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The Essential Guide to Children s Books and Their
Creators Anita Silvey Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Anita Silvey
ISBN(s): 9780618190829, 0618190821
Edition: Kindle
File Details: PDF, 3.63 MB
Year: 2002
Language: english
The Essential Guide to
Children’s Books and
Their Creators
Anita Silvey, Editor
Houghton Mifflin Company
The Essential Guide to
Children’s Books and Their Creators
T H E E S S E N T I A L G U I D E TO
................................................................
Children’s Books
and Their Creators
................................................................
A S ,
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY • BOSTON • NEW YORK • 2002
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections from
this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company,
Park Avenue South, New York, New York .
Visit our Web site: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available.
---x
--- (pbk.)
Printed in the United States of America
Book design by Robert Overholtzer
:
the women and men who have created, published,
sold, promoted, and championed children’s
and young adult books. They have loved and nurtured
the books described in these pages and have
taught me all that I know.
Contents
Introduction ix
Getting Started: A Basic Reading List xi
Entries 1
Notes on the Contributors 499
Illustration Credits 504
Index 505
Introduction
“Only the rarest kind of best in anything is good enough for the young.”
— Walter de la Mare
L and most of us starve. opportunity. The Essential Guide to Children’s
This adage applies particularly to readers of Books and Their Creators, alphabetically ar-
children’s books. Despite the wealth, the com- ranged, contains three types of entries: biogra-
plexity, and the beauty of children’s books, so phies about the creators; overviews of history,
few people have the time, or the resources, to issues, and genres; and “Voices of the Creators,”
experience the full richness offered. The Essen- written by thirty of our finest authors and illus-
tial Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators trators.
brings the banquet to everyone. Focusing primarily on contemporary Ameri-
For more than thirty years, first as editor of can authors and illustrators, I selected about
Horn Book Magazine, then as a publisher of entries from the text for this volume.
children’s books, I have lectured extensively in When necessary, I updated certain entries with
the United States and Canada about our most new information and titles. These essays repre-
important children’s books. Often when seek- sent our classic children’s literature, the canon
ing basic information, I found myself searching of children’s books, which continue to be read in
through a dozen reference volumes. Gradually I the twenty-first century. Although not the only
formed an image of the reference book on chil- books of merit published, these books motivate
dren’s literature that I frequently reached for but children to read. They include captivating sto-
could not find. Such a book, I believed, would ries, compelling characters, and imaginative use
concentrate on the literature created for Ameri- of language. They appeal to a wide and diverse
can children over the past fifty years, treat its audience of children. Because childhood is so
subjects broadly, offer thoughtful evaluations, brief, we need to expose our children to the best
contain a wide range of critical perspectives, of our literary heritage in their childhood years.
and allow children’s book authors and artists That remains the finest and most poignant
to speak for themselves. With these objectives gift we could ever give to the young.
in mind, I conceived Children’s Books and Their The s proved a particularly exciting time
Creators, published in . in children’s book creation. Thanks to Harry
After using Children’s Books and Their Cre- Potter, children’s books became front-page
ators for a few years, I became aware of certain news, and some talented writers and illustrators
limitations. Because of the size of the volume, demonstrated their best work during this pe-
I could not adopt it for my college courses. riod. To present information and commentary
Although extensively covering the history of about these new voices, I added one hundred
children’s books, it became more outdated new essays.
with the passing years. Then Susan Canavan of Although I believe that at least one thousand
Houghton Mifflin suggested I revise the book people could be considered essential creators of
for a paperback volume, and I welcomed the children’s books, I could not offer information
x Introduction
about all of them in one volume. In selecting the times new friends, the books of my childhood,
entries, I considered their historical importance, my young adult years, and my years of profes-
popularity, current interest in and availability of sional work.
the books, and the overall contribution of the Fortunately, I received a great deal of assis-
author or artist; together, the essays provide a tance while shaping The Essential Guide to Chil-
thorough and invaluable introduction to chil- dren’s Books and Their Creators. About a hun-
dren’s books. They also reflect the wide variety dred contributors, passionate about children’s
of cultural backgrounds represented in the field. books, wrote these entries. The entire staff at
Those who seek more information should con- Houghton Mifflin, especially Susan Canavan,
sult the updated electronic version available Becky Saikia-Wilson, Susanna Brougham, and
through Net Libraries and Children’s Books and Robert Overholtzer, transformed an ungainly
Their Creators. Ultimately, I held the quality of manuscript into a book. My agent, Doe Coover,
artistry as most important for my selections. Be- kept me laughing and working until the end. I
cause my sympathies lie with those trying to am particularly indebted to the two consulting
fashion the best children’s books, my profes- editors, Peter Sieruta and Marie Salvadore. Book
sional mantra remains those immortal words of people extraordinaire, they helped shape the
Walter de la Mare: “Only the rarest kind of best contents and gave me honest opinions about the
in anything is good enough for the young.” works published in the s. And in those final
Like any sane human being undertaking such hours, when we had to focus the contents more
a massive project, I immediately recognized my precisely, they were both clear-headed and con-
limitations. Then I remembered a statement by soling. My husband, Bill Clark, provided a clip-
children’s book editor Ursula Nordstrom, one ping service unrivaled on the East Coast and
of the great geniuses of the twentieth century. showed admirable patience and humor. Fortu-
When asked for her job qualifications, she tartly nately, the book got finished before he ran out
replied, “Well, I am a former child, and I haven’t of both. For all of his understanding, I am ex-
forgotten a thing.” Because I haven’t forgotten tremely grateful; every book I have created exists
either, this volume contains old and some- because of his support.
A S
Westwood, Massachusetts
Getting Started: A Basic Reading List
The books listed here represent some of the finest On Beyond Zebra! (), Dr. Seuss
works produced for children. Pigs from A to Z (), Arthur Geisert
Board Books (ages 0–2) Counting Books
Black on White (), White on Black (), Anno’s Counting Book (), Mitsumasa Anno
Tana Hoban Moja Means One: Swahili Counting Book (),
Max’s First Word (), Rosemary Wells Muriel and Tom Feelings
Sheila Rae’s Peppermint Stick (), Kevin One Hunter (), Pat Hutchins
Henkes 1, 2, 3 (), Tana Hoban
Tickle Tickle (), I Touch (), Helen Oxen- One Was Johnny (), Maurice Sendak
bury Pigs from 1 to 10 (), Arthur Geisert
Ten Black Dots (), Donald Crews
Preschool Books (ages 0–4) Ten, Nine, Eight (), Molly Bang
Construction Zone (), Tana Hoban Who’s Counting (), Nancy Tafuri
Freight Train (), Donald Crews
Goodnight Moon (), Margaret Wise Brown, Nursery Rhymes
illustrated by Clement Hurd Hector Protector and As I Went over the Water
Have You Seen My Duckling? (), Nancy (), Maurice Sendak
Tafuri London Bridge Is Falling Down (), Peter Spier
“More More More,” Said the Baby (), Vera B. Mother Goose’s Little Misfortunes (), Amy
Williams Schwartz
Mr. Gumpy’s Outing (), John Burning- The Mother Goose Treasury (), Raymond
ham Briggs
Rosie’s Walk (), Pat Hutchins Ring O’Roses (), L. Leslie Brooke
The Snowman (), Raymond Briggs The Tall Book of Mother Goose (), Feodor Ro-
Tuesday (), David Wiesner jankovsky
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (), Eric Carle
Where’s Spot? (), Eric Hill Picture Books (ages 4–8)
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
Alphabet Books (), Dr. Seuss
Aardvarks, Disembark! (), Ann Jonas Andy and the Lion (), James Daugherty
Anno’s Alphabet (), Mitsumasa Anno Caps for Sale (), Esphyr Slobodkina
Brian Wildsmith’s ABC () The Carrot Seed (), Ruth Krauss, illustrated by
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (), Bill Martin Jr. Crockett Johnson
and John Archambault Corduroy (), Don Freeman
Jambo Means Hello (), Tom Feelings Crictor (), Tomi Ungerer
xii Getting Started: A Basic Reading List
Crow Boy (), Taro Yashima Where the Wild Things Are (), Maurice
Curious George (), H. A. and Margret Rey Sendak
Doctor DeSoto (), William Steig Yo! Yes? () Chris Raschka
George and Martha (), James Marshall
Harold and the Purple Crayon (), Crockett Myths, Legends, Folklore (ages 6–12)
Johnson Aesop’s Fables (), illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
Harry, the Dirty Dog (), Gene Zion, illustrated All Night, All Day (), Ashley Bryan
by Margaret Bloy Graham The Arabian Nights (), Kate D. Wiggin, illus-
A Hole Is to Dig (), Ruth Krauss, illustrated by trated by Maxfield Parrish
Maurice Sendak D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths (), Ingri and
Horton Hatches the Egg (), Dr. Seuss Edgar D’Aulaire
Ira Sleeps Over (), Bernard Waber The Girl Who Loved Horses (), Paul Goble
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (), Kevin Henkes The Jack Tales (), Richard Chase
The Little House (), Virginia Lee Burton Keepers of the Earth (), Joseph Bruchac and
Madeline (), Ludwig Bemelmans Michael J. Caduto
Magic School Bus at the Waterworks (), Joanna The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (),
Cole Howard Pyle
Make Way for Ducklings (), Robert McCloskey The Naked Bear: Folktales of the Iroquois (),
Many Moons (), James Thurber, illustrated by John Bierhorst
Marc Simont Paul Bunyan (), Steven Kellogg
Martha Speaks (), Susan Meddaugh The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (), Vir- (), Virginia Hamilton
ginia Lee Burton The Rainbow People (), Laurence Yep
Millions of Cats (), Wanda Gág Rumpelstiltskin (), Paul O. Zelinsky
Mirandy and Brother Wind (), Patricia McKis- Seven Blind Mice (), Ed Young
sack, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid
Miss Nelson Is Missing (), Harry Allard, illus- Tales (), Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane
trated by James Marshall Smith
Miss Rumphius (), Barbara Cooney Strega Nona (), Tomie dePaola
Molly Bannaky (), Alice McGill, illustrated by Uncle Remus (), Julius Lester, illustrated by
Chris Soentpiet Jerry Pinkney
Officer Buckle and Gloria (), Peggy Rathman Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears (),
The Polar Express (), Chris Van Allsburg Verna Aardema, illustrated by Leo and Dianne
The Shrinking of Treehorn (), Florence Parry Dillon
Heide, illustrated by Edward Gorey Zlateh the Goat (), Isaac Bashevis Singer,
Snowflake Bentley (), Jacqueline Briggs Mar- illustrated by Maurice Sendak
tin, illustrated by Mary Azarian
The Snowy Day (), Ezra Jack Keats Poetry (age 6 and up)
The Story About Ping (), Marjorie Flack Alligator Pie (), Dennis Lee
The Story of Ferdinand (), Munro Leaf, illus- All Small (), David McCord
trated by Robert Lawson Bronzeville Boys and Girls (), Gwendolyn
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (), William Brooks
Steig Don’t You Turn Back (), Langston Hughes
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (), Beatrix Potter Finding a Poem (), Eve Merriam
The Three Pigs (), David Wiesner I Met a Man (), John Ciardi
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (), Jon Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices (), Paul
Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith Fleischman
Getting Started: A Basic Reading List xiii
Knock at a Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry A Bear Called Paddington (), Michael Bond
(anthology, ), X. J. Kennedy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (), Barbara
The New Kid on the Block (), Jack Prelutsky Robinson
Night on Neighborhood Street (), Eloise The Black Stallion (), Walter Farley
Greenfield Bridge to Terabithia (), Katherine Paterson
Peacock Pie () and Come Hither (anthology, Call of the Wild (/), Jack London, illus-
), Walter de la Mare trated by Wendell Minor
The Place My Words Are Looking For (), Paul Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (), Roald
Janeczko Dahl
This Same Sky (), Naomi Shihab Nye From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E.
