May 9, 2012 – Philip Nel

Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: Chris Ware’s cover

May 9, 2012Philip NelArt, Biography, Children's Literature, Chris Ware, Crockett Johnson, Ruth KraussArt, Biography, Children's Literature, Chris Ware, Crockett Johnson, Ruth Krauss14 Comments

Graphic genius Chris Ware designed the cover for myÂ Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s LiteratureÂ (due this September from the University Press of Mississippi). The front cover is above. Â The full, wrap-around cover is below. Â Click on it for a larger image. Â Trust me: you’ll

The Most Wild Thing of All: Maurice Sendak, 1928-2012

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,