Another thing I loved in Sieruta's "Wild Things": the discussion of "roads not taken."
Sometimes critics focus just on the things that get published, but it's interesting to consider what gets discarded.
When a Sendak book with nudity came out, certain librarians would take white-out and paint a diaper onto the nude child in question.
And editors didn't want a reference to a "hot" supper at the end of "Where the Wild Things...." Editors wanted the supper to be "warm," because "hot" might suggest that the mother was endangering her child. (Crazy!)
A vindictive illustrator--annoyed that Kirkus had panned one of her books--drew a special tombstone in a later book: "Here Lies Virginia Kirkus, Nasty Soul." (When this was "caught," the tombstone suddenly became blank, and it remains blank to this day.)
Fascinating--to me--and, in case I haven't been clear, I really recommend Sieruta's "Wild Things," if you like reading about kids' books.
Sometimes critics focus just on the things that get published, but it's interesting to consider what gets discarded.
When a Sendak book with nudity came out, certain librarians would take white-out and paint a diaper onto the nude child in question.
And editors didn't want a reference to a "hot" supper at the end of "Where the Wild Things...." Editors wanted the supper to be "warm," because "hot" might suggest that the mother was endangering her child. (Crazy!)
A vindictive illustrator--annoyed that Kirkus had panned one of her books--drew a special tombstone in a later book: "Here Lies Virginia Kirkus, Nasty Soul." (When this was "caught," the tombstone suddenly became blank, and it remains blank to this day.)
Fascinating--to me--and, in case I haven't been clear, I really recommend Sieruta's "Wild Things," if you like reading about kids' books.
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