Side by Side: Poems to Read Together (anthology, Frankweiler (), E. L. Konigsburg
), Lee Bennett Hopkins The Great Gilly Hopkins (), Katherine Pater-
The Trees Stand Shining (), Hettie Jones son
A Visit to William Blake’s Inn (), Nancy Harriet the Spy (), Louise Fitzhugh
Willard Hatchet (), Gary Paulsen
Where the Sidewalk Ends () and The Light in Holes (), Louis Sachar
the Attic (), Shel Silverstein Homecoming (), Cynthia Voigt
Homer Price (), Robert McCloskey
Easy Readers (ages 7–8) Humbug Mountain (), Sid Fleischman
Amelia Bedelia series, Peggy Parish The Hundred Dresses (), Eleanor Estes
The Cat in the Hat (), Dr. Seuss Julie of the Wolves (), Jean Craighead George
Frog and Toad series, Arnold Lobel The Jungle Book (), Rudyard Kipling
Henry and Mudge series, Cynthia Rylant Little Women (), Louisa May Alcott
Little Bear (), Else Holmelund Minarik The Man from the Other Side (), Uri Orlev
Nate the Great series, Marjorie Sharmat Maniac Magee (), Jerry Spinelli
Mary Poppins (), P. L. Travers
Chapter Books (ages 8–9) M. C. Higgins, the Great (), Virginia Hamil-
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? (), ton
Jean Fritz, illustrated by Margot Tomes Moffats series, Eleanor Estes
The Courage of Sarah Noble (), Alice Dalgliesh One-Eyed Cat (), Paula Fox
Encyclopedia Brown series, Donald J. Sobol Pippi Longstocking (), Astrid Lindgren
Little House in the Big Woods (), Laura Ingalls Rabbit Hill (1944 ), Robert Lawson
Wilder Sounder (), William Armstrong
My Father’s Dragon (), Ruth Stiles Gannett Summer of the Swans (), Betsy Byars
Ramona series, Beverly Cleary Treasure Island (/), Robert Louis Steven-
Sarah, Plain and Tall (), Patricia MacLachlan son, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
Stone Fox (), John Reynolds Gardiner The Westing Game (), Ellen Raskin
Middle-Grade Fiction (ages 8–12) Fantasy
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (/), Mark The Adventures of Pinocchio (), Carlo
Twain, illustrated by Barry Moser Collodi
Anastasia Krupnik series, Lois Lowry Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (), Lewis
Anne of Green Gables (), L. M. Mont- Carroll
gomery Animal Family (), Randall Jarrell
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (), Judy The Blue Sword () and The Hero and the
Blume Crown (), Robin McKinley
Babe: The Gallant Pig (), Dick King-Smith Borrowers series, Mary Norton
xiv Getting Started: A Basic Reading List
Charlotte’s Web (), E. B. White The Slave Dancer (), Paula Fox
Chronicles of Chrestomanci series, Diana Wynne The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (), Leon
Jones Garfield
Chronicles of Narnia series, C. S. Lewis The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (),
Chronicles of Prydain series, Lloyd Alexander Avi
Dark Is Rising series, Susan Cooper The Watsons Go to Birmingham (),
Earthsea series, Ursula K. Le Guin Christopher Paul Curtis
Five Children and It (), E. Nesbit The Witch of Blackbird Pond (), Elizabeth
Green Knowe series, L. M. Boston George Speare
Half-Magic (), Edward Eager
Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling Information Books
The Hobbit (), J. R. R. Tolkien Boys’ War (), Jim Murphy
Incredible Journey (), Sheila Burnford Cathedral (), David Macaulay
The Mouse and His Child (), Russell Hoban, The Endless Steppe (), Esther Hautzig
illustrated by David Small From Hand to Mouth (), James Cross Giblin
Owl in Love (), Patrice Kindl The Great Fire (), Jim Murphy
The Perilous Gard (), Elizabeth Marie Pope Harriet and the Promised Land (), Jacob
Redwall series, Brian Jacques Lawrence
The Secret Garden (), Frances Hodgson Bur- My Season with Penguins (), Sophie Webb
nett Neptune (), Franklyn M. Branley
The Story of Dr. Dolittle (), Hugh Lofting Never to Forget: The Jews of the Holocaust (),
The Sword in the Stone (), T. H. White Milton Meltzer
Tom’s Midnight Garden (), Philippa Pearce Our Solar System (), Seymour Simon
Tuck Everlasting (), Natalie Babbitt Paddle-to-the-Sea (), Holling C. Holling
The Wind in the Willows (), Kenneth Gra- Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado
hame (), Marc Aaronson
Winnie-the-Pooh (), A. A. Milne Volcano (), Patricia Lauber
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (), L. Frank The Way Things Work (), David Macaulay
Baum The Wright Brothers (), Russell Freedman
A Wrinkle in Time (), Madeleine L’Engle
Science Fiction
Historical Fiction Childhood’s End (), Arthur C. Clarke
Across Five Aprils (), Irene Hunt The Delikon (), H. M. Hoover
The Borning Room () and Bull Run (), Devil on My Back (), Monica Hughes
Paul Fleischman Dragonsong () and Dragonsinger (), Anne
Caddie Woodlawn (), Carol Ryrie Brink McCaffrey
Catherine, Called Birdy (), Karen Cushman Enchantress from the Stars (), Sylvia Louise
Fallen Angels (), Walter Dean Myers Engdahl
The Friendship (), Mildred Taylor Eva (), Peter Dickinson
Island of the Blue Dolphins (), Scott O’Dell The Giver (), Lois Lowry
Johnny Tremain (), Esther Forbes Moon-Flash (), Patricia McKillip
Kidnapped (), Robert Louis Stevenson Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH () and Z for
Lyddie (), Katherine Paterson Zachariah (), Robert C. O’Brien
Morning Girl (), Michael Dorris Pebble in the Sky (), Isaac Asimov
My Brother Sam Is Dead (), James and Rocket Ship Galileo (), Robert Heinlein
Christopher Collier Step to the Stars (), Lester del Rey
Out of the Dust (), Karen Hesse A Wrinkle in Time (), Madeleine L’Engle
Getting Started: A Basic Reading List xv
Young Adult Novels (age 12 and up) The Five Chinese Brothers (), Claire Huchet
After the First Death (), Robert Cormier Bishop
The Catcher in the Rye (), J. D. Salinger Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China
The Chocolate War (), Robert Cormier (), Ed Young
The Circuit (), Francisco Jimenez Tales from Gold Mountain (), Paul Yee
The Contender (), Robert Lipsyte
Dark Materials series, Philip Pullman Japanese American Literature
Deliver Us from Evie () and Dinky Hocker Baseball Saved Us (), Ken Mochizuki
Shoots Smack! (), M. E. Kerr The Coming of the Bear (), Lensey Namioka
The Ghost Belonged to Me (), Richard Peck Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, Peo-
The Goats (), Brock Cole ple, and War (), Yukio Tsuchiya
I Am the Cheese (), Robert Cormier The Journey: Japanese Americans, Racism, and Re-
Make Lemonade (), Virginia Euwer Wolff newal (), Sheila Hamanaka
Memory (), Margaret Mahy Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (),
Monster (), Walter Dean Myers Eleanor Coerr
The Moves Make the Man (), Bruce Brooks Samurai of Gold Hill () and The Bracelet
The Outsiders (), S. E. Hinton (), Yoshiko Uchida
The Pigman (), Paul Zindel Tales from the Bamboo Grove (), Yoko
Skellig (), David Almond Kawashima Watkins
Stotan! (), Chris Crutcher Tree of Cranes () and Grandfather’s Journey
Weetzie Bat (), Francesca Lia Block (), Allen Say
Umbrella (), Taro Yashima
Multicultural Perspectives Latino Literature
Baseball in April and Other Stories () and
African American Literature Local News (), Gary Soto
The Dream Keeper (), Langston Hughes El diablo inglés y otros cuentos (The English devil
Every Man Heart Lay Down (), Lorenz Gra- and other stories, ), María Elena Walsh
ham Un diente se mueve (A loose tooth, ), Daniel
My Lives and How I Lost Them () and The Bardot
Lost Zoo (), Countee Cullen Going Home () and El Bronx Remembered: A
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976 ), Let the Circle Novella and Stories, Nicholasa Mohr
Be Unbroken (), and Road to Memphis Miguel y el pastel (Miguel and the cake, ),
(), Mildred Taylor Maribel Suárez
Stevie (), John Steptoe Teo en un día de fiesta (Teo during a holiday,
Walk Together Children (), Ashley Bryan ), Violeta Denou
You Can’t Pet a Possum () and Sad-Faced Boy
(), Arna Bontemps
Zeely () and M. C. Higgins the Great (),
Virginia Hamilton
Chinese American Literature
City Kids in China (), Peggy Thomson
Dragonwings (), Child of the Owl (), and
Star Fisher (), Laurence Yep
El Chino (), Allen Say
Fifth Chinese Daughter (), Jade Snow Wong
The Essential Guide to
Children’s Books and Their Creators
appreciated their clear-cut, concentrated action
and the scope they allowed for interpretation.
Illustrated collections of the fables especially
A
designed for children became a regular feature
of publishers’ lists. Walter Crane entitled
his elaborate, proto–Art Nouveau presentation
(somewhat inaccurately) The Baby’s Own Aesop
(1887). In the relatively static, traditionalist
world of early-twentieth-century children’s lit-
erature, Crane’s Aesop held its place into the
1950s, along with two other vintage British edi-
Aesop tions, folklorist Joseph Jacobs’s embroidered re-
telling of the fables (1894), valued for its histori-
T raditional Greek author of fables, b. mid–
sixth century b.c.(?) Almost nothing about
Aesop is certain except the universal and unfad-
cal introduction, and the Arthur Rackham
Aesop (1912), an odd pairing of Rackham’s visual
theatrics with lean, shapely new translations by
ing popularity of the fables associated with his V. S. Vernon Jones.
name. We do not know exactly when or where The one strong American entry was an un-
he lived or what he did. We have no evidence disguised artist’s showcase, Boris Artzybasheff ’s
that he put any of the fables he told into writ- Aesop’s Fables (1933), based on wood engrav-
ing and only a few clues as to which fables are ings and intended for both adults and children.
actually his. Twentieth-century research estab- In many quarters, however, a subtler, more far-
lished, moreover, that fables identical to Aesop’s reaching exploitation of Aesopica was getting
in form, and sometimes in substance, existed under way. Alexander Calder (1931), Antonio
much earlier, in Mesopotamia. Yet the testimony Frasconi (1954, 1964), and Joseph Low (1963)
of Aristophanes, Plato, Herodotus, and other produced a motley of broadsides, albums, and
eminent Greeks is firmly in accord on the fame portfolios for cultural sophisticates and the oc-
of Aesop as a fable maker, or fabulist. casional questing child.
His life quickly took on legendary dimen- Early in the picture book explosion, James
sions — the eloquent Aesop, it was said, was Daugherty contrived out of Aesop, Roman
once a despised, mute slave — and fables from
here and there became attached to his name. Or-
iginally, they were not meant for children, but
first as examples of pithy composition and later
as lessons in wise conduct, fables entered the
curriculum of young nobles and gentlemen,
while young peasants picked up phrases from
the fables — “the lion’s share,” “sour grapes,” and
“crying wolf,” for example — as common wis-
dom.
The spread of popular education in the nine-
teenth century, along with advances in print-
ing and graphic reproduction, brought forth
schoolbooks and storybooks with selections
from Aesop, often vividly illustrated. To parents Illustration by Thomas Bewick for Aesop’s fable “The
and pedagogues, fables were instructive tales Crow and the Pitcher,” from Bewick’s Select Fables of
that children actually enjoyed. Graphic artists Aesop and Others (1784).
2 African American Children’s Books
legend, and frontier Americana a sentimental is the use of heavy dialect. It is too difficult for the
blockbuster, Andy and the Lion (1938). The wid- child to read and understand and since often it is not
ening, unceasing search for picture book texts authentic, but has been created by the author, it is
brought multiple versions of some of the more misleading. The use of regional vernacular is accept-
anecdotal, folktale-like fables (“The Country able. . . . [Another] factor is illustrations. An artist can
Mouse and the City Mouse”; “The Miller, His portray a Negro child — black skin, crinkly hair and
Son, and the Donkey”) as well as attention to short nose — and make him attractive.
some little-known ones. There were outright
dazzlers, too, most prominently Brian Wild- Among those whose artwork exemplified
smith’s The Lion and the Rat (1963) and The Baker’s criteria was Erick Berry, who illustrated
North Wind and the Sun (1964), from Aesop via Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poetry collection Little
Jean de La Fontaine. Brown Baby (1941) and Arna Bontemps’s You
The fables themselves were adapted, grouped, Can’t Pet a Possum (1934). Caldecott Medal win-
and packaged in a multitude of ways. For begin- ner Lynd Ward achieved appealing, dramatic
ning readers, Eve Rice retold ten fables in fluent figures with which to accompany Hildegarde
primerese and, under the title Once in a Wood Swift’s stirring biographical sketches in North
(1979), supplied them with emblematic animal Star Shining (1947). In her novel Zeke (1931),
close-ups. The single climactic year of 1992 pro- set in the area of Tuskegee, Alabama, the white
duced, indicatively, two disparate, unorthodox civil-rights activist Mary White Ovington dem-
Aesops: Barbara McClintock’s rendering of nine onstrated her ability to use Negro dialect in a
Animal Tales from Aesop as a courtly theatrical manner that was realistic without being offen-
performance and, from Barbara Bader and Ar- sive. Florence Crannell Means carved a niche
thur Geisert, Aesop and Company, which pres- in literary history for the Negro child with her
ents the fables in their original terse form (and novel Shuttered Windows (1938). This appears to
in a historical setting), with freely interpretive, be the first novel by a white author in which all
graphically American illustrations. the characters are black.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, From another perspective, there were those
clearly, there is no end of Aesops in sight. B.B. white writers and illustrators who, within a most
accepting society, enjoyed great popularity with
stories and pictures that would contribute little
African American Children’s Books to the Negro child’s self-esteem. Elvira Garner’s
Ezekiel series, set in rural Florida, Lynda Gra-
I t is indeed a misconception to believe that lit- ham’s Pinky Marie (1939), with her “ink black”
tle material was published for or about the parents, and Inez Hogan’s highly praised Nico-
African American child in the first sixty years of demus tales, include many of the characteristics
the twentieth century. There were many books against which Baker spoke. The works of these
by white authors and illustrators whose final authors — who were not alone — were replete
products exemplified two schools of thought. with the exaggerated use of dialect and illustra-
There were those whose portrayal of the Negro tions that showed the Negro child with heavy
in words and visuals showed sensitivity to and a lips, bulging eyes, night-black skin, and woolly
respect for this minority culture. Their creations hair. Too often the “pickaninny” protagonist was
seemed to subscribe to the criteria suggested in portrayed as a youngster who saw his color as
1944 by the noted librarian Augusta Baker: less than acceptable.
By far, much of the best literature was created
When considering language, the most important by blacks themselves, some of whom are famil-
point is to eliminate books which describe Negroes in iar in contemporary literary history and others,
terms of derision . . . Another language consideration now forgotten, who should be rediscovered.
African American Children’s Books 3
Arna Bontemps is most often thought of as ad- against teasing in the tragic tale of the
dressing an adult audience, yet he wrote fun- Squilililigee who drowned rather than live with
filled juvenile novels such as You Can’t Pet a Pos- the constant taunting that came as a result of
sum and Sad-Faced Boy (1937). In this last title his strange name. The fate of the Snake-That-
there is one scene to which librarians of any era Walked-Upon-His-Tail was an admonishment
can relate. The protagonist, Slumber, coming to against false vanity. Snobbishly proud of his tiny
New York from Alabama, takes his brothers on feet, the snake planned to be the last to enter the
their first trip to a public library. Slumber reads ark. But those same feet became entangled in a
aloud from a book that sends the group into vine. With no help available, the walking snake
gales of laughter, and the boys find themselves sank beneath the waters, never to be seen again.
summarily dismissed by the librarian. As Slum- The thoughtful reader might well see these hu-
ber leaves, he muses about what one is supposed morous images philosophically as more truth
to do with a funny book in the library! With than fantasy.
journalist Jack Conroy, Bontemps also wrote a Like many of his peers whose work had a
picture book, The Fast Sooner Hound (1942), in multilevel appeal, the noted poet Langston
which a dog outruns a train. In a poetry Hughes selected from his own works some
anthology for young readers, Golden Slippers pieces he felt would speak to young people and
(1941), Bontemps selected poems from the pens put them together in the Dream Keeper (1932).
of not only those who had gained name recogni- The selections were tastefully embellished with
tion, such as Claude McKay and Sterling Brown, black and white illustrations by Helen Sewell. In
but also pieces from lesser known yet talented addition to the poetry, Hughes also wrote a se-
writers such as Frank Davis, Beatrice Murphy, ries of “First Books” on topics such as rhymes,
and Georgia Johnson. The book was enriched jazz, and the history of the Negro, all for early
with the inclusion of biographical sketches of readers. With Milton Meltzer he organized
each of the contributors. the still-valuable Pictorial History of the Negro in
In these early years, even as today, Countee America (1953).
