’s soccer games, he’ll confide, inspired his sly spoof “The Soccer Mom From Outer Space,” a book and CD.

“It’s important to find ways to get kids involved in the creative process,” Saltzberg said. “Kids who are reluctant readers and reluctant writers, you need to pull them in, help them realize that they have stories to tell.

“For every book and every song, I give them a little bit of where it came from and it starts the juices flowing -- ‘Wait a minute, I did have a weird morning this morning,’ or ‘I did see something funny that I could make into a story.’ ”

Even a disaster can be an opportunity, he’ll tell students, showing them a painting that his dog had stepped on. Each cloud in the sky was once a pawprint.

“Barney relates to children in his literature as well as conversation in a way that they really seem to get,” said Michelle Shumow, librarian at Calabasas’ Viewpoint Elementary School, where Saltzberg often appears. “And I like that he emphasizes friendship and sharing.”

Darlene Daniel, the retired owner of the former Pages bookstore in Tarzana, who hosted many children’s artists over the store’s 20 years, said that Saltz- berg always stood out.

“With Barney we found a grown-up who still remembers what it feels like to be a child,” she said. “His stories come out of natural situations and real experiences, and he helps children to be observant and creative rather than just consuming experiences.”

For Saltzberg, it’s not about turning every kid into a children’s author. It’s about showing them a positive and playful road to new possibilities.

“I want them to say, ‘This guy’s having a great time,’ ” he said. “ ‘And he’s not doing something that’s that out of reach. He’s making funny little drawings and he’s telling stories. I could do that, I bet.’ ”

Lynne Heffley can be reached at weekend@latimes.com.

Barney Saltzberg

Books in print

“Crazy Hair Day” (Candlewick)

“Animal Kisses” (Harcourt)

“Baby Animal Kisses” (Harcourt)

“Peekaboo Kisses” (Harcourt)

“The Problem With Pumpkins” (Harcourt)

“Hip, Hip, Hooray Day” (Harcourt)

“The Soccer Mom From Outer Space” (Crown)

“Mrs. Morgan’s Lawn” (Hyperion)

CDs