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Ungerer and Nordstrom
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From: mjwiseman <mjwisemn>
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 19:07:19 -0500
From my copy of Dear Genius ( p. 350) in a letter responding to an unnamed correspondent whom we must assume was distrubed by No kiss for Mother dated Nov 12, 1973. quote: I am the person who accepted Tomi's first book for publication by Harper many years ago and I also accepted No kiss for Mother. . . . Tomi is a brilliant, creative person and this book was very important to him. I think it is a book to which boys (and men) may respond more positively than will women. But a lot of little girls think it is just as funny as boys do. I didn't like the character of the mother and her relationship with his{sic} son. But that was the whole point of Tomi's book, and I had to face the fact that Tomi was writing a story he HAD to write, to get certain emotions and feelings off his chest. I did ask Tomi not to make the mother-son relationship quite so unpleasant. Tomi felt he couldn't change it. He felt very strongly about it. Yes there was one unfavorable review in School Library Journal. . . . But the other reviews, . . . were favorable. Perhaps we ( and I include myself an ardent feminist) are being too serious about what is basically a rambunctious, funny book about a bad relationship that is somehow somewhat improved by the end of the book. I know that this is not a satisfactory answer to your letter and I am sorry. I have thought about this more than you can possibly imagine. As I said above, we truly sahre your concern for good children's books.
The other (few) references to Ungerer in Dear Genius are all just that - few and scant, with no real insights for the current conversation.
I have been glad to "hear" the discussion of the 3 robbers, a book a colleague of mine found profoundly important for inclusion in a children's lit class and which I am only now beginning, with the help of these past two weeks, to understand. Thanks, from a persistent lurker, who is TOO busy with her dissertation to be able to respond often.
mj wiseman
Received on Fri 13 Aug 1999 07:07:19 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 19:07:19 -0500
From my copy of Dear Genius ( p. 350) in a letter responding to an unnamed correspondent whom we must assume was distrubed by No kiss for Mother dated Nov 12, 1973. quote: I am the person who accepted Tomi's first book for publication by Harper many years ago and I also accepted No kiss for Mother. . . . Tomi is a brilliant, creative person and this book was very important to him. I think it is a book to which boys (and men) may respond more positively than will women. But a lot of little girls think it is just as funny as boys do. I didn't like the character of the mother and her relationship with his{sic} son. But that was the whole point of Tomi's book, and I had to face the fact that Tomi was writing a story he HAD to write, to get certain emotions and feelings off his chest. I did ask Tomi not to make the mother-son relationship quite so unpleasant. Tomi felt he couldn't change it. He felt very strongly about it. Yes there was one unfavorable review in School Library Journal. . . . But the other reviews, . . . were favorable. Perhaps we ( and I include myself an ardent feminist) are being too serious about what is basically a rambunctious, funny book about a bad relationship that is somehow somewhat improved by the end of the book. I know that this is not a satisfactory answer to your letter and I am sorry. I have thought about this more than you can possibly imagine. As I said above, we truly sahre your concern for good children's books.
The other (few) references to Ungerer in Dear Genius are all just that - few and scant, with no real insights for the current conversation.
I have been glad to "hear" the discussion of the 3 robbers, a book a colleague of mine found profoundly important for inclusion in a children's lit class and which I am only now beginning, with the help of these past two weeks, to understand. Thanks, from a persistent lurker, who is TOO busy with her dissertation to be able to respond often.
mj wiseman
Received on Fri 13 Aug 1999 07:07:19 PM CDT