Cullen was considered to be writing for an adult But there were many African American cre-
audience. But at least two pieces were written ators whose primary audience was young peo-
with young people in mind. Collaborating with ple. Held in high esteem among those whose
his pet cat, Christopher, Cullen wrote My Lives novels spoke with quiet forcefulness against rac-
and How I Lost Them (1941). The eight rollicking ism was Jesse Jackson. He earned a place in the
tales describe how Christopher, living gingerly world of children’s literature with the publi-
on his ninth life, lost the others. The first life, he cation of two school stories: Call Me Charley
relates, was lost almost immediately after birth (1945) and its sequel, Anchor Man (1947).
when out of curiosity he leaned too far over Heartbreak and repeated rejection preceded
the edge of the top hat in which he was born. the acceptance of many African American au-
The fall to the floor unceremoniously ended life thors’ and illustrators’ manuscripts by major
number one. Other lives were lost under cir- publishers. A case in point is the work of
cumstances such as an encounter with a rat and Lorenz Graham. It was not until 1958, nine
trying to survive the results of a fast brought on years after the novel had been completed, that
by a case of unrequited love. As a public school Graham’s South Town was printed. The story,
teacher in Harlem, Cullen is said to have written whose basic theme explored the injustices that
the animal fantasy The Lost Zoo (1940) as an in- resulted from racist principles in the Deep
novative way to teach students certain life les- South, was considered too controversial. To the
sons. He made his point through the poetic de- surprise of many, however, the book’s popularity
scription of the misadventures of the animals led to a series continuing the saga of the Wil-
who never made it onto the ark. He warned liams family in North Town (1965), Whose Town
4 African American Children’s Books
(1969), and Return to South Town (1976). During was a periodical for “children of the sun.” Its
the time that Graham served as U.S. ambassador contents included, in addition to the folklore,
to Liberia, he became enthralled with the rhyth- biographical sketches of famous African Ameri-
mic patois speech of the West Africans. This fas- cans, poetry, games, and even a bit of interna-
cination was translated into a collection of Bible tional news!
stories in How God Fixed Jonah (1946). At a later Although the purist might question the in-
date some of the selections were published as in- clusion of reading textbooks in a study of chil-
dividual volumes, the most popular of which dren’s literature, in this circumstance it seems
was the Nativity story Every Man Heart Lay appropriate. The correlation between relevancy
Down (1970). Graham’s work spanned four dec- and motivation to learn is not really a new
ades. His last publication was the biography concept. In the early years of the twentieth cen-
John Brown (1980), nine years before Graham’s tury many African American educators in pub-
death. lic school systems were aware of the exclusion of
While Lorenz Graham wrote only one chil- information about African Americans in mate-
dren’s biography, his sister, Shirley Graham, was rial in their general texts. The result was the de-
a leader among those who saw the form as a sign of readers that incorporated (along with the
driving force to record with truth and accuracy techniques for teaching reading) historical, bio-
the story of a Negro so often omitted from graphical, and cultural information. As an ex-
or distorted in available texts. Her biography ample, Emma Akin, in her primer for first-grad-
George Washington Carver (1944) was the first of ers, included a simplified story of the life of Paul
several designed to tell African American read- Laurence Dunbar. Elizabeth Cannon, in her in-
ers and others about the achievements of fig- troduction to Country Life Stories (1938), stated
ures such as Booker T. Washington, Benjamin that she made no attempt to “check the vocab-
Banneker, and Julius Nyerere. Graham’s mar- ulary with foundation word lists” because so
riage to the often castigated civil rights leader many of those words were of little meaning
W. E. B. Du Bois unfortunately had adverse con- to the rural children for whom she was writ-
sequences for her writing career. But her work ing. The book goes on to describe the works of
may have been inspirational for other writers, the Jeanes Supervisor, the role of the County
such as Chicago librarian Charlemae Rollins, Agents, and the regulations under which the
who wrote collections of brief biographies Rolling Store functioned! Stella Sharpe’s photo-
about African American poets, entertainers, and graphic reader, Tobe (1939), was in answer to a
leaders in the world of political action, science, little African American boy’s query as to why
and business. he never saw anyone who looked like him in a
Just as it is the major job of biography to re- book.
port life within a historical context, by contrast Finally, in this glimpse into the history of lit-
folklore reports life from the perspective of an erature for the African American child, it seems
ethnic group’s social structure. Through the appropriate to include the contribution not of
tales of a people passed down from one genera- an author or an illustrator, but of a publishing
tion to another, one learns of government struc- house. Around 1915 Carter G. Woodson orga-
ture, customs, mores, taboos, and even some- nized the Associated Publishers in Washington,
thing of the language. Early in this century a D.C. Through this avenue, many little-known
major folklorist was Alphonso O. Stafford. In yet capable writers and illustrators found an
addition to his collection of animal stories, outlet for their works. Books from Associated
Stafford was a regular writer for The Brownies Publishers included Helen Whiting’s easy
Book (1920–1922). In almost every issue he had reader folktales, such as the collection Negro
African stories, riddles, and sometimes, songs. Folk Tales for Pupils in Primary Grades (1938);
The Brownies Book, founded by W. E. B. Du Bois, Parthenia McBrown’s Picture Poetry Book (1935),
African American Children’s Books 5
designed with the hope that it would inspire unobtrusive inclusion of ethnic history, and the
children to love poetry; and Altona Trent- admonition never to give up hope.
Johns’s Play Songs of the Deep South (1944), well In 1975 Mildred Taylor received the New-
reviewed in some newspapers. bery Medal for her book Roll of Thunder, Hear
As the first half of the twentieth century drew My Cry (1975). Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a
to a close, the children’s literature world was wit- well-crafted story of an African American family
ness to what some describe as a “literary explo- surviving in Deep South Mississippi during the
sion” of works by African American authors and Depression years of the 1930s. There is a sense of
illustrators. Perhaps outside factors such as the family unity strongly supported by the father,
growing voice of the civil rights movement and Mr. David Logan, who never let his children for-
the legal decision in the Brown vs. Board of Edu- get the value of ownership: he owned acres of
cation Supreme Court case contributed to this land while others, white and black, struggled to
phenomenon. But surely the greatest credit must survive as sharecroppers. With quiet delibera-
go to the creative talent of the authors and illus- tion Taylor makes the reader aware of the rav-
trators whose names at this time were becoming ages of racism in education, in economics, in the
better and better known. justice system, and in frequently humiliating so-
Virginia Hamilton’s ever popular Zeely cial interactions. Deftly woven into the story is
(1964) was only the first in a list of quality books an aspect of racism sometimes overlooked — its
for children and young adults that led to her effect on some young white people, represented
becoming the first African American to win the here by Jeremy Simms. Stacey Logan asks him,
Newbery Medal, for M. C. Higgins the Great “Why don’t you leave us alone? How come you
(1974). In Zeely Hamilton has crafted a decep- always hanging ’round us anyway?” There is pa-
tively simple plot with a subtle blend of fantasy thos in Jeremy’s stammered reply: “C-cause I
and reality. Underlying the quiet action is a deep just likes y’all.” The mood is sustained as Cassie
sense of family, a characteristic that permeates reports the end of this meeting: “When we
later works by this creative storyteller. Elizabeth reached the crossroads he looked hopefully at us
Perry, a city-raised child, renames herself Geeder as if we might relent and say goodbye. But we
and her brother Toeboy, when they go to spend did not relent and as I glanced back at him
the summer on a farm with their Uncle Ross. standing alone in the middle of the crossing, he
Life changes for Geeder on the day she first sees looked as if the world itself was slung around his
Zeely. With her fertile imagination, Geeder is neck.”
positive that this stately figure must be a Watutsi With purposeful selection of words and
queen! Who but a queen could stand “six and a clearly delineated characters, with honesty and
half feet tall, thin, and as deeply dark as a pole perception, Taylor has introduced readers to a
of Ceylon ebony”? Talking with Zeely, Geeder family whose strength is built on positive self-es-
learns who Zeely really is, something of the his- teem, courage, and a steadfast belief in holding
tory of slavery, and a bit of African American on to what is yours, no matter what it takes.
lore and legend. Through Zeely’s wise counsel, With Cassie Logan as the protagonist, Taylor
Hamilton shows not only Geeder but also her continued the saga of the Logan family in two
readers the importance of recognizing and ac- other titles, Let the Circle Be Unbroken (1981) and
cepting one’s identity. Hamilton’s skillful use in Road to Memphis (1990), which through the pas-
this book of dialect and unusual sentence struc- sage of time show what can be accomplished
tures has since become the hallmark of her dis- when a family is determined not to be beaten
tinctive writing style. Beyond these technical at- down by any outside forces.
tributes, other constants in this writer’s works From an understated beginning in the world
are the persistent message about positive self- of children’s literature with the drawings for
image and the importance of family history, the Joyce Arkhurst’s Adventures of Spider (1964),
6 Agee, Jon
Jerry Pinkney has gone on to receive many thick, black semicircle — a frown — leads into a
honors for his illustrations, which recognize the story about a mean-spirited man who is myste-
beautiful uniqueness and individuality of mem- riously transformed; thus, the book’s last image
bers of the black race. Among his citations, is another thick, black semicircle — a smile. The
Pinkney has six times received the Coretta Scott illustrations, using large areas of intense, slightly
King Award for illustration in books written by muddied primary colors, and the spare text play
both black and white writers. Ashley Bryan’s off each other expertly, each enlarging rather
talents as an illustrator were introduced in than repeating the effect of the other. Reflecting
Moon, for What Do You Wait? (1964). As an art- an oft-used theme in Agee’s work, Ludlow
ist, musician, and historian, Bryan saw the need Laughs shows a man being used and discarded
to preserve for all children, but especially for by society. While this daytime grump laughs in-
black children, the beauty and significance of fectiously in his sleep, the whole world laughs
the Negro spiritual. Over the years he has illus- along as a radio crew broadcasts his guffaws.
trated and provided musical notations for sev- When Ludlow’s funny dreams end, his fickle
eral volumes of spirituals, the first of which was fans move on to other entertainments.
Walk Together Children (1971). A young John Ellsworth (1983) centers on a similar theme.
Steptoe came on the scene with Stevie (1964). Ellsworth, a dog, is quite content to be a stuffy
Over the years Steptoe showed amazing versa- economics professor, well respected by his hu-
tility in style and medium, culminating in his man “peers.” But he cuts loose at night, chasing
achieving both a Caldecott Honor and the cars and digging up bones, until he is discovered
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for the bril- and fired. He hangs around the park, miserably
liant paintings in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters jobless, until he becomes inspired to be a dog.
(1987). The absurdity of the fable works on the surface,
As one continues to view the world of chil- while the satire of human values works on a
dren’s literature, it can be observed that not only slightly deeper level.
are the doors of major publishing houses open- The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau
ing wider to African American authors and il- (1988) also shows the main character turning his
lustrators, but smaller houses, minority-owned back on society. Clousseau, a painter, places his
houses, are providing yet another avenue of visi- small, stylized portrait of a duck next to the
bility for an ever-increasing list of talented Afri- gargantuan, elaborate portraits entered in a Pa-
can American artists and writers. And surely the risian competition. His painting reaps ridicule
primary beneficiaries of these signs of progress until the duck quacks and walks away. Clousseau
are the children and young adults for whom the becomes famous, but not for long, because his
books are produced. H.M.S. painted tornado erupts and other such tragedies
ensue. In a twist of fate, he is released from
prison and quietly “return[s] to his painting” by
Agee, Jon literally disappearing into the empty streets of
the town on one of his canvases. Clousseau’s
A merican author and illustrator, b. 1960.
There is nothing ordinary about Jon Agee’s
picture books. This Brooklyn artist, who was
viewpoint is never explored, and he never seems
to be more than glasses, beard, and nose. Yet
while he appears to be a misfit, the reader knows
trained in painting and filmmaking at Cooper that it is society’s routines and habits that are in
Union, depends heavily on graphic visual im- question.
ages and short but well-composed texts in books Agee’s artistic approach has changed to suit
that are witty, ludicrous, and satirical. His most each story, but Clousseau represents his most fa-
boldly graphic paintings appear in Ludlow miliar style. Using thick black outlines on the
Laughs (1985), in which the opening vision of a stylized figures and few contextual details, the
Ahlberg, Janet; Ahlberg, Allan 7
paintings consist of large flat areas of subdued ered themselves first and foremost bookmakers,
colors, often in murky browns and grays. The deciding together on all aspects of production,
muddied palette reflects the darker subtexts of from the book size and typeface to the end-
Agee’s work, which suggest that all is not as pure papers, cover, and jacket copy. Their ease of col-
— or as funny — as it appears. The flat subjects laboration is reflected in books that display a
are given depth through mass, shadow, and per- flawless integration of words and pictures.
spective. Often objects will have a grainy, almost The Ahlbergs claimed there are “no deep phi-
tactile texture. In Clousseau each page is like losophies” in their work, preferring instead to
a cartoon on its own, largely because of the stress the playful elements of their books. They
concise text and the unrelenting comedy. In Go often made use of the conventions of storytell-
Hang a Salami! I’m a Lasagna Hog! (1991), Agee ing, including morals and happy endings. “Once
moved completely to the single-panel comic for- upon a time there were three bears” begins Jere-
mat. Filled with palindromes, this book high- miah in the Dark Woods (1977), the story of a boy
lights Agee’s absurd wit, as his zany pen-and-ink detective who sets out to find the robber who
drawings elaborate on statements such as has stolen his grandma’s tarts. Rhyming couplets
“Elsie’s on a nose isle” and “Put Eliot’s toilet up.” introduce readers to fairy tale and nursery
His love of language led to other word books, El- rhyme characters as they search for Mother
vis Lives: And Other Anagrams (2000), Who Or- Hubbard, Cinderella, and others hiding in the
dered the Jumbo Shrimp? And Other Oxymorons whimsical, humorous pictures of the Kate
(1998), and Sit on a Potato Pan, Otis! More Palin- Greenaway Medal winner Each Peach Pear Plum
dromes (1999). (1978). Allowing preschoolers both the fun of an
Agee’s distinctive style and outlook provide “I Spy” game and the pleasure of reexperiencing
for interesting and provocative picture books. the familiar in an inventive new way, the book is
His work says to the reader, “Dare to be differ- considered a contemporary classic. Other books
ent.” And Agee practices what he preaches. S.S. that exhibit the Ahlbergs’ keen awareness of the
child’s psyche are Peek-a-Boo! (1981), The Baby’s
Catalogue (1982), and Starting School (1988). The
Ahlberg, Janet; Ahlberg, Allan innovative The Jolly Postman; or, Other People’s
Letters (1986) again reinforces and builds on pre-
J anet: British illustrator, 1944–1994; Allan:
British author, b. 1938. The publication of
Brick Street Boys (1975), a series of five humor-
vious literary knowledge. Warm, witty illustra-
tions depict a postman cycling on his rounds,
delivering letters between fairy tale characters.
ous, comic-strip-style books that describe the Each real, removable letter, contained in its own
activities of a group of multiethnic children in a envelope, reveals a different form of correspon-
working-class neighborhood, firmly established dence — a post card, a party invitation, an ad-
the Ahlbergs as creators of highly popular books vertisement. Published in eleven countries to
for young readers. Their body of fresh, light- critical and popular acclaim, the book is the
hearted work includes ingenious toy books, joke Ahlbergs’ best-known work and received the
books, short stories, and picture books. Emil Award in England, the Book Key Prize in
Both Janet and Allan attended Sunderland Holland, and the Prix du Livre pour la Jeunesse
College of Education. Janet worked as a layout in France. Its companion book, The Jolly Christ-
artist and freelance designer before illustrating mas Postman (1991), is a Kate Greenaway Medal
children’s books, and Allan worked variously as recipient.
a letter carrier, plumber’s helper, and teacher be- Warm, entertaining, and involving stories
fore becoming a full-time children’s book au- convey a sense of joy in reading and have earned
thor. While Janet was primarily the illustrator the Ahlbergs a place among the best-loved con-
and Allan the writer of this team, they consid- temporary children’s authors and illustrators.
8 Aiken, Joan
After Janet’s death, Allan continued to write waif Dido Twite — populate Aiken’s fictional
picture book texts, including The Snail House world. Aiken has said that her “books are con-
(2001), illustrated by Gillian Tyler, and The Ad- cerned with children tackling the problem of an
ventures of Bert (2001), with artwork by Ray- adult world,” but, reassuringly, good always tri-
mond Briggs. C.S. umphs over evil. Aiken’s story collections, many
of them horror and suspense, have garnered as
much acclaim as her adventures, ably demon-
Aiken, Joan strating the scope and variety of her craft. The
Kingdom Under the Sea (1971), winner of the
B ritish author, b. 1924. Versatility and a soar-
ing imagination are the hallmarks of the
work of Joan Aiken, an accomplished writer
Kate Greenaway Medal for Jan Pienkowski’s
brilliant illustrations, draws together new ver-
sions of favorite Russian folktales. Stories rang-
who has few equals in the contemporary chil- ing from the whimsical to the eerie constitute
dren’s book world. Aiken is noted primarily for Up the Chimney Down (1984). Past Eight o’Clock
her inventive novels and masterly short stories, (1987) meshes traditional and contemporary el-
but her opus also includes poetry, picture ements by basing each story on a well-known
books, plays, and retellings of folktales. Aiken folktale. The atmospheric stories included in A
was born in Rye, Sussex. As the daughter of the Whisper in the Night (1982), Give Yourself a
American poet Conrad Aiken and the step- Fright (1989), and A Foot in the Grave (1992) por-
daughter of the English writer Martin Arm- tray a modern world in which the fantastic and
strong, she grew up immersed in a literary envi- the supernatural are commonplace. Other nota-
ronment. At the age of five she made up her ble books include The Shadow Guests (1980), a
mind that she, too, would become a writer. Dur- novel with a family curse as its premise, and
ing her schooling at Wychwood, Oxford, Aiken Arabel’s Raven (1972), the first of several funny
had two poems published by the Abinger Chron- books about preschooler Arabel and her rau-
icle, edited by E. M. Forster and others. Aiken cous, trouble-making pet raven, Mortimer.
married the journalist Ron Brown; after his A lively, headlong style energizes Aiken’s
death she wrote short stories to augment her in- books, which have been honored with the
come. These stories make up Aiken’s first pub- Guardian Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award,
lished books, All You’ve Ever Wanted (1953) and and the Carnegie Medal Honor. Complete com-
More Than You’ve Bargained For (1955). mand over, and delight in, language evidences
Her second published novel, The Wolves of itself in her books through delicious wordplay,
Willoughby Chase (1962), recipient of the Lewis sly parody, and vivid imagery. Poetic richness
Carroll Shelf Award, began her loosely linked se- and striking originality aside, Aiken’s work is
ries of adventures set in a historical time that wholeheartedly entertaining. C.S.
never was — the imaginary reign of King James
III of England. Though making use of real his-
torical detail, the book and its successors — Alcott, Louisa May
Black Hearts in Battersea (1964), Nightbirds on
Nantucket (1966), The Whispering Mountain
(1968), The Cuckoo Tree (1971), The Stolen Lake
(1981), Dido and Pa (1986), and Is Underground
A merican novelist, 1832–1888. After consid-
ering several careers, including acting,
Louisa May Alcott learned that her talent and
(1993) — brim with outrageous improbability, her earning power lay in writing; and though
wild exaggeration, lavish melodrama, and hu- she had aspirations of writing serious novels for
mor. These “unhistorical” books are often adults, she was in demand for the melodramatic,
termed Dickensian for their intricate plots and sensational tales she wrote under a pseudonym
colorful characters. Feisty, smart, and coura- and for the hugely successful books for children
geous child protagonists — like the resourceful for which she is best known today.
Alcott, Louisa May 9
Alcott had an unusual upbringing. Her fa- ents’ house in Concord, she would occasionally
ther, Bronson Alcott, was a penniless philoso- rent a room in Boston, where she could write. It
pher, one of many New England thinkers who was an invigorating time to be in Boston: there
wished to effect social reform. During Louisa’s were lectures on social and prison reform, aboli-
childhood he founded a “consociate family” on a tionism, and women’s education. Louisa was in
fruit farm, where people came and went, con- favor of women’s suffrage and was one of the
tributing ideas as well as depleting the meager first women to vote in Concord. It was during
supply of food. Louisa and her three sisters, this period that she wrote Moods (1864). The
Anna, Elizabeth, and May, were given linen book departs from the potboiler style of her
clothing to wear, because linen did not exploit pseudonymous stories. This was Louisa’s first at-
the slaves who picked cotton or deprive sheep of tempt at serious writing. Two other books, also
their wool. The commune was a miserable fail- written for adults, like Moods, never sold well;
ure, as were many of Bronson Alcott’s other ven- they are Work: A Story of Experience (1873) and A
tures, and the Alcotts often had to rely on the Modern Mephistopheles (1877). She revised and
charity of Louisa’s mother’s wealthy Boston rela- republished Moods in 1882 and liked it best of all
tives. But the family was a close and loving one, her work.
and their neighbors and friends in Concord, During the Civil War, Louisa volunteered to
Massachusetts, included great writers and activ- work as a nurse in a hospital in Washington,
ists such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph D.C., but after just a few weeks contracted ty-
Waldo Emerson. The Alcotts were also staunch phoid and was sent home. She was treated with a
abolitionists, sometimes harboring escaped mercury-based medicine and as a result suffered
slaves making their way north on the Under- ill health for the rest of her life. Over the next
ground Railroad. few years, however, she wrote a series of light-
Louisa and her sisters were taught from early hearted pieces about her nursing experiences.
childhood to read philosophy and to keep dia- They were first serialized in a newspaper under
ries, recording their shortcomings and resolving Louisa’s own name but were so popular that
to improve upon them. Louisa saw her faults as they were published as a book, Hospital Sketches
her temper and impatient nature — traits she (1863). Soon her work was in demand.
later gave to Jo in Little Women. She began writ- In 1867 she was asked to write a book for girls.
ing poetry at age eleven and was soon adapting Part One of Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth, and
fairy tales for the dramatic performances she Amy was written in two and a half months and
and her sisters produced in their barn. Then published in 1868. Essentially it was the story of
followed original plays, stories, and fables. In her own family, in which the girls enjoy the lov-
1852 she sold her first story and became aware ing devotion of their thoughtful parents and
that she might be able to support her family — a strive to improve their small faults through their
lifelong concern of Louisa’s — through writing. trials and pleasures. The book includes the death
She invented lurid, dramatic, sensational stories of Beth and the marriage of Meg, but Louisa
that were published in various magazines under made light of the poverty the family endured.
pseudonyms such as A. M. Barnard. Her first The partner and manager of the publishing
book, a collection called Flower Fables, which house suggested that she take a royalty rather
she wrote as a girl to amuse Emerson’s daughter than a flat fee for Little Women, and as the
Ellen, was published in 1854. book was an immediate and immense success,
The year 1858 was a difficult one for Louisa. Louisa’s fortune was made.
Her beloved younger sister Elizabeth died of At the request of her publishers, Louisa wrote
scarlet fever after an illness of many months, the book’s sequel the following year, resisting the
and her older sister, Anna, announced her en- pressure from the girls who wrote to her by re-
gagement. Anna married and left home in 1860. fusing to “marry Jo to Laurie to please anyone.”
Although Louisa continued to work at her par- (The two books were later published together
10 Alexander, Lloyd
in one volume under the title Little Women.) children, Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of
Louisa became such a celebrity that her picture Jason and Gareth (1963). With the publication of
was mounted on cards and sold to fans. On the Chronicles of Prydain series in the 1960s, Al-
more than one occasion, she climbed out of exander emerged as one of the foremost Ameri-
a back window to escape the reporters who can writers of fantasy for young people.
hounded her parents’ door. She was asked to Based loosely on Welsh mythology, which
write more lurid stories under her own name, fascinated Alexander from a young age, the
but she refused and never again wrote this type Prydain series consists of five fantasy novels: The
of story after her success. Book of Three (1964); The Black Cauldron (1965),
Little Women not only brought financial sta- a Newbery Honor Book; the Castle of Llyr
bility to the entire Alcott family but also allowed (1966); Taran Wanderer (1967); and The High
Louisa to indulge them with comforts and plea- King (1968), winner of the Newbery Medal. The
sures, including travel to Europe. But while books trace the development of Taran from a
abroad, Louisa received word of Anna’s hus- headstrong Assistant Pig-Keeper with a desire
band’s death and immediately began to write for adventure to a humble man with a challeng-
Little Men (1871) specifically to provide for ing but realistic vision of rebuilding the war-rav-
Anna’s children. The book features Jo March as a aged land. Filled with quests, romance, magic,
married woman, running Plumfield School with and humor, the classic tales deal with some of
her husband, Professor Bhaer. In the book, or- the more difficult matters that challenge every
phaned or abused boys are directed to their individual, including personal identity, pride,
home and taken in. A strong, swaggering boy justice, decision making, failure, friendship, and
named Dan is sent away after introducing the death. Heroic but very human figures face vil-
other boys to poker playing and beer but re- lains ranging from the merely misguided to the
turns, drawn by his affection for a baby in the purely evil. Each of Taran’s faithful companions
household. Though the Bhaers’ goodness and possesses memorable gifts and peculiarities as
love permeate the book, Louisa lent the work a well as a distinctive voice: Fflewddur Fflam,
few thrills through her portrayal of the rough whose harp strings break whenever he stretches
Dan and his daring ways. Some of her subse- the truth, puts aside his royal crown to travel as a
quent books include Eight Cousins (1875), Rose bard, while Princess Eilonwy scorns traditional
in Bloom (1876), and Jo’s Boys (1886). feminine activities and insists on taking part in
Louisa hosted her nephews and nieces in the adventures.
Nonquitt, Maine, for the happiest times of her Alexander undeniably possesses a flair for
later years, which were plagued with ill health. characterization, using lively description and ex-
She died in 1888, only two days after her father’s pressive speech patterns in all of his work. Ves-
death. Louisa May Alcott saw a million copies of per Holly, the brilliant, resourceful protagonist
her books sold during her lifetime. Little Women of The Illyrian Adventure (1986) and other ad-
remains her most popular and enduring work. venture novels, fairly overflows with vitality. Her
S.H.H. less confident, very proper guardian narrates the
escapades, a perfect counterpoint to Vesper’s
unconventional personality. Other noteworthy
Alexander, Lloyd feisty, intelligent female characters in Alexan-
der’s work include Mickle and Voyaging Moon.
A merican author, b. 1924. When Lloyd Alex-
ander decided at age fifteen that he wanted
to be a writer, he had no plans to write for chil-
Alexander’s frequent use of feline characters re-
flects his fondness for cats, which are featured
in the Chronicles of Prydain, The Marvelous
dren; in fact, for seventeen years he wrote books Misadventures of Sebastian (1970), The Cat Who
for adults before producing his first work for Wished to Be a Man (1973), The Town Cats and
Almond, David 11
Other Tales (1977), and The Remarkable Journey sity of East Anglia and worked as a mail carrier,
of Prince Jen (1991). Music, another of the a brush salesman, and a teacher before concen-
writer’s passions, is also a recurrent theme in trating full-time on fiction writing. A collection
his work. An amateur violinist, Alexander took of his short stories for adults was published, but
pleasure in writing about a gifted musician and Almond’s career didn’t take off until the release
his magic violin in The Marvelous Misadventures of his first children’s book.
of Sebastian. The Chronicles of Prydain feature a Skellig (1998) is a novel that blurs the edges
lovable bard, while Voyaging Moon fills The Re- between the everyday world and the sphere of
markable Journey of Prince Jen with beautiful the unknown. Shortly after the protagonist Mi-
music from a perfectly crafted flute. chael moves into a decrepit old house with his
Alexander brings more to his work from his parents and ailing baby sister, the ten-year-old
personal life than his joyful preoccupations, discovers a strange creature living in the garage.
however. Having had no idea as a young man of “Filthy and pale and dried out,” Skellig resem-
how to go about becoming a writer, he entered bles a man yet has strange winglike appendages
the military to pursue adventure. His service that give him the semblance of a bird . . . or pos-
gave him the background needed to write sibly an angel. The creature is initially queru-
Westmark (1981), The Kestrel (1982), and The lous, but as Michael and his new friend Mina
Beggar Queen (1984), a series of novels recount- provide medicine, Chinese takeout food, and
ing the political struggles of a country at war in- kindness, Skellig’s physical condition begins to
ternally and with its neighbors. Alexander spares improve. As Skellig regains his strength, Mi-
the reader little of the brutality of war and its ef- chael’s baby sister begins to fail, ultimately re-
fect on the human spirit, but the element of quiring heart surgery. Simply written, filled with
hope — an integral part of his work — remains. beautiful imagery and stunning metaphors, and
Alexander’s fiction challenges all readers to laced with the poetry of William Blake, the
be true to themselves and to face the struggles of novel will leave readers with many questions:
life seriously, while maintaining the ability to Who is Skellig? What is Skellig? How are the
laugh and enjoy living. A.E.D. fates of Skellig and the ailing infant entwined?
Perhaps there are no “correct” answers to these
questions, but nearly every reader will have a
Almond, David strong emotional response to the story. Skellig
won England’s Carnegie Medal and Whitbread
B ritish author, b. 1951. Conjuring up haunt-
ing and surreal images, David Almond cre-
ates fiction that dares to explore life’s greatest
Award and, upon publication in the United
States, was named an Honor Book for the first
Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in litera-
mysteries. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Eng- ture for young adults.
land, the author grew up in a large family that he The following year Almond won the Printz
recalls with affection in Counting Stars (2000), a Award for Kit’s Wilderness (1999), another novel
collection of gemlike vignettes about his child- distinguished by its magical realism. Narrated by
hood in northern England, where a visit to the thirteen-year-old Kit Watson, whose family has
cemetery, an encounter with a mentally chal- come to live with his widowed grandfather in
lenged neighbor, or a few moments spent pon- a dying coal town, the story concerns a game
dering family photographs could be filled with called Death that Kit and an enigmatic classmate
mysticism and hints of wonder. Almond devel- play in the nearby abandoned mines. This tale
oped an early interest in writing, though he of ghosts, friendship, and personal redemption
rarely discussed it with others; instead, he co- is presented in a haunting text that weaves to-
vertly jotted down his stories and bound them gether imagery of the past and present, of dark-
with needle and thread. He attended the Univer- ness and light.
12 Alphabet Books
Another hypnotic tale, Heaven Eyes (2000), counterparts, these youngsters are learning to
follows a trio of orphans who run away from a read with alphabet books, but this time the
children’s home and meet a strange girl named learning crackles with both excitement and joy.
Heaven Eyes who lives with the man she calls her For more than two centuries, what has re-
grandfather in an abandoned warehouse. As bi- mained constant in classrooms and nurseries is
zarre occurrences swirl around them, narrator children and alphabet books. What has changed
Erin and the other orphans are drawn into the is how the number and variety in the latter mo-
unique, joyful vision of the world that Heaven tivate and educate the former.
