Crockett Johnson & Ruth Krauss: biography outtakes, Part 5
Is reporting on one’s editorial process the height of self-indulgent blogging? Join us in one man’s journey to find out.
Blue Christmas
As noted in my last Christmas music post, I’ve made a lot of these mixes, each one different. Last year, I decided to make a mix of downbeat – even somewhat depressing – holiday music. This is it. 1. Blue Christmas Bright Eyes (2002)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2:22 Elvis’s version has been so overplayed that it’s no longer
Crockett Johnson vs. Hitler
69 years ago this week, the United States entered the Second World War.  Classified 4-F (not fit for military service), 35-year-old Crockett Johnson was not called to serve.  Instead, in January of 1942, he enlisted in the Allied propaganda effort, helping found (with Greg d’Allessio, J. A. Blackmer, and Mel Casson) the American Society of Magazine
The Book of Everything
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” “Happy,” said Thomas. “When I grow up, I am going to be happy.” Nine-year-old Thomas sees things that others don’t, like “tropical fish swimming in the canals,” thousands of frogs massing outside his house, and the loveliness of sixteen-year-old Eliza, who has “an artificial leg made
Obamafiction for Children & the Limits of Scholarly Publishing
My article, “Obamafiction for Children: Imagining the Forty-Fourth U.S. President,” is now available on-line in the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly‘s current issue (35.4, Winter 2010). Â To give you a sense of its thesis, here’s a brief excerpt from early in the piece: To examine how these Obama biographies attempt to fit him into dominant national
Essential Holiday Tunes
Happy St. Nicholas Day! Â For today’s treat, it’s the holiday tunes that no December should be without. Â Well, in my humble opinion, anyway. Â Over the past decade, I’ve assembled 9 or 10 different holiday mixes (all with completely different songs). Â The idea for this mix is to include favorites from all of those mixes. Â In
Mock Caldecott 2010: Manhattan, Kansas Edition
With thanks to the Children’s and Adolescent Literature Community (ChALC) for organizing the event, we held a Mock Caldecott at the Manhattan Public Library this afternoon. And, yes, of course, we weren’t able to get all of the books we wanted to look at – so, there are quite likely candidates we didn’t get to
The Complete Barnaby: Coming Soon!
Cushlamochree! 70 years after Crockett Johnson‘s Barnaby made its debut, the entire ten-year run (1942-1952) will be published in full … for the first time!  Daniel Clowes will design the books – five in all, the first of which will appear in 2012. I’ll be providing biographical & historical notes.  The publisher is Fantagraphics, whose lovingly
Barnaby on the radio
The first dramatic adaptation of Crockett Johnson‘s Barnaby appeared on the Frank Morgan Show of June 12, 1945.  Morgan (best known as the title character in MGM’s Wizard of Oz) played Mr. O’Malley, Norma Jean Nilsson played Barnaby, and Ralph Bellamy played Mr. Baxter. The radio dramatization begins in the second half of the show – at 15:30 of the
Crockett Johnson & Ruth Krauss: biography outtakes, Part 4
For those who care about such minutiae, here are some outtakes from Chapter 14, “At Home with Ruth and Dave” – from which I’ve just cut 540 words. Â The chapter, which covers Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss in 1947 and 1948, draws heavily on Ruth’s 123-page account of their daily lives in late winter 1948: