The Wonderful Adventures of Ting Ling

Vernon Bowen ~ Kurt Wiese ~ David McKay, 1952

I know nothing about this author... seriously, except that when I Googled his name, I came up with this reference to a mysterious book he wrote on UFOs called An Encyclopedia of Flying Saucers. How cool/freaky is that? You see, sure... I worked in a bookstore forever and sure I flacked for a publishing house in New York, but basically, all that I know about children's books is learned from finding a book or author on a junk shop shelf and falling in love and basically Googling my way to wisdom. That is the scary thing about the Internet. Who knows how accurate what we read on here is.... so never ever ever feel afraid of correcting me when I am wrong. Ha! That said, this book caught my eye while I was in Maine, because at first glance it was obviously the work of Wiese... the illustrator of my son's favorite book ~ The Story About Ping ~ as well as one of the few books my husband remembers from his youth, Five Chinese Brothers.

Upon first read, I can't imagine that the story won't be remembered by a ton of little boys, because Ting Ling's adventures were indeed wonderful. At first, my son was seized with fear by the illustration on the cover, but when I finally sneaked it into the rotation, he was hooked on first read. And so the story goes...

Ting Ling is a poor juggler's assistant in China who basically works all day and is beaten repeatedly for his trouble. When he unexpectedly finds himself falling from the sky and into the arms of a much-guarded princess, she instantly falls for his humility and cleverness. Her father, however, is not as easily convinced. He puts Ting Ling to test after impossible test to see if he indeed has the stuff to love a princess. Really, all the Emperor wants is to kill poor Ting Ling so the Princess can marry a rich and powerful prince, but then, we wouldn't have a story would we? So, first, he must face the dragon...

He grasped the spear in his left hand, the sword in his right, and ran towards the cave shouting to the dragon to come out. Hissing like a steam engine, the dragon slithered out of the cave and rushed towards Ting Ling, its great, red mouth wide open. And Ting Ling stepped right into the dragon's mouth.

Now, Ting Ling is a pretty clever boy, and I don't want to give away his awesome logic, but I will say he follows up this achievement with feat after successful feat until at last the Emperor suffers a stroke off apoplexy and perishes on the spot. Moral of the story, let your children live their own lives lest the anxiety give you a heart attack.

Also by:
The Story About Ping
Five Chinese Brothers

Rumpelstiltskin

Brothers Grimm ~ Edith H. Tarcov ~ Edward Gorey
Scholastic, 1973

Right now at the McNay Art Museum here in San Antonio, there is an exhibit called Elegant Enigmas highlighting the work of Edward Gorey. The show was put together by the Brandywine River Museum in Pennsylvania... (a museum I love and am mildly obsessed with as Andrew Wyeth is my all time favorite artist ever... if you wanna read a fascinating book that illustrates exactly how to raise children to be creative spirits while at the same time screwing them up royally, check out Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life. The manner in which NC Wyeth raised his boys it utterly mesmerizing. Part Peter Pan... part Peyton Place... but anyways, I digress.)

I love Gorey, and before seeing this show I never quite realized that he worked in actual size... so if you've seen his wee books, the true drawings are carbon copy. I wish they would've included some of his pens... it's mind blowing to imagine someone working with such tiny lines and not losing their marbles.

Now, the catalogue for the show mentions that Gorey often attempted to sell his books to publishers as children's books, but editors collectively thought his concepts to be far too esoteric for children. Thus, why the bulk of his work for children was actually authored by someone else. As I've mentioned before, I've just recently begun digging up these titles, and despite the protective nature of his editors, they still all seem wonderfully spooky to me. Granted in this case, I find it near impossible for anyone to do Rumpelstiltskin without it being creepy. The title character himself even in words is pretty ick... a little troll-like man... a baby snatcher... shoot, my son even squirms at the Muppet version we have on VHS.

That said... we all know the tale of miller and his beautiful daughter who he sells down the river to a king. The miller lies and tells the royalty that his daughter can spin straw into gold and her fate is sealed. Under threat of death to loom the king treasure, she makes a deal with a strange little man who says he will turn her straw to gold in exchange for her first born. Fast forward to the birth of the child, and the man tells her she make keep the baby if she can guess his name. Ugh. However, all is foiled for the little wretch when he can't keep his songs to himself...

Tonight my cakes I bake.
Tonight my beer I make.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
The queen's little baby I take.
Lucky I'll go as lucky I came
For Rumpelstiltskin is my name.

Thus ending what can only be a horrible nightmare for the queen. Imagine, having to give your child to a horrible dwarf who will do god knows what with him. Gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it. All the same, we do need to sprinkle a little controlled terror into our children's lives every now and again, and the illustrations here are impeccable. Really, if you are within a hundred miles of San Antonio between now and September, do yourself a favor and check the show out. Total genius that man, and to get so close to his stuff is a true honor.

Also by:
Sam and Emma

I'll Be You and You Be Me

Ruth Krauss ~ Maurice Sendak ~ Harper, 1954

So, Ruth Krauss was many things. She was wife to Crockett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon), a children's book giant in her own right, and (most important for our purposes here) mentor to Mr. Sendak when he was just coming out of the gate. The when and why of how they met in 1950 is the stuff of children's book legend, and Maurice might never have become the Sendak we all know and love today had it not been for the breaks and inspiration he gained from knowing her. Really, you'd be hard pressed to find books more childlike and wonderful than the ones these two came together on. Their third collaboration after A Hole Is To Dig and A Very Special House, I'll Be You and You Be Me features the trademark look and feel these two were known for creating together. The child's eye view of the world. The funny expressions. The dainty line drawings flooded with whimsy. These little books feel like such a treasure to hold, it's almost like being let in on a little secret whisper.

The care and wonder in these books is really a testament to the sort of friendship these two must have shared. What an honor that they shared it with the world through these stories. Now that I've waxed all lovey-dovey on things I really know not much of...

love is when you send postcards
more than to other people--
love is they could push you in the grass
and it doesn't even hurt--
love is the same as like
only you spell them different--
only more of the same, sort of--
Love has more stuff in it!
love is you give them
a leg off your gingerbread man.
No, two legs.
And the head!

All I want is sugar off the button

I would've loved these as a child... the teeny tiny drawings with such detail and emotion. Filled with poems and stories and delightfully abstract sentiments, the mix of words and pictures are just heaven. As an adult, reading Krauss' work reminds me that childhood is a special time... when we all think like poets and use words as toys rather than simply a means of communication. Darling, darling, darling.

Also by:
Happy Egg
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
Moon Jumpers
What Do You Say, Dear?
Pierre: A Cautionary Tale
Some Swell Pup
Let's Be Enemies
Chicken Soup with Rice
Lullabies and Night Songs
Outside Over There
A Very Special House

Great Monday Give: Birds Do the Strangest Things

Lots to talk about.

First off, the Great Monday Give for this week is a nicely loved, ex-library but still awesome (with some slight scribbling on the end pages) hardcopy of Birds Do the Strangest Things. Great, great book, and one of my son's favorites. All you have to do to be eligible to win is comment on this post. Unfortunately, I am going away yet again for a long weekend... so the Give will have to be delayed by another week. As long as you comment by midnight ~ July 26 ~ Sunday, you'll be good to go. The winner will be announced the following day...

And speaking of the following day... July 27... that day is gonna be a whopper. July 25 marks my anniversary of doing this blog for two years. My birthday is the same week... so to celebrate... there will be a week of giveaways, reviews, special posts.... maybe even surprise guests... you won't want to miss it. Plus, I am going to spend the next few weeks culling my books again and posting them in the Etsy shop... and then come Monday the 27th... whatever is left will all go on sale for half price for a whole week. Seriously, I'm gonna be giving stuff away in there.

Whew.

All that said, let's give it up for Elizabeth who is now the proud owner of her very own copy of The Big Orange Splot. Email me at webe(at)soon(dot)com with your mailing address, and I'll ship it out sometime this week. Congrats! So long, farewell for now friends...