Eyes shares in her strangely elliptical speech. Children’s greatest growth in language comes
This book, like all of the author’s work, takes during the preschool years. Infants make
readers to a world where the everyday coexists sounds. These sounds translate into words, the
with the fantastic, where ordinary events are in- words into sentences, the sentences into stories.
terrupted by the paranormal, and where big When they learn to read, youngsters link their
questions about life and death, spirituality, cre- oral language to its written counterpart. Their
ation, and imagination are raised, then left for first alphabet books begin this transition.
the reader to ponder. Almond’s plots are so in- The very youngest child needs simple, un-
ventive, the characters — whatever their circum- cluttered books. Words should represent famil-
stances — so believable, and the quality of the iar, concrete objects, with A beginning apple
writing so fine that the journey is never less than rather than atom. First alphabet books typically
mesmerizing. P.D.S. pair initial sounds with words, and these associ-
ations should depict regular phonographs. Pages
that proclaim “K is for knife” or “G is for gnu”
Alphabet Books bewilder rather than educate. These key words
should also have unambiguous names; “B for
M ove the clock back 250 years to colo-
nial America. A few solemn children sit
in wooden desks and begin their schoolwork,
bow-wow,” in a book peopled with nouns rather
than verbs, will confuse the child who identifies
the animal as a dog.
chanting in unison, “In Adam’s fall / We sinned In addition, illustrations must be obvious
all.” Their serious rhyme begins one of the first and straightforward. Complications in naming
alphabet books, an early instructional tool that lead to misunderstandings. One preschooler,
provided youngsters with a formal introduction upset because she had read an alphabet book
to reading, coupling the letters and sounds of incorrectly, sadly pointed out this problem:
language with moral instruction. “I said, ‘R for rope,’ but the book meant ‘S for
Compare this scene with a modern class- snake’!”
room. Children in one corner respond to Bert While the criteria above represent important
Kitchen’s Animal Alphabet (1984) by cutting out considerations in evaluation, they must not cre-
magazine pictures of creatures whose names ate static prescriptions for mass producing simi-
begin with particular letters. Others roll their lar texts. Artists and authors frequently break
tongues over those glorious words in Hosie’s traditional rules; often they do so brilliantly.
Alphabet (1972): the “quintessential quail,” the Brian Wildsmith’s ABC (1963), for example, des-
“omnivorous swarming locust,” and the “ghastly, ignates I for iguana, a word and sound less obvi-
garrulous gargoyle.” Still another group sprawls ous to youngsters than the more standard I for
on the floor, reciting Potluck (1991), Anne ice cream. Yet when readers encounter Wild-
Shelby’s story of a potluck supper: “Acton ap- smith’s iguana, a glorious, multicolored reptile
peared with asparagus soup. Ben brought bagels. with its quivering, scarlet throat, they simply
Christine came with carrot cake and corn on the must know more about this strange and won-
cob. Don did dumplings.” Like their historical drous creature.
Alphabet Books 13
the basics, they can be challenged to apply their
newfound knowledge to other texts. Lucy
Micklethwait’s I Spy: An Alphabet in Art (1992),
for example, not only introduces readers to
twenty-six handsome reproductions but also di-
rects them to find appropriate symbols on each
canvas, alternating the obvious umbrellas from
Rembrandt’s signature painting to Miró’s stars
in the more abstract Woman and Bird in the
Moonlight.
Not all alphabet books concentrate on nam-
ing; some deal with the positioning of letters.
Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault’s
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989) treats young-
sters to a jazzy alternative to the traditional
“Alphabet Song,” which for generations has led
children to wonder just what letter “el-em-en-o-
pee” really is. Here they chant, “A told B, and B
told C, I’ll meet you at the top of the alphabet
tree.” For a show-stopping alternative to reading
aloud, pair the book with Ray Charles’s classy
audiocassette and let children explore the alpha-
bet with a musical master.
Illustration by Arthur Geisert from his book Pigs from
In real words, letters appear out of sequence,
A to Z (1986).
so children need practice in identifying them
without their traditional orthographic neigh-
Children interacting with their first texts are bors. Laura Geringer’s The Cow Is Mooing Any-
not reading in the traditional sense of relying way (1991) combines this skill with a slight story
solely on the printed word. Instead, they depend line and more advanced, busy illustrations. A
on illustrations to create meaning. Conse- mother initiates a morning ritual when she
quently, in initial alphabet books, only one or brings her daughter breakfast. But once she
two objects should appear on the page, acknowl- leaves the scene, all sorts of wacky diners join the
edging a child’s immature perceptual and spatial little girl. First a horseshoe crab “drives up in
skills. There’s plenty of time later on to hunt for a taxicab,” accompanied by the iguanas, who
hidden pictures, sort out numerous nouns, or “come in their pajamas.” They are joined, in
locate obscure objects after letter-sound corre- turn, by other combinations of animals who en-
spondence has been mastered. ter the two-page spreads: a dragonfly/goose, a
Although text is of less importance than quail/albatross/x-ray fish, and a kangaroo/eel.
illustrations, it nonetheless deserves attention. Each alphabetic entry is noted in a repeating let-
Predictable patterns, such as A is for apple, B tered border that positions the letters in their
is for bear, restate a letter-is-for-noun sequence traditional slots, while frenetic scenes call for
that lets children imitate reading each time they multiple readings, since details, such as the wall
turn and identify an illustration within the es- paintings, change along with the story.
tablished motif. In addition, text that includes Expanding on letter play, Suse MacDonald
both upper- and lowercase letters gives young- manipulated shape rather than position. In
sters a true picture of our written language. Alphabatics (1986) each letter is twisted, en-
Once children familiarize themselves with larged, and altered until it becomes a visual rep-
14 Alphabet Books
resentation of a key word. A, for instance, turns ventional creatures to emerge, but Noah soon
upside down, adds a watery base, grows two ani- discovers all sorts of less familiar animals
mals, and becomes an ark, while b rotates on its aboard. He “didn’t know their names, so he
side, rounds its former base, and floats across could only call, ‘Disembark, everyone! Everyone
the page as a balloon. Arthur Geisert intro- disembark!’” They start down Mount Ararat, in
duced more text in his Pigs from A to Z (1986), familiar alphabetical order, taking an entire day
while encouraging pictorial detectives to locate to reach the bottom. Who are these forgotten
the numerous examples of a specific letter, along animals, the aye-ayes, the dingos, the tarpans,
with both preceding and succeeding ones, hid- and the wombats? Most are either endangered
den in his clever illustrations of swine in mo- or extinct, and, in an informative appendix,
tion. Jonas has given the status and environmental lo-
Additional visual and verbal sophistication cation of each.
awaits readers of Anno’s Alphabet (1975), by This pattern, which uses the alphabet as an
Mitsumasa Anno. Each bordered page intro- organizing structure for presenting like infor-
duces a single letter, an improbable Möbius strip mation, defines a subculture of alphabet books
of twisted wood, and a full-color, slyly implausi- that explore finite subjects, introduce concepts,
ble illustration: a typewriter types only Ts, an and organize literary forms for older children.
umbrella rains inside itself, and a rocking horse Lois Ehlert’s Eating the Alphabet (1989), for ex-
rests on crossed runners. Delicate pen-and-ink ample, highlights fruits and vegetables, often in-
borders frame the wordless text, introducing an- cluding the less obvious varieties, such as X for
imals and plants beginning with the appropriate xigua or U for ugli fruit, along with nonstandard
letter. The naming of these creatures and flora sounds, such as J for jalapeño or jicama. In-
requires, or begins to cultivate, an extended vo- tended to introduce subjects rather than letters,
cabulary, while locating them becomes an opti- this book concludes with a picture glossary,
cal treasure hunt. which for many provides an appropriate intro-
As children’s language develops, so does their duction to the dictionary. Mary Beth Owens’s A
need for story, and more advanced alphabet Caribou Alphabet (1988) narrows the subject to
books provide simple narration within their fa- one species of animal, including entries such as
miliar pattern. Anita and Arnold Lobel’s On lichen, predator, and xalibu, the Indian word
Market Street (1981), for example, takes a shop- meaning “one who scrapes or paws snow,” from
till-you-drop youngster to Market Street, where which the word caribou derives.
he discovers all sorts of wondrous wares to sam- Betsy Bowen introduced a sequential struc-
ple. Anita Lobel’s unusual illustrations depict ture along with the alphabet in Antler, Bear, Ca-
each product (from apples to zippers) as a cos- noe: A Northwoods Alphabet Year (1991). From
tume, while the simple text provides the sparest January to January readers sample activities,
of frames for naming the twenty-six objects. terms, and situations native to her Minnesota
Two cumulative pages recap the shopping expe- environment, covering fishing in March, loons
dition, first in alphabetic sequence, and second in June, and zero temperatures in December.
in random order. Many such subject-driven alphabet books
Ann Jonas’s Aardvarks, Disembark! (1990) cover less concrete, and consequently more so-
makes use of this sophisticated narrative pat- phisticated, topics. Ann Whitford Paul’s Eight
tern. Couching her alphabet book within the Hands Round: A Patchwork Alphabet (1991), for
story of Noah and the ark, Jonas has outlined instance, represents American history through
events of the Great Flood. As the waters recede, twenty-six quilting patterns. Each highlights a
Noah must empty his vessel and, showing a real specific characteristic, introducing games (kite
flair for organization, does so in alphabetical or- flying), handicrafts (Yankee puzzle), living con-
der. His biological roll call allows the most con- ditions (log cabin), and events (Underground
American Folklore 15
Railroad). Similarly, Jim Aylesworth’s Pennsyl- (1955) his young narrator declares: “In the places
vania Dutch alphabet book, The Folks in the Val- I go there are things that I see / That I never
ley (1992), outlines a daily way of life that begins could spell if I stopped with the Z.” His lingua
with A for alarm clocks, continues with H for franca includes creatures like Yuzz-a-ma-Tuzz,
pitched hay, and concludes with Z for “the sound Umbus, and Jogg-oons, which require letters
/ Of their well-earned rest.” such as yuzz, um, and jogg just to spell them. A
Other alphabet books depend heavily on text few readings of On Beyond Zebra! and a creative
and thus expand their audience to older chil- child might just agree with the good doctor:
dren. Individual volumes, such as Alligators “This is really great stuff! / And I guess the old
to Zooplankton: A Dictionary of Water Babies alphabet / isn’t enough!” B.C.
(1991), resemble mini-encyclopedias, combining
the traditional format of letter-word identifica-
tion with expository text, informative charts, American Folklore
handsome illustrations, a detailed bibliography,
and a cross-index. Similar in form but more id-
iosyncratic in execution, Tim Arnold’s Natural
History from A to Z: A Terrestrial Sampler (1991)
F olklore, that combination of myth, legend,
folktales, anecdotes, sayings, and songs that
have been passed down from one generation to
employs varied entries (from specific animals the next, reflects a people’s concept of them-
such as C for coatimundi to the more general selves — their beliefs, hopes and fears, courage
classifications such as U for ungulates) as conve- and humor, sense of delight in the odd, fascina-
nient points of departure for all kinds of far- tion with the supernatural. By its nature, folk-
ranging discussions on natural history. lore incorporates the traditional with a society’s
Literary forms, as well as informational sub- changing view of itself. In America, we are in the
jects, will occasionally depend on ABC order for midst of great change and an ever-expanding
organization. Sylvia Cassedy’s Roomrimes (1987) sense of who “we” are. Our understanding of the
explores twenty-six spaces in verse, taking the term American folklore has therefore expanded
reader from attics to elevators to parlors to zoos. also.
Assonance and alliteration appropriately mark American folklore includes stories and leg-
Jeanne and William Steig’s alphabetic poetry ends that have been so influenced by this land
(Alpha Beta Chowder, 1992), introducing memo- and its peoples’ histories that no matter where
rable creatures such as the irksome and irascible some of the plot lines originated, they now be-
Ivan the Terrible and Adorable Daphne, who long to our own traditions. A ghost story first
dresses divinely, unlike Deplorable Dora, who is told in Scotland, for instance, is transformed
“definitely dowdy” in “that dismal dirndl.” into a New England story with a Massachusetts
Alphabet books not only use the basic struc- setting, common settlers’ names, and New Eng-
ture of language for reading readiness, subject landers’ speech mannerisms. Or a Spanish tale,
exploration, and organizational patterns, but brought to Santa Fe with a seventeenth-century
sometimes introduce early wordplay. Cathi governor’s entourage, is retold by a Pueblo from
Hepworth’s Antics! (1992) spotlights twenty-six an entirely different perspective, in his own lan-
words, all with “ant” hidden in the syllables. guage, and passed down until it is translated
There’s the philosophical Kant, the artistic again and printed in a collection of his tribe’s
“Rembrant,” and the worldly Nonchalant, who stories to be shared in English with a larger au-
appear with several clever linguistic creations: a dience.
Xanthophile, worshipping yellow bananas, and The American experience differed by group
Your Ant Yetta, relaxing with tea and bonbons. and condition from the very beginning. The
But leave it to Dr. Seuss to find the standard hundreds of Native American tribes established
twenty-six letters limiting. In On Beyond Zebra distinct cultures. Then, with the coming of Eu-
16 American Folklore
ropeans and slaves and later immigrants from a gle with the U.S. government and white value
broad range of countries, even more variety was systems. Franz Boas and others who were creat-
introduced. Though we can point to distinct pe- ing the science of anthropology at the turn of
riods in this nation’s history and say that major the century realized that folklore would be one
events had an impact on all of its peoples, what of their greatest resources, and as they collected
that impact was depended on who the people and compared their findings, the patterns of in-
were. fluence and change among tribes became appar-
Free men immigrated with the expectation of ent. But their emphasis on what was common
making their way in the wilderness and told among the tribes was changed in the 1930s by
exaggerated tales of pioneer heroism to bolster anthropologist Ruth Benedict, who insisted that
their courage. Slaves imported talking-beast in spite of commonalities, it was a tribe’s specific
tales from various African regions and devel- selection of tales to tell that gave the greatest in-
oped a wryly humorous view of their own sur- sights into its culture. Later still, collectors began
vival in a foreign land where they were pris- to showcase individual storytellers. One of the
oners, unable to follow their own dreams. most exciting recent developments has been the
Certainly, there are distinct philosophical differ- growing number of Native Americans who are
ences between the swaggering of a Paul Bunyan publishing their own narratives as well as be-
willing to cut down half the trees in the country ing published as authors and illustrators in the
and Native American lore about humanity’s mainstream book trade. The result is a growing
connection with the land it shares with all other respect for sources, an understanding that the
living things. Chinese immigrants remained al- rhythms of narrative often differ between the
most invisible because of barriers of language Native American and European models, and
and outlook as they worked in mining camps that many of the earlier retellings in English
and on the transcontinental railroad, telling have strayed from the heart of the original sto-
tales that are only now being made available. ries.
