The Horn Book » Of interest to adults

Review of My Brother’s Book

Joanna Rudge Long — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:00:28 +0000

My Brother’s Book
by Maurice Sendak;  illus. by the author
di Capua/HarperCollins 32 pp.
2/13 978-0-06-223489-6 $18.95 g
If, as Wordsworth wrote, “poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity,” Sendak’s vision of a Dante-esque search for his beloved brother Jack (1924–1995) is poetry in both word and art—though tranquility is only achieved with reunion in the sleep of death. In an eloquent introduction, Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt links this posthumous book to A Winter’s Tale, “absorbed, redistributed, and transformed into something rich and strange” and also notes the familiar Sendakian relationship between love and menace. Indeed. “Guy’s” dreamlike quest is riddled with such opposites: light and dark, heaven and the underworld, fire and ice, winter and spring. The visual imagery in the postcard-sized art is haunting, with nude adult figures recalling William Blake’s ardent seekers after truth; the sleeping babes in the wood; and multiple moons (now faceless, unlike in We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, rev. 1/94) plus stars and suns. Some of Sendak’s most poignant themes take on even more resonance and universality. Holocaust references, while still present, are not explicit. Eating, or being eaten by, a powerful figure now involves a bear—not Shakespeare’s, exactly, but a polar bear that is intrinsic to the brothers’ transfiguration. As the ultimate not-for-little-children Sendak, this profoundly personal book about loss and healing should find its audience among thoughtful adults (and perhaps some teenagers).

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Review of A Caldecott Celebration: Six Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal

Mary M. Burns — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:45:45 +0000

A Caldecott Celebration: Six Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal
Leonard S. Marcus
Intermediate Walker 49 pp.
10/98 ISBN 0-8027-8656-1 $18.95 g
Library edition ISBN 0-8027-8658-8 $19.95
In observance of the sixtieth anniversary of the Caldecott Medal, Leonard Marcus, noted for his critical work in the history of children’s literature, presents a gathering of essays on six of the honorees, one from each decade. A concise introduction provides historical background for the award, the rationale for its name, the selection process, and the influence of the honor on the lives of the recipients. The artists, listed in chronological order, include Robert McCloskey, Make Way for Ducklings (1942); Marcia Brown, Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper (1955); Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are (1964); William Steig, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1970); Chris Van Allsburg, Jumanji (1982); and David Wiesner, Tuesday (1992). The format for each essay is the same, eliciting a feeling of thematic unity: a reproduction of the jacket paired with a photograph of the illustrator as he or she appeared when the book was published; title of the winning book; a brief acknowledgment of essential biographical facts; the name of the publisher; and the medium used for the illustrations. A pertinent quote from the artists’ Caldecott acceptance speeches precedes the individual studies. The text is remarkable for the smooth integration of explanatory material with overall commentary, and selective detail creates a sense of intimacy and understanding. The research never overpowers the narrative, but the reader knows that it is there — a firm footing for the structure it supports. A fresh, inviting examination of an established process and ritual. With a listing of Caldecott medal winners, 1938-1998; glossary; and index of proper names.

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Review of Show Me a Story: Why Picture Books Matter

Joanna Rudge Long — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:44:12 +0000

Show Me a Story!:
Why Picture Books Matter:  Conversations with 21 of the World’s Most Celebrated Illustrators
compiled and edited  by Leonard S. Marcus
Middle School, High School, Of Interest to Adults Candlewick 310 pp.
4/12 978-0-7636-3506-0 $22.99
“For a story’s text to work, it needs to be incomprehensible. Otherwise you wouldn’t need the pictures,” avers Mo Willems, neatly explicating the title for these “Conversations with 21 of the World’s Most Celebrated Illustrators.” This subtitle may sound familiar: eleven of these interviews appeared in Marcus’s Ways of Telling: Conversations on the Art of the Picture Book (rev. 9/02). What’s added is grand to have, however: ten new interviews; a revised introduction; updates for such luminaries as Maurice Sendak and Eric Carle; and a succinct foreword by David Wiesner explaining why picture books really do matter. Along with the artists’ eloquent musings on their sources of inspiration, Marcus’s disarming queries elicit a fine array of revealing experiences, methods of working, and motivations for illustrating for children. The book teems with quotable insights: “If someone is asleep…you don’t necessarily want to see [the] bed, but you might want to look at the dreams” (Quentin Blake); “M. B. Goffstein’s Me and My Captain…conveys such a beautiful sense of longing” (Kevin Henkes); “My doodle habit became my art” (Yumi Heo); “A good ending is inevitable, but it’s also a surprise” (James Marshall, in a brilliant 1989 interview peppered with memorable lines). Marcus captures the artists as well as their art: Peter Sís, shaped by powerful memories of his father; Vera Williams, who even as a child “was irrepressible, extremely talkative, and quite cute…[and] also had quite a developed sense of the tragic.” A thirty-two–page color insert includes “dummy spreads, sketches, and other preliminaries,” an excellent decision given that the books themselves are so widely known. New entries here also include John Burningham, Lois Ehlert, and Lisbeth Zwerger. Bibliography of picture books cited; illustration credits; source notes; index. Adults may be the primary audience for this fine resource, but it will inspire, inform, and delight those of any age who are engaged in—or by—the arts.

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Review of The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth

Kathleen T. Horning — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:02:21 +0000

The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth" width="215" height="215" />The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster; illus. by Jules Feiffer; annotated by Leonard S. Marcus
Knopf 284 pp.
10/11 978-0-375-85715-7 $29.99
Library ed. 978-0-375-95715-4 $32.99
If ever there were a twentieth-century children’s book that deserved an annotated edition, it’s Juster and Feiffer’s masterpiece, first published fifty years ago. Filled with wordplay, math puzzles, social satire, and irony, it’s a book that many young readers have returned to at different life stages, each time finding something new. In his introduction, Horn Book columnist Marcus provides biographical sketches of the author and illustrator, whose lives first intersected when they shared a duplex in Brooklyn and began to collaborate on a creative effort that would become The Phantom Tollbooth. Marcus frequently refers back to their creative process in meticulous margin notes that accompany the text. He also uses them to define and explain selected words and expressions (dillydally, toe the line); make connections between the text and the author’s life (Juster’s own toy car at age six, for instance, was a more modest version of Milo’s electric car); and point out references to literary works such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. Also included in the marginalia are photographs and illustrations by artists who inspired Feiffer; for example, conductor Arturo Toscanini served as the model for Chroma, and a crowd scene that appears at the end of chapter eight shows the influence of Edward Ardizzone. Marcus’s insightful and often wry observations take us far beyond what we’d get from a careful and informed reading, as he had access to the book’s early drafts through Lilly Library at Indiana University, and he frequently includes original passages in the marginalia so that we can see how the story evolved. In-depth interviews with the author and illustrator further inform and elucidate the text. (Juster answers a burning question that’s puzzled readers for years: there is no secret code to be broken in the Mathemagician’s letter to Azaz.) Feiffer also gave Marcus access to many character sketches that are published here for the first time. With all the care and attention to detail that obviously went into this work, it’s unfortunate that the source materials aren’t cited with more specificity. Citations such as “N.J. Notes I, p. 35” aren’t linked with accompanying back matter; thus the note is as cryptic as the one written by the Mathemagician himself. But even with this shortcoming, the annotated edition is a welcome and important contribution to the field of children’s literature.

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