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On Tomie dePaola

 A friend recently noticed that Tomie dePaola is "in the air." Kevin Henkes has a new book arriving in a few weeks--and it contains the first direct dePaola homage that I know of. As my friend observed, Henkes includes an image of a house that is very clearly "ripped from the pages" of dePaola.


Often, dePaola was writing "coming-out" stories just underneath the actual text that he was producing. A boy is told he must do certain things to get along, and he tries in a halfhearted way, and finally he decides just to be himself--and the world adapts.

That's the story of "Oliver Button Is a Sissy": Oliver turns his back on football to become Gloria Swanson, in the spotlight. (Oliver doesn't win his Talent Show, but an admirer leaves him with some graffiti: "Oliver Button Is a Star.")

In "The Art Lesson," little Tommy can't tolerate his oppressive nun-guardians. The nuns want Tommy to trace paper turkeys during art class. Tommy responds by making a prototype of "Strega Nona."

Finally, in "The Knight and the Dragon," a sheepish knight is told that he must hunt and kill a dragon. He goes to the library to read up on armor design. Meanwhile, the shy dragon studies himself in the mirror: Can I really kill? After some faux-jousting, the apparent nemeses go into business together. They open a BBQ: The dragon will do the roasting, and perhaps the knight will design the waiters' outfits.

Kevin Henkes's "A House"--or, "Tomie dePaola, Redux"--will arrive on Sept. 28.
















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