This continent’s oldest stories, and its only In earlier times (and even now where story-
indigenous religions and mythologies, come tellers still pass on a tribe’s traditions), some sto-
from the various Native American tribes who ries served to educate as well as to entertain,
crossed the Bering Strait centuries before the teaching what a person needed to know about
first Europeans arrived. But for myths to be vi- survival, explaining the natural and spiritual
tal, they must still be told within the culture. In worlds, and reinforcing the culture’s sense of or-
some places that vitality holds and is being en- der and balance. In some tribes, certain stories
couraged by a new awareness in the society as a are sacred, a reflection of the people’s spiritual
whole, particularly concerning humans’ role in view of the universe, and told only in certain sit-
the environment. Appreciation of these earliest uations and at certain times of the year.
tales may reflect a more holistic approach to Native American folklore, as varied as it is
survival in the modern world. from tribe to tribe, includes many similar types
Indian agent Henry Rowe Schoolcraft is of stories, among them a large body of pourquoi
credited with being one of the first to purpose- tales, or “why” stories explaining natural phe-
fully collect and translate Indian myths and sto- nomena — why possum has a naked tail, for in-
ries into English; his two volumes of Chippewa stance, or why constellations are shaped as they
tales (Algic Researches, 1839), though romanti- are, or why birds are different colors. There are
cized and rewritten, are still mined for folkloric quest stories or hero tales, transformation tales,
gold. After him came more serious ethnologists and, of course, the popular trickster tales.
and collectors, who convinced tribal traditional- The same trickster figures can be godlike or
ists that their heritage could be preserved in greedy or foolish. In Margaret Hodges’s adapta-
books no matter what happened in their strug- tion of The Firebringer: A Paiute Indian Legend
American Folklore 17
(1972) Coyote heroically brings fire to the first ing a “Puritan conscience” and adding a dry,
men, while in Shonto Begay’s rendition of the understated wit.
Navajo traditional story Maii and Cousin Southern Appalachia has provided a wonder-
Horned Toad (1992), he tries to cheat virtuous ful opportunity to hear what happened to many
Horned Toad out of his corn and is soundly of the less religious and lighthearted settlers’
beaten. Such tales typically include ghosts, rid- tales when they met another way of life. Because
dles, laughter, and a great many moral lessons. some people who moved into this mountain
Among those works available to children, country remained there for generations, virtu-
John Bierhorst has provided several impecca- ally cut off from much of the rest of the world,
bly documented collections, including The Na- their oral traditions remained strong and their
ked Bear: Folktales of the Iroquois (1987). Paul use of language rich and humorous, often mix-
Goble has written and illustrated some striking ing down-home dialect with an Elizabethan
picture books, several of them transformation turn of phrase that delights the ear. Richard
tales, such as Buffalo Woman (1984) and the Chase produced the first collections of these
Caldecott Medal–winning The Girl Who Loved stories in The Jack Tales (1943), and this and
Wild Horses (1979), in which a girl finally be- his later collection, Grandfather Tales (1973),
comes a fine mare in the herd. More recently, he provide endless enjoyment for children and re-
has published several picture books about the sources for storytellers. Jack the trickster hero
Plains trickster figure Iktomi. Christie Harris’s outwits his foes with great insouciance, and the
collections — Once Upon a Totem (1963), Mouse combination of giants, unicorns, bean trees, and
Woman and the Vanished Princesses (1967), and kings with hams, turkeys, colloquial mountain
others — highlight tales from the tribes of the sayings, and common sense brings laughter and
North Pacific. Joseph Bruchac, storyteller and satisfaction to the listener. Gail Haley’s collec-
gatherer of his grandfather’s Abenaki tales as tion Mountain Jack Tales (1992) gives a fresh
well as those of many other tribes, has published voice to the well-known stories, as do her Jack
individual stories and several collections, in- and the Bean Tree (1986) and William Hooks’s
cluding his well-known Keepers of the Earth Three Little Pigs and the Fox (1989), which have
(1989), written with Michael J. Caduto. come out as single picture books with unex-
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, pected mountain language giving old tales new
colonists came from northern Europe and Brit- charm.
ain to settle the East Coast, bringing their desire While those who stayed in the mountains
for religious freedom and their belief that they transformed a group of folktales from England,
must make a community of saints in the wilder- Scotland, and Ireland, the pioneers who moved
ness of the New World. Puritans, with their deep on and out into other areas of the new nation
resolve to live with clear consciences, hoped to in the early nineteenth century began to create
govern themselves through their theology; their a new group of stories. They celebrated their
culture heroes were godly men. Their storytell- young country with democratic culture heroes
ing derived from those concerns, emphasizing who had been willing to stand up to tyranny in
providences, witchcraft, and diabolical posses- the Old World and fight for independence. From
sions, such as the tales published in Boston by George Washington to that true man of the peo-
Increase Mather in his 1684 publication An Essay ple, Honest Abe Lincoln, legends grew up about
for the Recording of Illustrious Providences, in political heroes. Side by side came even more ex-
which God sends great storms, saves ships, or aggerated stories about common folk with great
destroys sinners according to His divine will. courage, like the woodsman Daniel Boone and
New England is still famous for its witches and daredevil Davy Crockett, as well as one of our
ghost stories along with later tall tales about gi- quietest heroes, Johnny Appleseed.
ant codfish and an abiding reputation for retain- Daniel Boone was born in Pennsylvania in
18 American Folklore
1735, but he and his fast-moving wife, Rebecca — well, such as the great steel-driving John Henry,
who was first mistaken for a deer by the mighty but he came after the Civil War and the end of
hunter — moved to Kentucky, where Daniel be- slavery (if not racial prejudice).
came a model for the perfect folk hero, his ex- Brought here against their wills and held
ploits exaggerated into near impossibility as the prisoner in a land where as slaves they were for-
legends grew. Interestingly, Davy Crockett’s wife bidden to learn to read and given few oppor-
was also known for streaking through the woods tunities for leisure, many African Americans
faster than a deer, though Sally Ann Thunder maintained a strong oral tradition, importing
Ann Whirlwind Crockett is credited with much African animal stories that were transformed
more now that heroines are sought after by an- into familiar folk tricksters like Brer Rabbit and
thologists and storytellers. Born in the moun- passing on secret messages through songs and
tains of Tennessee in 1786, Davy Crockett wrote stories about Moses (Harriet Tubman) and the
much of his own press when he ran for Con- Drinking Gourd that gave encoded directions
gress. He was known as a sharpshooter, trapper, on how to flee north to freedom. A legendary
bear wrestler, humorist, the perfect match for trickster hero who could always outsmart the
Mike Fink the Keelboatman on the Mississippi, master is presented in Steve Sanfield’s The Ad-
and, at the end, a man who died at the Alamo. ventures of High John the Conqueror (1989). Vir-
The numerous stories about him were collected ginia Hamilton’s beautifully written collection
in the Davy Crockett Almanacks, which began The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
to circulate not long after his death. (1985) displays the variety and range of African
Paperbound books, magazines, and newspa- American tales, including as it does talking beast
pers may also have been the source of most of tales, supernatural stories to chill the spine, and
our tall tale heroes, though their creators in- moving tales of freedom won. Ashley Bryan
sisted that they came originally from oral tradi- selected songs from slavery days for his All
tion. Wherever they came from, they matched Night, All Day: A Child’s First Book of African-
the American mood of the nineteenth century American Spirituals (1991).
perfectly — and they reflected the nation’s rising Perhaps the best-known animal character is
industries. Here were heroes so much larger Brer Rabbit, who first appeared in print through
than life that they could solve any problem — the journalist Joel Chandler Harris in the nine-
even physically reshape the land itself, pushing teenth century. These stories about talking ani-
mountains into place and moving rivers where mals show the underdog’s shrewd understand-
they liked, as the cowboy’s hero, Pecos Bill, did. ing of human nature and a heartening ability to
Or, in the case of the Eastern sea salt’s answer to outwit those who seem more powerful. Harris’s
pioneer bravado, soap the cliffs of Dover white original work, though a rich resource, is less ac-
when Old Stormalong sailed the biggest Yankee cessible than William Faulkner’s The Days When
clipper in existence through the English Chan- the Animals Talked (1977) or recent adaptations
nel. Paul Bunyan, the greatest lumberjack who by Van Dyke Parks in Jump!: The Adventures
ever lived, was born in Maine and felled giant of Brer Rabbit (1986) and its sequels. Julius
forests from there through Michigan and on to Lester’s four scholarly yet readable editions, be-
the Pacific Northwest, accompanied by the gi- ginning with The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Ad-
gantic blue ox, Babe. There was even a consum- ventures of Brer Rabbit (1987), shed new light on
mate Swedish farmer named Febold Feboldson the stories’ many hidden meanings for the slaves
who could make it rain in Nebraska. Steven who told and heard them.
Kellogg’s Paul Bunyan (1984) and Ariane Children can now read stories told by Chi-
Dewey’s Pecos Bill (1983) are part of a small but nese workers who helped lay the tracks for the
growing number of picture book editions avail- Central Pacific Railroad across the Sierra Ne-
able. There are work heroes among the stories vada, such as Kathleen Chang’s retelling of “The
coming from the African American heritage as Iron Moonhunter” in compiler Amy Cohn’s in-
Andersen, Hans Christian 19
valuable resource, From Sea to Shining Sea: A been described as paradoxical, revealing a dark
Treasury of American Folklore and Folk Songs side of life and human nature and presenting
(1993), and in Rainbow People (1989) and themes of unrequited love, poverty, selfishness,
Tongues of Jade (1991), by Laurence Yep. Yep, in and vanity.
his introduction to Tongues of Jade, has told Andersen’s early years influenced his work
about large numbers of men from southern as a writer. About his works Andersen wrote,
China who could not easily bring their wives “Most of what I have written is a reflection of
and children to this country because of immi- myself. Every character is from life. I know and
gration laws and who told each other stories have known them all.” Like the heroine in “The
to “show how a wise man could survive in a Princess and the Pea” (1835), Andersen was ex-
strange, often hostile land.” There it is again: tremely sensitive. Although he realized his tal-
survival, with wisdom and humor. ents, he suffered self-doubt and loneliness. He
As the collections and single-picture-book endured persecution before fame, just like the
folktales continue to be published, that sense hero in “The Ugly Duckling” (1845), while “The
of ourselves continues to grow. We learn a lot Little Mermaid” (1837) reflects his unhappy love
about those who came before us by hearing the life and his lifelong struggle as an outsider in so-
tales they shared; we learn a great deal about ciety. He has been described as hypochondriacal
ourselves when we look at which stories most because of his recurring anxiety that he would
touch our hearts, carry our ideals, or make us suffer the same fate as his mentally disturbed pa-
laugh out loud today. We add stories to the gen- ternal grandfather. But Andersen was witty and
eral storehouse. We subtract — at least in the considered good company; perhaps these con-
telling — those that jar our current sensibilities. trasts formed the basis for Andersen’s genius as a
We change. Stories change. Even now, in this age writer.
of print, the author-illustrator-storyteller makes Born and raised in Odense, on an island off
an impact on our folklore, re-visioning an old the coast of Denmark, Andersen was the only
tale for us in a familiar setting, carrying on the child of a poor shoemaker and a washerwoman.
ancient tradition of honing and personalizing a Although the Andersen household lacked
tale to its audience. We are rich — and growing money, Hans was allowed the freedom to dream,
richer. S.M. play with his puppet theater, and wander about
the countryside at will. His father loved to tell
stories and often read aloud from The Arabi-
Andersen, Hans Christian an Nights, La Fontaine, and Danish dramatic
works. Andersen’s first volume of stories for
D anish poet and writer, 1805–1875. A prolific
writer best known for his fairy tales, Hans
Christian Andersen wrote and published nu-
children, Fairy Tales Told for Children (1835),
contains four tales, three of which are based on
Danish folktales he had heard as a child: “The
merous plays, novels, travel books, and an auto- Tinder Box,” “Little Claus and Big Claus,” and
biography. Written between 1835 and 1872, “The Princess and the Pea.” Only “Little Ida’s
Andersen’s fairy tales are among the most an- Flowers” is completely original.
thologized and retold literary works in children’s Although Andersen’s childhood town had a
literature. Many of his 156 fairy tales and stories small population of seven thousand, Odense
have been translated into more than one hun- represented a miniature version of Danish soci-
dred languages. What ensured Andersen’s fairy ety. The crown prince of Denmark lived in
tales their widespread popularity was their uni- Odense. Therefore, royalty and the royal court,
versality — rags-to-riches themes and characters merchants and tradesmen lived in close proxim-
with recognizable human traits and foibles who ity to the unskilled workers and journeymen.
overcome adversity through their determina- Andersen had ample opportunity to observe
tion, goodwill, and humor. Yet his tales have and even to visit members of the royal court,
20 Anderson, Laurie Halse
where he sang songs and recited scenes from the sea to the surface.” He achieved his realistic style
plays of Danish playwright Ludwig Holberg. through simple colloquial language. Andersen
Later, he used the insights derived from these ex- exploited the characteristics of inanimate ob-
periences to write “The Tinder Box” and “The jects. He brought to life doorknobs, broom-
Emperor’s New Clothes” (1837). Although An- sticks, teacups, darning needles, and fire-tongs,
dersen received an uneven education in Odense, always deriving their attributes from a realisti-
he learned to read and developed a passion for cally restricted realm of experience. Among his
books, borrowing them whenever he could. most famous tales are “The Ugly Duckling,”
After his confirmation at the age of fourteen, “Thumbelina,” “The Nightingale,” “The Snow
Andersen left home for Copenhagen to seek his Queen,” “The Little Match-Girl,” “The Steadfast
fortune, not unlike the hero in his tale “The Tin Soldier,” and “The Little Fir Tree.”
Traveling Companion” (1836). Continuously popular since the middle of
Practically penniless but ambitious, An- the nineteenth century, Andersen’s fairy tales
dersen tried unsuccessfully to become an actor have been translated and illustrated by writers
and singer. Eventually, friends from the Royal and artists from around the world. The first
Theater persuaded King Friedrich VI to fund English translation of his stories was published
Andersen’s education, enabling him to receive a in 1846. Wonderful Stories for Children, rendered
few years of schooling at Slagelse and Elsinore. by Mary Howitt, featured a selection of ten tales.
In 1822, he wrote his first book, Youthful At- The Danish translators, however, are often
tempts — only seventeen copies sold, and the re- hailed as the most accurate interpreters of An-
maining 283 copies served as wrapping paper for dersen’s colloquial diction. Considered highly
a local grocer. Andersen published a more suc- representative of Andersen’s inimitable style,
cessful volume in 1829, a fantasy entitled A Jour- Hans Christian Andersen’s Complete Tales, trans-
ney on Foot from Copenhagen to the Eastern Point lated by the Danish scholar and children’s book
of Amager. Six years later he wrote his first novel, author Erik Christian Haugaard, was published
The Improvisator, and, more important to his in 1974. Hans Christian Andersen’s Eighty Fairy
subsequent career, he published Fairy Tales Told Tales (1976), translated by Danish author R. P.
for Children. Thereafter he published a fairy tale Keigwin, incorporates the classic black-and-
almost every year until his death. He discovered white line drawings of Andersen’s most notable
that the form of the fairy tale, rather than plays early Danish illustrators, Vilhelm Pedersen and
or novels, allowed him the freedom to break Lorenz Frolich.
away from the more staid parameters of Victo- Andersen’s words best describe the enduring
rian literature. function of the literary genre he mastered so
Andersen enjoyed reading his works aloud, well: “In the whole realm of poetry no domain is
and he infused his fairy tales with an intimacy so boundless as that of the fairy tale. It reaches
that quickly pulls the reader into the story. from the blood-drenched graves of antiquity to
About his first tales, Andersen wrote to a friend, the pious legends of a child’s picture book; it
“I have set down a few of the fairy tales I myself takes in the poetry of the people and the poetry
used to enjoy as a child and which I believe of the artist.” S.M.G.
aren’t well known. I have written them exactly as
I would have told them to a child.” Andersen had
an intuitive understanding of children; he con- Anderson, Laurie Halse
veyed abstract concepts by using straightfor-
ward images that children understood. In “The
Little Mermaid,” for instance, Andersen de-
scribed the depth of the sea this way: “Many
N orth American author, b. 1961. One of two
daughters of a Methodist minister in
Potsdam, New York, Laurie Halse Anderson
church steeples would have to be piled up one grew up building athletic prowess, writing in
above the other to reach from the bottom of the journals, bristling against authority, and editing
Animal Stories 21
the sports section of her high school newspaper. lighter books for kids to darker explorations of
Just after she turned five, the family moved to the real world.
