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…
One of the many pleasures of Edmund de Waal’s The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance (2010) is its evocation of the thrill of research. As he traces the history of his family’s netsuke (small Japanese ivory and wood carvings), de Waal describes great-great-great grandfather Charles Ephrussi’s art-collecting in nineteenth-century Paris as “‘vagabonding’ … done with…
Karen Hallion mashes Dr. Who with Crockett Johnson‘s Harold and the Purple Crayon! An apt comparison.  Just as the crayon guides Harold through improbable distances, so does the Tardis – its ability to navigate the universe is as impressive as that purple crayon. Hat tip to Fashionably Geek and Gene Kanenberg Jr. (on Facebook).  The t-shirt…
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…
The index and (now proofread!) page proofs for Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature (forthcoming this September) are in the mail, heading back to the publisher. Â To commemorate this occasion, here are yet more cuts and a few other changes –Â most of which…
OK, “Joy” might be the wrong word – unless we modify that title to “The Anticipatory Joy of Finishing the Index” or “The Joy of Finding a Great Index.” Creating an index can be a mind-numbing slog, and creating it while checking proofs (as I am doing right now) doesn’t make it any more fun. But…
Cushlamochree!  It’s a portrait of Barnaby’s fairy godfather, Mr. O’Malley, in … 1962!  Yes, 1962 – which makes it unusual for several reasons.  First, Crockett Johnson didn’t draw Barnaby for its 1960-1962 revival.  Warren Sattler did.  Second, it’s a bit looser than Johnson’s drawings of O’Malley during Barnaby‘s original 1942-1952 run.  As a result, you can…
Courtesy of Mark Newgarden, it’s Crockett Johnson advising you to get a check-up so that you don’t get cancer. Â Johnson created this 1958 pamphlet for the American Cancer Society, and I strongly suspect that he designed it, too. Â (Clicking on each image will produce a larger version.) Unfold to the left, and see: Next, unfold…
