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Gay Dad

 One of my favorite writers--and owner of a career I seriously covet--is Kevin Henkes.

The picture book "Owen"--winner of a Caldecott Honor--is perfect evidence of Henkes's eye for detail and his light touch. The story concerns a mouse who loves his safety blanket. A weirdly nosy (angry?) neighbor, Mrs. Tweezers, feels it's time for the blanket to "move on."

Mrs. Tweezers advises Owen's family about the "blanket fairy." (You take the kid's blanket at midnight, and you replace it with a dollar....) But Owen is not hard of hearing, and he foils the plan by covertly stuffing his blanket down his sweatpants.

Next, Mrs. Tweezers urges Dad to dip Owen's favorite blanket-spot in vinegar. Owen shrugs and chooses a different corner to sniff.

It's impossible to destroy the blanket, because this blanket offers crucial help during "hair trims," "nail clippings," "doctor visits," and other scary events. Also, the blanket is a vital aid during "Captain Plunger" -- when Owen strips naked, refashions his blanket as a cape, and saves his drowning stuffed animals from the toilet bowl.

There is one acceptable solution--not authored by Mrs. Tweezers. Owen's mom re-stitches the blanket as a series of hankies, so Owen can blow his nose (and still resemble a Big Boy) throughout Kindergarten.

Elegant, funny, incisive....Henkes is the heir to Beverly Cleary, who had an equally sharp eye for complex moments in a child's life. (Both Henkes and Cleary draw from the reality they observe. For example, the masterwork "Lilly's Big Day" grew out of an actual girl's life, a life full of unfulfilled longing-to-be-a-flower-girl.)

No one I can think of has Henkes's unusual career. Though Henkes is a master of Frances-Badger-esque social comedies, he has a second line of broadly philosophical Buddhist picture books ("A Good Day," "Waiting.") And, actually, he has a third line of expertise: his outstanding middle-grade novels, "Words of Stone," "Billy Miller," and so on. (I think William Steig tried his hand at a middle-grade novel. And of course Judy Blume hopped from YA books to fiction-for-adults. But, still, the boundary-crossing seems rare to me. And it's remarkable that Henkes wins major praise in each of the three fields he tries.)

Henkes will release "Billy Miller Makes a Wish" this spring--and, truly, no other book has me so excited right now.

So grateful this artist is in my life.

P.S. I should point out, toward the end of his career, dePaola made a Henkes move. DePaola began writing novels for kids--after many decades of picture books.

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