Syracuse, where her father pastored the Syracuse In the wake of Speak’s critical success, Ander-
University chapel and she enjoyed what she has son has written nearly a dozen more books for
called an idyllic childhood. Lifted out of a mod- young readers, including the veterinary series
erately violent public school and gently placed Wild at Heart for American Girl, nonfiction
into a private academy (thanks to scholarship books for young readers, and, most notably, Fe-
funds), Anderson discovered the true magic of ver 1793 (2000). In this work of historical fic-
education in eighth grade. But her educational tion, Anderson once again explored life-chang-
bliss was short lived. When her father had a fall- ing disaster — this time a foxfire of yellow fever
ing-out with the church, Anderson was ejected that overtakes eighteenth-century Philadelphia
from the private school and the parsonage she — through the eyes of a teenage girl. Fourteen-
and her family had called home. year-old Matilda Cook learns about loss, sur-
Elements of her new suburban high school vival, and heroics in this well-researched, mov-
life — including a sense of the outsider’s isola- ing work. As her career continues, Anderson ad-
tion — wound up in her gripping first novel, mits she loves her writer’s life, though her two
Speak (1999), named an Honor Book for the Mi- daughters and her husband still command the
chael L. Printz Award in 2000. The protagonist, lion’s share of her devotion. K.M.H.
fourteen-year-old Melinda, raped by a popular
boy at an unsupervised party, reflects Ander-
son’s angst at being thrust into an environment Animal Stories
she didn’t understand or fit into. Through a dis-
tinctive blend of humor and thoughtful, almost
brooding prose, Melinda’s character springs to
life through Anderson’s able craft. Heralded by
N early every baby shares its crib with an as-
sortment of teddy bears, flop-eared dogs,
and calico cats, beginning an association with
critics, this authentic voice is not, according to animals that for many children continues to
Anderson, autobiographical. Instead, the char- grow and deepen with the years. Infants, like
acter Melinda arrived as a dream apparition puppies, kittens, and other young animals, not
when the author woke from a deep sleep to the only share a diminutive size and appealing
perceived sound of teenage sobbing. “cuteness” but are also alike in their innocence
Melinda’s tortured revelations became the and dependency on larger creatures. This early
foundation for Anderson’s first young adult identification between child and animal often
novel, but not her first book for children. Ear- leads to a lifelong respect and love for both
lier, after a stint as a Philadelphia newspaper re- household pets and the entire animal kingdom.
porter in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ander- Certainly children’s literature reflects this in-
son had written and sold two picture books, terest, as animal stories are among the most
Turkey Pox (1996) and Ndito Runs (1996). Duties popular and enduring books published for
of marriage and motherhood distracted Ander- young people. There are folktales in which ani-
son from producing more books in the next mals enact universal truths about humanity,
few years. Then another geographic move — this picture books filled with bunnies and mice,
time to accommodate her husband’s career — child and dog stories, ambitious fantasies about
and a bout with mononucleosis bounced An- animal communities, and naturalistic portraits
derson out of her rut. of wild animals. Stories about animals cross a
Speak is considered a book for young read- wide spectrum of genres and intended age
ers because of Melinda’s age and sensibilities, groups, providing evidence that these books are
though Anderson has insisted she never set out popular with readers of nearly every age and
to write a “young adult” novel. Instead, the book taste.
marks her own professional transition from More than two thousand years ago, Aesop
22 Animal Stories
used animal characters to convey moral lessons of nature as several animals travel through the
in fables such as “The Town Mouse and the English countryside. The novel depicts the
Country Mouse” and “The Fox and the Grapes.” friendship of Mole and Water Rat, as well as the
This tradition predates Aesop, however, and is in comic adventures of Toad, who lives in a man-
reality as old as storytelling itself. Most cultures sion and covets motorcars. Published near the
have folktales and myths in which animals rep- twentieth century’s midpoint, Charlotte’s Web
resent human characteristics. Talking animal (1952) immediately established itself as a bench-
stories, a staple of folklore, have also inspired mark by which all later animal fantasies must be
many original books for children. This genre, measured. E. B. White’s unforgettable tale of
however, which includes some of the most bril- Wilbur the pig, whose life is saved by the spider
liant works of the twentieth century, also in- Charlotte, is filled with memorable animal char-
cludes some of the worst. Too many authors acters, features important themes of life, death,
have tried to make a hackneyed, sugary, or mor- and friendship, and is written in crystalline
alistic story palatable to children by slapping a prose. Critics continue to express shock that this
tail, paws, or a cold, wet nose on the protagonist. distinguished book failed to win the Newbery
A prime example is the regrettably popular Medal, but nearly twenty years later, another
Berenstain Bears series, created by Stan and Jan strong animal fantasy did capture the prize. Mrs.
Berenstain. These stories of a humanized bear Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971), by Robert
family offer trite, didactic writing and cartoon- C. O’brien, mixes a domestic story of a mouse
like illustrations to an audience of beginning who must relocate her family with scientific
readers. Fortunately, the same age group can en- speculation about escaped superintelligent labo-
joy one of the finest talking animal series ever ratory rats who live in a sophisticated rodent
produced: the Frog and Toad books by Arnold community.
Lobel. Beginning with Frog and Toad Are Friends Two British animal fantasies must also be
(1970) and including the Newbery Honor Book noted. Watership Down (1972), by Richard Ad-
Frog and Toad Together (1972), the books follow ams, is an epic novel about rabbits who leave
the pair as they go swimming, bake cookies, and their warren to find a new home. The book suc-
tell each other stories. Distinguished for both ceeds as both an exciting adventure and a won-
their gentle prose and amusing illustrations, the derfully complex portrait of a rabbit society.
books present a portrait of true friendship ac- Young readers and adults continue to enjoy this
cessible to most young readers. lengthy, ambitious novel. Although lacking the
Frog and Toad spring from a literary tradi- philosophical depth of a great animal fantasy,
tion that allows animal characters to think, be- Dodie Smith’s One Hundred and One Dalma-
have, and sometimes even dress as human be- tians (1956) is an immensely popular farce of
ings, although they remain animals in many kidnapped puppies, vicious villains, and har-
other respects. Thus, Lobel’s Frog wears a bath- rowing rescues. The style is tongue-in-cheek,
ing suit and rides a bicycle, yet hibernates all but the suspense is real.
winter. Beatrix Potter, beloved by generations While most talking animal stories are pre-
of readers for her charming illustrated stories, sented in a matter-of-fact tone, another type of
also utilized this technique. In her classic The fantasy, which dates back to the nursery rhyme
Tale of Peter Rabbit (1901), the young rabbit “Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog,” derives its
wears a jacket and shoes but also has a craving humor from animals that display human char-
for carrots and a fear of being caught by Mr. acteristics. Dr. Seuss’s time-tested classic The
McGregor and cooked into a pie. Cat in the Hat (1957) uses a minimal vocabulary
Humanized animals inhabit a number of im- and bouncing rhyme to tell the story of a bois-
portant fantasy novels for intermediate read- terous cat who visits two bored children on a
ers. Kenneth Grahame’s classic The Wind in rainy day. One of the funniest canines in chil-
the Willows (1908) contains an evocative portrait dren’s literature appears in Martha Speaks, Su-
Animal Stories 23
san Meddaugh’s 1992 picture book about a dog tory in a race. The boy-and-dog stories of Jim
who develops the ability to talk. At first Martha’s Kjelgaard are also appealing. His best-known,
family of humans is charmed by her new skill Big Red (1945), depicts the relationship between
because she can now explain long-pondered a rural teenager and a neighbor’s prize-winning
questions such as “Why don’t you come when Irish setter. Danny travels to New York for Big
we call?” and “Why do you drink out of the toi- Red’s dog show, then returns to Smokey Creek,
let?” Less charming is Martha’s tendency to tat- where he teaches the dog to hunt game and
tle, make rude remarks, and tell her life story in track the marauding bear that is killing local
excruciating detail. How Martha traps a burglar livestock. Marguerite Henry has explored the
and learns to control her talking makes a thor- bond between child and animal in a number of
oughly delightful story. realistic novels, including Misty of Chincoteague
A final category of animal fantasy combines (1947) and King of the Wind (1948), which are
everyday behavior with fantastic happenings. based on historical horses. The vivid back-
Randall Jarrell’s Animal Family (1965), illus- ground material provides authenticity to her al-
trated by Maurice Sendak, features a bear and ways exciting story lines.
a lynx. Although perhaps tamer than most wild Many children list animal stories and funny
animals, the pair do not talk, dress up, or emu- stories as their favorite types of reading. Realistic
late human behavior in any way. Yet these ani- books that combine the two are especially wel-
mals are integral to the plot of this fantasy about come, as proven by the popularity of Beverly
a mermaid who leaves the sea to join a hunter in Cleary’s work. Beginning with Henry Huggins
starting a family. Exploring issues of loneliness, (1950), in which Henry finds a stray dog and
love, and family, this poetic and lyrical story takes him home, through Henry and Ribsy
speaks directly to the heart. (1954), which concerns Henry’s efforts to keep
Conversely, Catherine Cate Coblentz placed a his dog out of trouble for two months, the series
mystical animal within a fact-based story of co- presents the warm relationship between boy and
lonial history in The Blue Cat of Castletown dog as they become involved in numerous comic
(1949), the beautifully written tale of a cat who situations.
inspires a Vermont girl to create a rug that Even in an uncomplicated, humorous story,
would later be displayed in the Metropolitan the relationship between child and animal usu-
Museum of Art. Few modern readers are famil- ally serves as a catalyst for positive change in the
iar with this Newbery Honor Book, but it de- young person’s life. Similarly, animals often help
serves rediscovery as one of the most mag- guide a child through a crisis or personal prob-
nificent depictions of creativity and the power lem in a serious novel. Lynn Hall’s realistic ani-
of art ever explored in a children’s book. mal stories are written with conviction, integ-
Realistic fiction that examines the connec- rity, and heart. Halsey’s Pride (1990) concerns a
tions between humans and animals is consis- thirteen-year-old girl who learns to accept her
tently popular with children. Many stories con- epilepsy through her relationship with a collie. A
cern a child’s longing for a pet or the pleasure lonely boy who shoots a stray feline confronts is-
that an animal can bring to a young person’s life. sues of guilt and responsibility in Paula Fox’s
Meindert DeJong wrote with intensity of Davie’s moving and elegantly written One-Eyed Cat
longing for, and eventual attachment to, a small (1984). Arctic wolves help a troubled Eskimo girl
black rabbit in Shadrach (1956), an exceptionally sort out her problems and survive the North
sensitive novel highlighted by Maurice Sendak’s Slope of Alaska in Jean Craighead George’s
illustrations. Walter Farley’s The Black Stal- Julie of the Wolves (1972), a Newbery Medal–
lion (1941) is the exciting story of young Alec winning novel distinguished by evocative writ-
Ramsey, who, along with a wild horse, is ship- ing and deep understanding of both human and
wrecked on a desert island. Alec gentles the animal behavior. Another Newbery Medal win-
horse and, after their rescue, rides him to vic- ner, Sounder (1969), by William Armstrong, tells
24 Anno, Mitsumasa
the story of an African American family in and an animal, whether through comic situa-
which the father is arrested and his “coon dog” is tions or through personal drama, is also
wounded. The dog is both a presence and a met- engaging and enlightening. Fantasies in which
aphor in this stark, Depression-era novel that animal communities symbolize human society
has the power of an American myth. or individual animals represent human traits
Realistic animal stories do not always con- may be the most illuminating of all. Sometimes
cern a child’s interactions with a pet or wild ani- the most important thing about an animal story
mal. Some books focus on the animal itself, giv- is what it teaches us about ourselves. P.D.S.
ing a naturalistic account of its life experiences.
Anna Sewell’s nineteenth-century novel Black
Beauty (1877) was a forerunner of this type. Al- Anno, Mitsumasa
though the reader must first accept the premise
of a first-person story narrated by a horse, the
text is firmly grounded in the animal’s percep-
tions and observations. Albert Payson Terhune
J apanese author and illustrator, b. 1926. Mi-
tsumasa Anno was a teacher for ten years,
and his books reflect an understanding of how
collected a number of stories about his own col- children learn. He is both an artist and a mathe-
lie in Lad: A Dog (1919), a volume that realisti- matician and has won many awards, including
cally records a dog’s varied adventures. An even the Golden Apple Award given by the Biennale
better known collie is featured in Lassie-Come- at Bratislava and the First Prize for Graphic Ex-
Home, by Eric Knight (1940). Knight took assid- cellence in Books for Children conferred by the
uous care to avoid humanizing Lassie in this jury at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
story of her four-hundred-mile journey from The first Anno book published in the United
Scotland to Yorkshire; the dog’s actions are con- States was Topsy-Turvies: Pictures to Stretch the
sistently guided by instinct or simple thought Imagination (1970), and a companion volume,
processes. The Incredible Journey (1960), by Ca- Upside-Downers: More Pictures to Stretch the
nadian author Sheila Burnford, tells of a Imagination, appeared the following year. Topsy-
lengthy trek made by an English bull terrier, a Turvies is an amazing collection of improbable
Labrador retriever, and a cat, and also ascribes constructions filled with impossible perspec-
few human emotions or thoughts to the trio of tives and angles in the watercolor paintings peo-
animals. Felix Salten’s Bambi (1926) presents a pled by tiny figures in ingenious confusion.
naturalistic portrait of life in the wild. There is There are no words in the trompe-l’oeil first
savagery, bloodshed, and fear of the human book; its companion volume has a text in which
“He.” Bambi grows into adulthood, and an al- playing-card characters argue about which way
most ineffable sadness hangs over the story as he is up.
begins to behave in instinctive ways he does not In Anno’s Alphabet (1975) the letters are
completely understand. Yet for all its realism, the shown as solid pieces of rough-grained wood
animals of this tale converse with one another, and the facing pages have delicately drawn
making the novel a hybrid between an animal- black-and-white frames filled with plant and an-
centered realistic story and a fantasy. imal forms. Centered objects are in strong but
Stories that adopt the viewpoint of a dog or muted colors, and the book is as much an art
deer are based on the author’s perceptions and lesson as an alphabet book. In Anno’s Animals
conjectures and may not be an accurate repre- (1979) the inventive artist has added a new ele-
sentation of an animal’s experience, yet there is ment: creatures hidden in leafy forest scenes.
