CLOUD KEY & Milne Essay on Cupboards

Which Way?
2012 Linnea Heaney

Click on post labels for archives.

about children's literature: illuminating children’s books

 

authors: author Q&A 

essays: Linnea’s notes 

for early literacy: informing literacy activities

illustrators: illustrator Q&A

LIN little corners: children’s activity ideas 

Linnea's reading corner: on Linnea’s publications 

on art: art and literature 

on poetry: poetry focus

on writing: about writing, the writing life 

reading corner: book titles to look up 

story map: on crafting a manuscript

words: words to contemplate



Guest essay from A.A. Milne (in public domain):

http://essays.quotidiana.org/milne/cupboard/

Linnea's Website

https://www.linneaheaney.com/

Linnea's Illuminated Notes

https://linneaheaney.blogspot.com/

Linnea's Illustrated Stories

https://writerlinnea.blogspot.com/

All About Picture Books

PICTURE BOOK MONTH is November
http://picturebookmonth.com/

What is a PB?
Sendak on “rhythmic syncopation of words and images” in his book Caldecott & Co.: Words are left out—but the picture says it. Pictures are left out—but the word says it . . . it is the invention of the picture book.

 

PB Illustrations to Study

Examples of illustration through time to today: 

MILLIONS OF CATS, story and pictures by Wanda Gag.

THE LITTLE ISLAND by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Leonard Weisgard.

GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Clement Hurd.

THE SNOWY DAY, story and pictures by Ezra Jack Keats.

THE RABBITS’ WEDDING, story and pictures by Garth Williams.

LITTLE BLUE AND LITTLE YELLOW, story and pictures by Leo Lionni.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak.

THE TREASURE, story and pictures by Uri Shulevitz.

THE ARTIST WHO PAINTED A BLUE HORSE, story and pictures by Eric Carle.

THE SNOWMAN, story and pictures by Raymond Briggs.

STREGA NONA, story and pictures by Tomie dePaola.

FORTUNATELY, story and pictures by Remy Charlip.

JUMANJI, story and pictures by Chris Van Allsburg.

BLACK AND WHITE, story and pictures by David Macaulay.

THE STINKY CHEESE MAN AND OTHER FAIRLY STUPID TALES by Jon Scieszka, pictures by Lane Smith.

VOICES IN THE PARK, story and pictures by Anthony Browne.

KNUFFLE BUNNY: A CAUTIONARY TALE by Mo Willems.

FLOTSAM, story and pictures by David Wiesner.

KITTEN’S FIRST FULL MOON, story and pictures by Kevin Henkes.

GARMANN’S SUMMER, story and pictures by Stian Hole.

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, story and pictures by Brian Selznick.

THE RED TREE, story and pictures by Shaun Tan.

MINE! by Shutta Crum, pictures by Patrice Barton.

A BALL FOR DAISY, story and pictures by Chris Raschka.

 

PB Stories to Study

Examples of PB story through time to today: 

BABAR, story and pictures by Jean de Brunhoff.

THE STORY OF FERDINAND by Munro Leaf, pictures by Robert Lawson.

ANGUS LOST, story and pictures by Marjorie Flack.

CAPS FOR SALE, story and pictures by Esphyr Slobodkina.

MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS, story and pictures by Robert McCloskey.

CURIOUS GEORGE, story and pictures by H.A. and Margret Rey.

MADELINE’S RESCUE, story and pictures by Ludwig Bemelmans.

THE CARROT SEED by Ruth Krauss, pictures by Crockett Johnson.

GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Clement Hurd.

HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON, story and pictures by Crockett Johnson.

A TREE IS NICE by Janice May Udry, pictures by Marc Simont.

GREEN EGGS AND HAM, story and pictures by Dr. Seuss.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak.

HIDE AND SEEK FOG by Alvin Tresselt, pictures by Roger Duvoisin.

A POCKET FOR CORDUROY, story and pictures by Don Freeman.

THERE’S A NIGHTMARE IN MY CLOSET, story and pictures by Mercer Mayer.

JAMBERRY, story and pictures by Bruce Degen.

OWL MOON by Jane Yolen, pictures byJohn Schoenherr.

THE POLAR EXPRESS, story and pictures by Chris Van Allsburg.

JESSE BEAR, WHAT WILL YOU WEAR? by Nancy White Carlstrom, pictures by Bruce Degen.

