Unobtrusive genitalia

From an Amazon customer review of the anthology Guys Write For Guys Read:

[...] there is also an illustration of a monster, drawn when the artist was in fifth grade, I believe, that shows the monster's genitalia. It's unobtrusive, but its [sic] there. I'm having to black it out with a felt-tip so I can make the book available for my middle school students.

He's talking about my Sprokostagorubolonoso. Unobtrusive is probably the worst thing one can say about a penis.

Here's the culprit:

The Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Book by R. Caldecott

The Underground Sketchbook

Today is Tomi Ungerer's birthday (and mine too!)
Here's a book of his published by Viking in 1964.

Some More Love for Tweak Tweak!

Tweak Tweak is one of Jules Danielson's Top 10 Picture Books of 2011 she chose for Kirkus! Thank you Jules!

Emperor Hirohito reads Amandina

Having heard that Amandina will soon be published in Japan by Mitsumura, Emperor Hirohito got himself a copy of the American edition to familiarize with it. He seems to really enjoy it!

Mao Tse-Tung

Mao Tse-Tung, in his formative years, reading with profit Hey, Rabbit!

The Dallas Titans Get Ready for Bed

Weird Islands

While I was away

While I was in Connecticut at Maurice Sendak's, my friend Steve Savage sent me this:

And my friend Gerardo Blumenkrantz this:

The Agony in the Kindergarten

The Sendak Fellowship

Miracle occurred in the woods of western Connecticut in the Fall of 2011, as visually recorded by Ali Bahrampour.

Pius Pelosi wishes you a good summer

Page from my book The Room of Wonders, published by Frances Foster in 2006.

The Story of Hansel and Gretel

Hallucinatory flowers

In her very generous review of Tweak Tweak on The Horn Book, Martha Parravano suggests to "check out those hallucinatory flowers." 

Here's a sampler.

Some elephants I like

Little Elephant and her mom, from Tweak Tweak.

An old Steiff elephant on wheels.

From a medieval English manuscript.

A grass family.

Babar, of course.

Found on eBay.

From Arnold Lobel's Uncle Elephant.

Jacob van Maerlant, Der Naturen Bloeme. Flanders or Utrecht, circa 1450-1500.

 

 

Tweak Tweak at Books of Wonder in NYC

This Saturday, June 18th, from 12 to 2, I will be at Books of Wonder to talk about Tweak Tweak. With me there will be other authors and illustrators: Javaka Steptoe, Chris Raschka, Greg Foley, and Teresa E. Harris. 

My interview with "Le figure dei libri"

Read it on Anna Castagnoli's blog Le figure dei libri

Tweak Tweak: School Library Journal Review

While on a walk, Mama Elephant’s baby holds onto her tail and “tweaks twice” to ask a question. Little Elephant’s curiosity is piqued many times along the way. The parent-child discussion is sweet and encouraging: “‘Mama? What is that?’ ‘That is a frog.’ ‘What is he doing?’ ‘He’s jumping.’ ‘Can I jump?’ ‘No, because you are not a frog. You are a little elephant. But you can stomp your foot and make a big sound.’” [...] 

Ruzzier’s ink and watercolor illustrations charmingly capture the youngster’s imaginings as she leaps over cliffs (with worried frogs looking on) and croons to an audience of bemused birds. The gentle text is perfect for sharing with toddlers.

Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada 

Nursery Rhymes

I love chapbooks, especially for children. I recently bought this one on eBay. It must be English, probably 1830's or 40's, even though it bears no indication of publisher, place, or date.