Name: Annie Rizzuto
Nicknames: Well, my coworker Jerry calls me “sock monkey” but I don’t really know what that’s about.
Job at PWH: Copywriter Extraordinaire, Social Networking Diva
Book Cover She’s Featured On: I’m a faerie on the Literary Touchstone Classic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (cover design by Larry Knox).
Catch Phrases: “There’s something wrong with you.”
Favorite Book:
If I had to pick just one, it would be Elie Wiesel’s Night. Among the top contenders are Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet.
Favorite Children’s Book:
Although I didn’t read it as a child, Kate DiCamillo’s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is my current favorite. Actual childhood favorites include Five Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy, The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood, the Rotton Ralph series by Jack Gantos and Nicole Rubel, and my absolute childhood favorite, Annie Bananie by Leah Komaiko and Laura Cornell.
Favorite Authors: Elie Wiesel, Wally Lamb, J.K. Rowling, Robert Fulghum
Favorite Poem: "The Windhover" by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Favorite Movie Based on a Book:
That's got to be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — although I couldn’t tell you if I like the Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp version better because both are excellent.
Favorite Band:
The Beatles. I maintain I was born a generation too late and possibly in the wrong country.
Favorite Food:
If we’re talking Indian, it’s either paneer masala or saag paneer and there’s got to be plenty of naan. For Japanese it’s sushi, preferably at least one of the rolls involving unagi. For Italian it’s got to be Mom-Mom’s homemade spaghetti and meatballs with extra gravy.
Favorite PH Product:
I really like the Literary Touchstone Classics, mostly because the cover art is so fun. Larry and Jen do a great job of designing covers that are interesting to a high school audience (which I think really helps to get students interested in reading classic works). It doesn’t hurt that they’re great editions for teaching either.
One Random Fact:
My favorite place in the whole world is Trafalgar Square in London.
Thoughts about the Photo Shoot:
The shoot was significantly less nerve-wracking than I had imagined and I really had a lot of fun with it. Larry put on “faerie music” and Jen assisted with “wing-placement” and “flower headpiece fixing.” Paul’s shoot was done the week before, so we already knew what our half-transformed Nick Bottom would look like. For our shoot, Larry shot each of the faeries separately starting with Kathy, followed by me, and then Jen.
Half the fun was getting to dress up at work since we did the shoot on site at PH. I spent a lot of time being silly with Jen and Kathy in the ladies room putting on glitter and fixing hair and wings. Larry is a very patient photographer because, of course, it took forever for us to be ready!
And as an aside, I have to admit I kept the flower headpiece. It’s at my desk at work. Sometimes when I’m in the mood to totally throw people off, I’ll put it on and sit here quietly typing away…
