From: lhendr at unm.edu <lhendr>
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 16:26:15 -0600 (MDT)

I'm so glad Big Grandma Ruth Gordon mentioned the autobiographical books by illustrators. Besides Margot Zemach's there was one by Erik Blegvad and another by Trina Schart Hyman. Each one of them is a gem, and I just couldn't believe that those were the only ones published -- I was so dismayed, I even wrote to the publisher, Addison-Wesley, to beg for more. What was especially wonderful about them was that each one was so distinctive and so expressive of each artist's personality: the Richard C. Owens books are bland in comparison.

Hyman's drawings illustrate her Self-Portrait, and they look like only Hyman's could. The same for Zemach and Blegvad. Blegvad's is the only one I have a copy of, but his also has a few photographs, plus drawings and paintings he did for other projects, as well as illustrations by other members of his family, and some done specifically for the Self-Portrait. Hyman's shows her dressing up as Little Red Riding Hood and going to visit the "Queen" next door who wears overalls and fabulous rings on her fingers.

Blegvad's, especially, strikes me as a suitable precursor to the World of William Joyce Scrapbook. I adore these books (if I haven't already made this obvious), and never get tired of rereading them. They are not only autobiographies, they're literature!

I also love Cynthia Rylant's "But I'll Be Back Again: An Album." Unfortunately, I have the paperback version which loses the wonderful album feel of the original.

Linnea

Linnea Hendrickson Albuquerque, New Mexico Children's Literature: A Guide to the Criticism (1987) at: http://www.unm.edu/~lhendr Lhendr at unm.edu
Received on Tue 20 Apr 1999 05:26:15 PM CDT