Censorship and Bad Ideas

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.

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