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Molly Bang: Innovator
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 16:51:11 -0500
I first noticed Molly Garrett Bang (as her name used to be written in books) as the adaptor and illustrator of the "American folk tale" Wiley and the Hairy Man (Ready-to-read / Macmillan, 1976. I distinctly remember hearing Betsy Hearne discuss this book during its publication year, telling why Bang's adaptation was so successful. A exciting retelling of a traditional tale using a controlled vocabulary and eerie black-and-white illustrations! Amazing! Thanks, Cyrene Slegona, for bringing Bang's matchless edition of Wiley to our attention early during September.
Bang later developed an easy version of the Chinese tale Tye May and the Magic Brush (Read-alone / Greenwillow, 1981) using red highlights to detail her black-and-white drawings. She has a gift for this type of writing. Her obvious affection for each tale showed in the distinctive, lively illustrations she created for newly independent readers to enjoy in each book.
Later I became aware of some of Molly Bang's illustrations for her mother's adaptations of Bangali tales, especially those for Betsy Bang's retelling of The Old Woman and the Rice Thief (Greenwillow, 1978) - a personal favorite ever after. I recall how a UW-Madison content specialist raved about Molly Bang's provision of countless accurate domestic and rural life details to extend that easy text. Other books from the two Bangs + Bengali folktale period include The Old Woman and The Red Pumpkin (Macmillan, 1975) and The Demons of Rajpur (Greenwillow, 1980).
Molly Bang does not repeat herself. What an understatement! Margaret Denman-West and Katy Horning spoke about what might have been Bang's first published venture with mixed media & collage: Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher (Four Winds, 1980). Christine Hill pointed out the incomparable Ten, Nine, Eight (Greenwillow, 1983) in which Bang's gifts with color and design were ever so quietly showcased and formally honored.
We might have discussed about Molly Bang's many other published ventures: The Paper Crane (Greenwillow, 1985); her sly references to Greek mythology in an generally overlooked little masterpiece, Delphine
(Morrow, 1988); the rhythm within Yellow Ball (Morrow, 1991); and the imaginative uses of photographed cookies to illustrate Red Dragonfly on My Shoulder (Haiku translated from the Japanese by Sylvia Cassedy and Kunihiro Suetake - HarperCollins, 1992);
Another "American" tale, Dawn (Morrow, 1983), reveals Bang's skillful development of visual symbols. Dawn precedes but does not predict Bang's second, very different work involving a goose, the book about which Robin Gibson wrote so effectively: Goose (Blue Sky / Scholastic, 1996).
It's always the most recent book that seems to generate the most responses. This is Common Ground (Blue Sky / Scholastic, 1997) about which Grace Ruth, Walter the Giant Storyteller, Diane Buchanan, Cathy Sullivan Seblonka, and Susan Lemke commented in response to Katy Horning. The jury is still out, so to speak, as to whether or not Molly Bang's expressed commitment to our shared air, water and land - to our own "spaceship Earth," as Adlai Stevenson once remarked - is emphasized to the detriment of story. Is Common Ground a story or can we understand it (read: accept it) as a parable?
Where was I with these comments earlier in September? Well, I might ask in return: where were most of you? I already know the answer, and so do you. We were all consumed by what that month typically offers to everyone in a school, library or academic setting. We were overwhelmed with whom and what we were needed by and for - yesterday, not to mention today. Molly Bang and her exquisite paintings and mixed media collages are here for us and for the children we serve every month of every year. Find the books you don't know. Look carefully. She's always ahead of us
- rarely, if ever, repeating herself. That in itself deserves attention in a time when marketplace success demands yet another one of what's already been viewed, heard or read. Give the innovators - experimenters such as Molly Bang - more than one chance. Look carefully at what they express. See. Listen. Hear. Enjoy. ...Ginny
******************************************************* Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison 4290 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St. Madison, WI 53706 USA
Received on Wed 01 Oct 1997 04:51:11 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 16:51:11 -0500
I first noticed Molly Garrett Bang (as her name used to be written in books) as the adaptor and illustrator of the "American folk tale" Wiley and the Hairy Man (Ready-to-read / Macmillan, 1976. I distinctly remember hearing Betsy Hearne discuss this book during its publication year, telling why Bang's adaptation was so successful. A exciting retelling of a traditional tale using a controlled vocabulary and eerie black-and-white illustrations! Amazing! Thanks, Cyrene Slegona, for bringing Bang's matchless edition of Wiley to our attention early during September.