ALL THE WORLD by Liz Garton Scanlon, pictures by Marla Frazee.

THE QUIET STORY by Deborah Underwood, Renata Liwska.

HIP HOP DOG by Chris Raschka, pictures by Vladimir Radunsky.

OH, NO! by Candace Fleming, pictures by Eric Rohmann.

 
 

Why Picture Books?

See Linnea’s Illuminated Notes, A Picture Book, January 2011

 

Significant Illustrators in PB Development

See Linnea’s Illuminated Notes, Illustrators of Children’s Literature, December 2011 

Resources

CALDECOTT & CO.: NOTES ON BOOKS & PICTURES by Maurice Sendak (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1988). 

CHILDREN’S PICTUREBOOKS: THE ART OF VISUAL STORYTELLING by Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles (Laurence King Publishers, 2012). 

SHOW ME A STORY: WHY PICTURE BOOKS MATTER by Leonard Marcus (Candlwick, 2012). 

WRITING WITH PICTURES: HOW TO WRITE AND ILLUSTRATE CHILDREN’S BOOKS by Uri Shulevitz (Watson-Guptill, 1985).

 

Melville's Bookcase

This past spring I walked into the Rosenbach Museum & Library for the first time. The Rosenbach houses many works of literature, including illustrator-author Maurice Sendak’s papers. Others attending a workshop were arriving at the same time and I wandered through the crowd to an impressive bookcase. When the workshop began, it was announced that Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) had died earlier that week. Since I had been on the road, I hadn’t heard the news. The rest of the day took on a feeling of serendipity as I walked through the Sendak exhibit and talked to a curator about the books in the museum’s library.

Later in the day, I learned that the bookcase in the entry had been Herman Melville’s bookcase and a favorite of Maurice Sendak. I stood by the bookcase, just feet from Maurice Sendak’s only mural, and studied the old volumes.

 

Today I was reminded of the book, Dear Genius, and looked up the letter from Ursula Nordstrom to Sendak in 1961. Apparently Sendak had mentioned that he felt Melville had “a lot of furniture” in his books, meaning facts. And, at the time, Sendak felt that his world was “furniture-less.” Nordstrom, the great editor, replied in a prophetic and supportive way.
 

August 21, 1961

To Maurice Sendak 

. . . I loved your long letter and hope it clarified some things for you to write it. Sure, Tolstoy and Melville have a lot of furniture in their books . . .
 

You wrote “my world is furniture-less. It is all feeling” . . . You also wrote “Knowledge is the driving force that puts creative passion to work”—a true statement, and also very well put. But it would include self knowledge for some as well as knowledge of facts for others . . . 
 

You wrote "It would be wonderful to want to believe in God. The aimlessness of living is too insane." That is the creative artist—a penalty of the creative artist—wanting to make order out of chaos. The rest of us plain people just accept disorder (if we even recognize it) and get a bang out of our five beautiful senses, if we're lucky. Well, not making any sense but will send this anyhow . . . . 

From Ursula Nordstrom
 

I remember standing in front of Melville’s bookcase again and again that day last spring. Sendak spent a lifetime finding lost, abandoned furniture to place in the rooms of his illustrations. Self-knowledge and making order out of chaos seems to me to have been the passionate story revealed through his art. He made the world more understandable and orderly, sometimes for children, sometimes for adults. Melville’s bookcase is at home among Sendak’s stories and illustrations.

 

Letter excerpt (page 145) from:

DEAR GENIUS: THE LETTERS OF URSULA NORDSTROM collected and edited by Leonard S. Marcus (HarperCollins, 1998).

Selected books:

NUTSHELL LIBRARY, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1962). 

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1963). 

IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1970). 

OUTSIDE OVER THERE, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1981). 

BRUNDIBAR, retold by Tony Kushner, pictures by Maurice Sendak (Hyperion, 2003). 

HIGGLETY PIGGLETY POP! OR THERE MUST BE MORE TO LIFE, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1967). 

THE SIGN ON ROSIE’S DOOR, story and pictures by Maurice Sendak (Harper & Row, 1960).

LITTLE CORNER ACTIVITY:

1.    Read The Sign on Rosie’s Door.

2.    Find markers or crayons and construction paper plus string and tape.

3.    Help children make a sign for a door at home using words and/or drawings.

4.    Assist children in making a group sign for a school door.

5.    Encourage dress-up and putting together a musical show.

6.    Invite an audience to enter the door with the sign to see the musical show.