It is Crockett Johnson’s 118th birthday. It is also very nearly Harold’s 70th birthday. 70 years ago next month, Crockett Johnson sent a dummy of Harold and the Purple Crayon to Ursula Nordstrom, his editor at Harper & Brothers. 69 years ago, the book was published. Let’s celebrate! If you’re anywhere near Kansas City on
Chris Ware might be the first person I know to suggest that Harold (of Purple Crayon fame) is Black. In the Foreword to the first volume of Barnaby (Fantagraphics, 2013), Ware recalled his own childhood reading of Crockett Johnson’s book: “Harold was black. At least he looked like it to me. Not that this should
Coming this fall from Oxford University Press, it’s How to Draw the World: Harold and the Purple Crayon, and the Making of a Children’s Classic. That’s right! It’s my small book about Crockett Johnson’s even smaller one. I’ve made a book trailer for it. I’ll share more about the book in the coming months. But
This is the bookstore I want to live in. Mundo Azul (Choriner Straße 49, Berlin) is an international celebration of beautiful children’s picture books – some of which I knew, many of which I did not, and all of which are well worth reading. While browsing, I had the sense that the proprietor, Mariela Nagle,
Just in time for the holidays, it’s another edition of Emily’s Library – in which I display the books I’ve given to my now 5-year-old niece, and answer the frequently asked question, “What children’s books would you recommend?” A few of these will be Christmas presents for Emily, who does not (yet?) read my blog. So,
This afternoon, a group of about 30 of us – undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, community members – voted on our choices for this year’s “Mock Caldecott.” Since we were guessing at the award results (announce in January), we read picture books by U.S. authors, published in the U.S. in 2016. Or, that’s what we
Welcome to another installment in my attempts to build the perfect children’s library for my niece and, in so doing, guide others to great books for young people. Indeed, this post is being published as I depart to visit Emily – carrying three of the books mentioned below! (See if you can guess which three.) Jim Averbeck and
The best picture-book debut of 2015 is Rowboat Watkins’ Rude Cakes. Yes, I know it’s only May 7th. And I don’t claim to have read every picture book published thus far. But it’s going to be hard to top this one. (Spoiler alert! There are spoilers below! Lots of them!) The notion of an ill-mannered,
In this installment of my Emily’s Library series, I notice there are more contemporary books than usual. I didn’t plan it that way – there are certainly more classics I’d like her to have! But, as noted in earlier posts, my goal is to give my three-year-old niece a personal library of really good books, mixing
Just back from our Mock Caldecott, held today at the Manhattan [Kansas] Public Library, and again organized by KSU’s Children’s and Adolescent Literature Community (special thanks to Allison Kuehne and Becca Rowe!). In anticipation of the Caldecott Awards (held in January), we spent a few hours looking at and discussing what may or may not be
