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
One funny thing about The Funny Thing is that it is actually funny. And funny in exactly the way it means: funny weird. But it isn’t the actual Funny Thing, the “aminal,” who is all that weird. In fact, he’s vain, gluttonous, and selfish in a way we can all recognize as belonging to a … Continue reading
“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
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
Little Book Review 