Maurice Sendak, Leo Dillon, Ellen Levine, Jean Craighead George, Peter D. Sieruta. During this past month, children’s literature has become a relentless parade of death. Or so it seems. This feeling could just be a function of age. The older we get, the more deaths we witness. The older we get, the more these deaths…
Children’s literature is literature. Intelligent adults already know this. However, as those of you who study or write or teach children’s literature are well aware, the world is full of alleged grown-ups who insist on spreading the myth that children’s literature is not literature, and (thus) cannot be studied as such. A week or so…
Welcome to the fifth installment of “Emily’s Library,” in which I list books bought for my 13-month-old niece. As noted in the first entry in this series, my aim is to build for her a kind of “ideal” library of children’s books – understanding, of course, that ideals are impossible, and that my own criteria (see…
Fitting that the passing of an artist should inspire so much art.  Here are a few tributes to Maurice Sendak that I’ve enjoyed. (I’ve assembled links to prose tributes at the bottom of my reminiscence of Maurice; The Comics Journal has its own page of mostly prose tributes, too.) Pat Bagley This is easily my favorite,…
Graphic genius Chris Ware designed the cover for my Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature (due this September from the University Press of Mississippi). The front cover is above.  The full, wrap-around cover is below.  Click on it for a larger image.  Trust me: you’ll…
But the wild things cried, “Oh, please don’t go– We’ll eat you up–we love you so!” And Max said, “No!” –Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are (1963) In June 2001, I went to hear Maurice Sendak speak at Yale University. A couple of years earlier, I’d started working on a biography of Crockett Johnson,…
On April 21, 1950, the FBI’s New York Division reported that Crockett Johnson was one of “400 concealed Communists.” Â In June, the New Haven office began compiling a file on him. Â These are the first 15 pages. Â (Clicking on each page will yield a larger image.) This (above) is one of the less accurate pages…
This is fun.  Reading Is Fundamental‘s new promotional video features a song by the Roots; vocals by  Jack Black, Chris Martin (Coldplay), John Legend, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Jason Schwartzman, Nate Ruess (vocalist for fun.), Melanie Fiona, Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag), Regina Spektor and Consequence; appearances from Pinocchio, Madeline, Greg (the Wimpy Kid),…
I’ve managed to schedule two invited talks within three days of one another. Â I believe both are open to the public. Â The Johnson-Krauss talk (Normal, IL, 26 Mar.) definitely is open to the public, and the Harry Potter talk (Pittsburgh, PA, 23 Mar.) offers no indication that public needs permission to attend. Â So, if you’re…
Many children’s writers and illustrators have created covers for albums. Â Below, we’ll look at a dozen or so of these artists. Â As is ever the case with any art posted on this website, the artwork belongs to the artists. Â Visit their websites! Â Buy prints! Â Buy their books! Â (I’ve included websites for each artist.) Â Enjoy! Saul…
