Aside from it’s title, The Other Side is without words. And not many words are needed. The pictures so perfectly speak for themselves… Continue reading
Filed under Essays on Picture Book …
Wanda Gag: Nothing at All, 1941
Nothing at All is Wanda Gag’s 1941 Caldecott Honor book about an invisible puppy. Invisibility suits him fine until the day that he needs to be seen. Before that day, though, his sweet tempered brothers give this very cool justification for believing he exists even though they can’t see him: “We can’t see the wind … Continue reading
Half of an Elephant, 2004 in Mexico, 2006 in USA
I just happened upon a book called Half of an Elephant. It’s a frank story, sincere without being sentimental. I like these things. And I like this book. It goes like this: one night, the world suddenly splits in half. An elephant awakens to find himself also split in two, and now the other half … Continue reading
Millions of Cats, 1928
“Millions and billions and trillions of cats,” oh my! Turns out they’re worse than lions and tigers and bears. And yet, if you know how it feels to be swept away by every whiskered furry little being that pokes its pink nose at you, you understand the basic cause and effect of Wanda Gags Millions of Cats. An old man tries to bring his lonely old wife a cat to keep her company. But, unable to choose just one, he comes home with a feline army that drains lakes and mows entire hill sides in its hunger. What is lovely in singularity becomes monstrous en mass. And that flip flop is the disruptive habit of the whole story. Good intentions with bad ends, horror sprung from beauty, beauty born from homeliness, this story hinges upon a proverbial pulling out of the rug and a flipping of expectations. Gag leaves a reader unsettled, even though her ending is proverbially happy. Continue reading
The ABC Bunny and his Ms. Wanda Gag
Wanda Gag cuts a unique figure in the world of children’s books. Both successful and controversial, she made a mark on 1920s America that still rings out today. Children’s books, illustration, feminism, and realism-during-a-vogue-of-surrealism, Wanda Gag made waves. Continue reading
An Edwardly Learical World
Since all of Edward Lear’s writing, all of it, falls under the category of nonsense, I thought that to wrap up this sadly brief foray into the Learical world, we could glance at what makes something a nonsense work. There are plenty of definitions, philosophical-academic discussions, wiki and dictionary entries that attempt to pinpoint the essence of nonsense. It’s fantastical, whimsical, fanciful. Sometimes it plays with words, championing sound over meaning. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable, sometimes it’s amusing, sometimes it’s dark. But always, it’s nonsense… Continue reading
The Daddy Long-Legs and the Fly
Another Lear poem, another little nonsense poem. About a fly and a daddy long-legs… Continue reading
A Nonsense Alphabet, published posthumously, 1952
Another Nonsense Alphabet is not as brilliant as most of Edward Lear’s work. It resembles a zine, cheap and quickly constructed. The pictures are rough, fast sketches, less lively than his limericks or pseudo biology and botany. The comedy isn’t at its peak, the nonsense isn’t at it’s peak. Not bad stuff, per se, just not as particularly sharp as his other work. So why do I include it here among the best of his work? Well… Continue reading
The Owl and the Pussycat, 1871
The Owl and the Pussycat is the best nonsense poem of all time. Edward Lear’s nonsensical words gently undercut a sentimental story, balancing romance with frivolity, sense with nonsense, adventure with security, and the result is a story whose perfect meter and easy rhyme lull one to a state of blissful conviction that, yes, the world could be lovely if only it were full of owls and pussycats. Continue reading
A Homage to Edward Lear
This posting is long overdue. Yet perhaps no time is the right time to pay homage to a man who births brilliance from sadness. Edward Lear, impoverished epileptic, clownish artist, misfit bumbling socialite, endearingly teary-eyed poet, and above all, a man whose name should ring out side by side with Lewis Carroll, but very rarely does. Continue reading
Little Book Review 