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Abner Graboff ~ Scholastic, 1969

In case some of you missed it, Ward Jenkins recently conducted an exhaustive and utterly fascinating interview on his blog Ward-o-Matic with the son of the late artist and illustrator Abner Graboff. If you haven't yet, take ten minutes today to have a look at the three sequential posts. Rarely do we get to listen in on such fabulous insider information. We should all applaud Ward for his continuing efforts to chronicle the awesome but only-remembered-by-the-hardcore few. The family photographs and insight into the artist are really priceless if you are a vintage children's book or design fan. That said, it took me a few days to dig this up, but here's my tip of the hat to Abner's work for children.

When you have a child that's an animal buff, there are two stories you find yourself collecting no matter what the version. The first being Noah's Ark... the second being Old MacDonald Had a Farm. I really should do a post or two just on the wild assortment of books I have bearing those two titles. MASSIVE.

I won't patronize you by reprinting the text here. I have to assume you know it like the back of your hand. But I will say this. Abner's whimsical little line drawings... the catlike whispers of Old MacDonald... the smiley-faced animal expressions... the Model-T tooting around the farm... the fingerprint-ish chicks with wee stick legs... simple, classic and totally ticklish. There is even a little post-bath nudity on the farmer's part, but hey, that's what happens when you share a tub with a cow. Anytime I see a Graboff, I snatch it up... as I'm sure you will from now on. He was truly a treasure, that one.

I Wonder What's Under

Doris Herold Lund ~ Janet McCaffery
Parent's Magazine Press, 1970

As previously mentioned, I've been collecting titles by my friend's late mother. Of course, another Parent's Magazine Press find... which is always awesome except for a somewhat lame period the publisher had during the 80s. Detailed in what I have to assume are watercolor paintings, imagine yourself a small child again... in bed... scared of what's underneath... and facing that fear, you go deeper. After his father tells him to look under the bed and investigate, our hero Dudley finds all sorts of trinkets and knickknacks he thought he'd lost and then he wonders...

"Daddy?" said the little boy, "just one thing more-- I wonder what's under the rug that's under my bed."

"Oh, no!" Dudley's tired father said.

Dudley sat up. "I know there's not a bear or a monster-- there's not even room for a puppy down there. What I'm worried about the most..."

"Yes?" said his father.

"Suppose there's a ghost? I mean, ghosts are sort of flat. They could slide under the rug and just wait-- like that."

From the rug, the speculation turns to what's under the floor, under the cellar, under the earth. Very cute idea, and a concept book I find right in line with the idea of the universe going on forever... an idea I've recently been ruminating on at length with my son. It brings that abstract idea into a real world setting and helps boost children's imaginations of the known but unseen. Plus, the pictures are totally 70s and remind me so much of the artists from my youth. Groovy.

Also by:
Attic of the Wind
You Ought To See Herbert's House

Is There Life in Outer Space?

Franklyn M. Branley ~ Don Madden ~ Thomas Y. Crowell, 1984

Of late, the boy's been speculating on the sky, so I'm actively pursuing titles of this nature. Enter the vivid (if slightly goofy) illustrations of Don Madden and this book exploring what sort of life we might find beyond the stars. Part of the "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Book" series, it is a super fun and wildly imaginative look at all things alien. Using a mix of illustration and photography, there are tall tales retold, lunar walks and even Yoda makes an appearance. (So funny that the word Yoda comes up in spell check... what a culturally savvy techno world we live in.) All food to fuel the imagination on what sorts of creatures might exist just beyond our universe. Check it.

More than a hundred years ago a newspaper said plants and animals lived on the moon. An astronomer could see them through a big, new telescope. There were trees on the moon, the newspaper said. Big melons grew on them. Animals that looked like small buffaloes grazed beneath the trees. Animals that looked like bears walked on their hind legs. There were people, too. They had hair all over their bodies, and they had wings. The moon people were friendly, the story said. They sat near a pond feeding melons to one another.

Ah, yea, right. We should be so lucky. But name me one child who hasn't had E.T. fantasies of finding life in outer space. Shoot. I still dream about it. How cool would that be, no? Maybe someday one lucky child (or child-at-heart) will get to phone home and tell us all about the ten-legged creatures that speak every launguage and live entirely off air... until then, we will all remain little dreamers, forever trapped in our isolated world until someone comes from a land far, far away and blows our minds. Someday... sigh.