Bang later developed an easy version of the Chinese tale Tye May and the Magic Brush (Read-alone / Greenwillow, 1981) using red highlights to detail her black-and-white drawings. She has a gift for this type of writing. Her obvious affection for each tale showed in the distinctive, lively illustrations she created for newly independent readers to enjoy in each book.
Later I became aware of some of Molly Bang's illustrations for her mother's adaptations of Bangali tales, especially those for Betsy Bang's retelling of The Old Woman and the Rice Thief (Greenwillow, 1978) - a personal favorite ever after. I recall how a UW-Madison content specialist raved about Molly Bang's provision of countless accurate domestic and rural life details to extend that easy text. Other books from the two Bangs + Bengali folktale period include The Old Woman and The Red Pumpkin (Macmillan, 1975) and The Demons of Rajpur (Greenwillow, 1980).
Molly Bang does not repeat herself. What an understatement! Margaret Denman-West and Katy Horning spoke about what might have been Bang's first published venture with mixed media & collage: Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher (Four Winds, 1980). Christine Hill pointed out the incomparable Ten, Nine, Eight (Greenwillow, 1983) in which Bang's gifts with color and design were ever so quietly showcased and formally honored.
We might have discussed about Molly Bang's many other published ventures: The Paper Crane (Greenwillow, 1985); her sly references to Greek mythology in an generally overlooked little masterpiece, Delphine
(Morrow, 1988); the rhythm within Yellow Ball (Morrow, 1991); and the imaginative uses of photographed cookies to illustrate Red Dragonfly on My Shoulder (Haiku translated from the Japanese by Sylvia Cassedy and Kunihiro Suetake - HarperCollins, 1992);
Another "American" tale, Dawn (Morrow, 1983), reveals Bang's skillful development of visual symbols. Dawn precedes but does not predict Bang's second, very different work involving a goose, the book about which Robin Gibson wrote so effectively: Goose (Blue Sky / Scholastic, 1996).
It's always the most recent book that seems to generate the most responses. This is Common Ground (Blue Sky / Scholastic, 1997) about which Grace Ruth, Walter the Giant Storyteller, Diane Buchanan, Cathy Sullivan Seblonka, and Susan Lemke commented in response to Katy Horning. The jury is still out, so to speak, as to whether or not Molly Bang's expressed commitment to our shared air, water and land - to our own "spaceship Earth," as Adlai Stevenson once remarked - is emphasized to the detriment of story. Is Common Ground a story or can we understand it (read: accept it) as a parable?
Where was I with these comments earlier in September? Well, I might ask in return: where were most of you? I already know the answer, and so do you. We were all consumed by what that month typically offers to everyone in a school, library or academic setting. We were overwhelmed with whom and what we were needed by and for - yesterday, not to mention today. Molly Bang and her exquisite paintings and mixed media collages are here for us and for the children we serve every month of every year. Find the books you don't know. Look carefully. She's always ahead of us
- rarely, if ever, repeating herself. That in itself deserves attention in a time when marketplace success demands yet another one of what's already been viewed, heard or read. Give the innovators - experimenters such as Molly Bang - more than one chance. Look carefully at what they express. See. Listen. Hear. Enjoy. ...Ginny
******************************************************* Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison 4290 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St. Madison, WI 53706 USA
Received on Wed 01 Oct 1997 04:51:11 PM CDT