little question that these books increase under- This is a device used in some other Anno books,
standing of the natural world and cause many deliberately included because of his belief that
readers to view animals in a different light. Real- children are interested in challenges. The King’s
istic fiction detailing the love between a child Flower (1979) is one of the few Anno books that
Aruego, José 25
has a story line; it’s an amusing if minatory tale School of Design. He worked in advertising and
about a foolish king who wants everything he graphic design until he started illustrating chil-
possesses to be the biggest of its kind in the dren’s books in 1969.
world. Aruego has chosen humorous stories aimed
Several of this innovative author’s books fo- at toddlers and preschoolers and has illustrated
cus on mathematics: Anno’s Counting Book them with simple line drawings and wash that
(1977), Anno’s Counting House (1982), and Anno’s portray fanciful, endearing animal characters
Mysterious Multiplying Jar (1983), written jointly who express the immediacy of children’s emo-
with his son Masaichiro Anno. The first count- tions. Aruego has created books by himself, but
ing book adroitly incorporates concepts (in- the bulk of his work he has illustrated with
cluding “zero”) so that they reinforce each other his former wife, Ariane Dewey (also Ariane
via a landscape in which details accumulate. The Aruego). In their continuing collaborations,
second book introduces the first ten numbers, Aruego designs the page and draws the outlines
plus concepts such as addition, subtraction, sets, and Dewey fills in the wash. The color is often
and group theory in the form of a game in flat, but occasionally shaded or textured, and the
which ten little people move from one house palettes range from subtle earth tones to creamy
to another. The book can be read backward or sherbet hues.
forward. The third book is for somewhat older Typical of Aruego’s story matter is a lesson
readers, as it blends a story with the concept of hidden beneath the rollicking effervescence of
factorials and moves into fantasy. the characters’ antics. In Rockabye Crocodile
One of a set of books about other countries, (1988), written and illustrated by Aruego and
Anno’s Journey (1978) moves from an open land- Dewey, a mean, selfish boar learns the delights
scape to a town and then to a city with visual de- of being kind, but the story is all fun and frolic
lights everywhere: a Van Gogh bridge or a build- along the way. The boars, with their dainty,
ing marked “Anno 1976.” This was followed by curved tusks, stand on tiny two-toed feet with
Anno’s Italy (1980) and Anno’s Medieval World bulky, fluffy bodies seemingly lighter than air. As
(1980), and to the delight of his fans in the in his other books, Aruego’s active, almost
United States, Anno’s USA (1983). The pictures, balletic characters, often buoyed by a flat back-
meticulously drawn, show familiar landscapes ground, have expressive postures and revealing
and many historical personages as well as some facial expressions executed with minimal use of
surprises: Laurel and Hardy, for example, or the line.
ducks from Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Aruego and Dewey have illustrated several of
Ducklings. Mirra Ginsburg’s simple adaptations of Russian
Anno’s draftsmanship and composition are tales. Mushroom in the Rain (1974) shows a chain
always impressive and his use of color re- of animals taking shelter under a little mush-
strained. Both entertaining and informative, he room. They all fit because the rain makes the
informs with wit and offers his readers both hu- mushroom grow. Aruego designed many of the
mor and beauty. Z.S. pages in a frameless comic-strip format, so the
reader can follow the struggle as each animal
squeezes under the dome. The brown mush-
Aruego, José room is lumpy and cushionlike, its form and
function implying the softness and caring of a
F ilipino-born American author and illustra-
tor, b. 1932. After being born and raised in
Manila and earning B.A. and law degrees from
mother. Aruego’s curvilinear drawing style im-
parts this comforting beanbag look to all his
characters and landscapes.
the University of the Philippines, José Aruego Both alone and with Dewey, Aruego has col-
moved to New York City to attend the Parsons laborated on many books with Robert Kraus.
26 Ashabranner, Brent
Leo the Late Bloomer (1971) has achieved classic Having lived in many countries around the
status since it was first published. In Herman the globe, Ashabranner acquired an interest in dif-
Helper (1974), a young octopus spends his whole fering cultures, which he went on to apply to
day helping friends and family and then gets to peoples of varying backgrounds living largely
“help himself ” to mashed potatoes. This story within the United States. In books such as To
reflects a common theme in Aruego’s books: Live in Two Worlds: American Indian Youth To-
the animals convey toddler and preschooler day (1991) and Morning Star, Black Sun (1982),
traits, such as Herman’s eagerness to help and Ashabranner has pondered the concerns of Na-
the mastery of language that allows him to en- tive Americans. Whether interviewing refugees
joy a different kind of helping — helping him- from Central America or newly arrived young
self. Asian immigrants, he has created complete and
The unbounded enthusiasm of toddlers and sympathetic portraits from his thoughtful,
preschoolers is the crux of the plot in We Hide, probing conversations. Ashabranner’s travels —
You Seek (1979), written and illustrated by often in the company of photographer Paul
Aruego and Dewey, in which a young rhinoceros Conklin, whose excellent work illuminates many
seeks his camouflaged friends. The distracted of his accounts — may take him to Western
rhino accidentally startles them out of hiding by farms and ranches or to a small town in Florida.
sneezing or stumbling or stepping on a tail. His But no matter what the destination may be,
exuberant expressions and jubilant movements Ashabranner is there to meet people and to lis-
reveal the essence of childhood joy. And for chil- ten. He found that the objective writing style of
dren, the recognition of their own spontaneous the investigative reporter is the one best suited
feelings is what leads them to take Aruego’s to the complicated subjects he examines.
books into their hearts. S.S. Ashabranner’s intuitive sense of what makes a
good story, coupled with his even-handed ap-
proach, allows him to write about hardships and
Ashabranner, Brent survival and to turn the information into highly
readable accounts. Perhaps the best example is
A merican author, b. 1921. People Who Make
a Difference, the title of Brent Ashabran-
ner’s 1989 book describing the actions of ordi-
Gavriel and Jemal: Two Boys of Jerusalem (1984).
This journey, which took Ashabranner and
Conklin to Israel, provided an opportunity to
nary citizens involved in helping others, is a des- write about two youths — one Arab, one Jewish
ignation that could well be applied to the author — living parallel lives in a city separated by reli-
himself, for he has taken on the difficult role gious and racial barriers. The book stands as a
of America’s conscience. After graduating from significant statement on behalf of peace and un-
Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, derstanding. When Ashabranner turned his at-
where he helped finance his education by sell- tention to national monuments, as in Always to
ing stories to Western magazines, Ashabranner Remember: The Story of the Vietnam Veterans
found that his interest in people, especially those Memorial (1988), No Better Hope: What the Lin-
at risk, resulted in his entering a career in public coln Memorial Means to America (2001), or Re-
service. While working for the Agency for In- membering Korea: The Korean War Veterans Me-
ternational Development and the Peace Corps, morial (2001), he did far more than recount the
Ashabranner continued his writing, but his vo- history of the structure.
cation as spokesperson for the underprivileged Ashabranner’s perceptive investigation has
did not achieve full stride until his retirement. brought to light poignant anecdotes that make
He was then able to devote all of his efforts to his books memorable. His award-winning hu-
addressing the issues that troubled him. man interest accounts are concise, balanced, and
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
one could look to the very end of the long naves, and the fragrance
of orange-blossoms and flowers was wafted even to the vaulted
roofs of the Maksura. The columns, which now number less than a
thousand, were then fourteen hundred in number; the ceiling was of
cedar-wood and larch, carved and enamelled with exquisite
workmanship; the walls were lined with marble; the light of eight
hundred lamps filled with fragrant oil made the crystals in the
mosaic-work flash like pearls, and produced on the pavement, the
arches, and the walls a marvellous play of color and reflection. "A
sea of splendors," sang a poet, filled the mysterious enclosure, and
the warm air was laden with perfume and harmony, and the
thoughts of the faithful wandered and were lost in the labyrinth of
columns gleaming like lances in the sun.
Frederick Schrack, the author of a good work on the Poetry and Art
of the Moors in Spain and Sicily, gives a description of the mosque
on a day of solemn festival, which forms a very lively image of the
Mohammedan religion and completes the picture of the monument.
On both sides of the almimbar, or pulpit, wave two banners, to
signify that Islam has triumphed over Judaism and Christianity and
that the Koran has conquered both the Old and the New Testament.
The almnedani ascend to the gallery of the high minaret and intone
the salam, or salutation, to the Prophet. Then the aisles of the
mosque are filled with believers, who with white vestments and in
festal attire come together to worship. In a few moments,
throughout the length and breadth of the edifice, one sees only
kneeling people. The caliph enters by the secret way which leads
from the Alcazar to the temple, and seats himself in his elevated
station. A reader of the Koran reads a sura from the low desk of the
pulpit.
The voice of the muezzin sounds again, calling men to mid-day
prayer. All the faithful rise and murmur their prayers, bowing as they
do so. An attendant of the mosque opens the doors of the pulpit and
seizes a sword, and, holding it, he turns toward Mecca, admonishing
the people to worship Mohammed, while the mubaliges are chanting
his praises from the gallery. Then the preacher mounts the pulpit,
taking from the hand of the servant the sword, which calls to mind
and symbolizes the subjection of Spain to the power of Islam. It is
the day when the Djihad, or the holy war, must be proclaimed, the
call for all able-bodied men to go to war and descend into the
battlefield against the Christians. The multitude listens with silent
devotion to the sermon, woven from texts of the Koran, which
begins in this wise:
"Praise be to Allah, who has increased the glory of Islam, thanks to
the sword of the champion of the faith, who in his holy book has
promised succor and victory to the believer.
"Allah scatters his benefits over the world.
"If he did not put it in the hearts of men to take up arms against
their fellows, the world would be lost.
"Allah has ordained to fight against the people until they know that
there is but one God.
"The torch of war will not be extinguished until the end of the world.
"The blessing of God will fall upon the mane of the war-horse to the
day of judgment.
"Armed from head to foot or but lightly clad, it matters not—up and
away!
"O believers! what shall be done to you if, when called to the battle,
you remain with face turned to the earth?
"Do you prefer the life of this world to the life to come?
"Believe me, the gates of paradise stand in the shadow of the sword.
"He who dies in battle for the cause of God shall wash away with his
blood all the defilement of his sins.
"His body shall not be wasted like the other bodies of the dead, for
on the day of judgment his wounds shall yield a fragrance like musk.
"When the warriors present themselves at the gates of paradise, a
voice within shall ask, 'What have you done in your life?'
"And they shall answer, 'We have brandished the sword in the
struggle for the cause of God.'
"Then the eternal doors will swing open, and the warriors will enter
forty years before the rest.
"Up, then, ye faithful; leave your women, your children, your
kindred, and your goods, and go out to the holy war!
"And thou, God, Lord of this present world and of that which is to
come, fight for the armies of those who recognize thy unity! Cast
down the unbelievers, the idolaters, and the enemies of thy holy
faith! Overwhelm their standards, and give them, with whatever they
possess, as a prey to the Mussulman!"
The preacher as he ends his discourse turns toward the
congregation and exclaims, "Ask of God!" and begins to pray in
silence.
All the faithful, with heads bowed to the ground, follow his example.
The mubaliges chant, "Amen! Amen, O Lord of all being!" Burning
like the heat which precedes the oncoming tempest, the enthusiasm
of the multitude, restrained at first in awful silence, now breaks out
into deep murmurs, which rise like the waves and swell through all
parts of the temple, until finally the naves, the chapels, and the
vaulted roofs resound to the echo of a thousand voices united in a
single cry: "There is no God but Allah!"
The mosque of Cordova is even to-day, by universal consent, the
most beautiful temple of Islam and one of the most marvellous
monuments in the world.
When we left the mosque it was already long past the hour of the
siesta, which everybody takes in the cities of Southern Spain, and
which is a necessity by reason of the insupportable heat of the noon
hours. The streets began to fill with people. "Alas!" said I to my
companions, "how badly the silk hat looks in the streets of Cordova!
How have you the heart to introduce the fashion-plates in this
beautiful Oriental picture? Why do you not adopt the dress of the
Moors?" Coxcombs pass, workmen, and girls: I looked at them all
with great curiosity, hoping to find one of those fantastic figures
which Doré has represented as examples of the Andalusian type,
with that dark-brown complexion, those thick lips, and large eyes,
but I saw none. Walking toward the centre of the city, I saw the first
Andalusian women—ladies, girls and women of the middle classes—
almost all small, graceful, and well-formed, some of them beautiful,
many attractive in appearance, but the greater part neither one
thing nor the other, as is the case in all countries. In their dress, with
the exception of the so-called mantilla, they do not differ at all from
the French women nor from those of our country—great masses of
false hair in plaits, knots, and long curls, short petticoats, long
plaited over-skirts, and boots with heels as sharp as daggers. The
ancient Andalusian costume has disappeared from the city.
I thought that in the evening the streets would be crowded, but I
saw only a few people, and only in the streets of the principal
quarters; the others remain as empty as at the hour of the siesta.
And one must pass through those deserted streets at night to enjoy
Cordova. One sees the light streaming from the patios; one sees in
the dark corners fond lovers in close colloquy, the girls usually at the
windows, with a hand resting lightly on the iron grating, and the
young men close to the wall in poetic attitudes, with watchful eyes,
but not so watchful, however, as to make them take their lips from
those hands before they discover that some one is passing; and one
hears the sound of guitars, the murmur of fountains, sighs, the
laughter of children, and mysterious rustlings.
The following morning, still stirred by the Oriental dreams of the
night, I again began my wandering through the city. To describe all
that is remarkable there one would require a volume: it is a very
museum of Roman and Arabian antiquities, and one finds a
profusion of martial columns and inscriptions in honor of the
emperors; the remains of statues and bas-reliefs; six ancient gates;
a great bridge over the Guadalquivir dating from the time of
Octavius Augustus and restored by the Arabians; ruins of towers and
walls; houses which belonged to the caliphs, and which still contain
the columns and the subterranean arches of the bathing
apartments; and everywhere there are doors, vestibules, and
stairways that would delight a legion of archæologists.
Toward noon, as I was passing through a lonely little street, I saw a
sign on the wall of a house beside a Roman inscription, Casa de
huespedes. Almuerzos y comidas, and as I read I felt the gnawing,
as Giusti says, of such a desperate hunger that I determined to give
it a quietus in this little shop upon which I had stumbled. I passed
through a little vestibule, and found myself in a patio. It was a poor
little patio, without marble floor and without fountains, but white as
snow and fresh as a garden. As I saw neither tables nor chairs, I
feared I had mistaken the door and started to go out. A little old
woman bustled out from I know not where and stopped me.
"Have you anything to eat?" I demanded.
"Yes, sir," she answered.
"What have you?"
"Eggs, sausages, chops, peaches, oranges, and wine of Malaga."
"Very good: you may bring everything you have."
She commenced by bringing me a table and a chair, and I sat down
and waited. Suddenly I heard a door open behind me and turned....
Angels of heaven! what a sight I saw!—the most beautiful of all the
most beautiful Andalusians, not only of those whom I saw at
Cordova, but of all those whom I afterward saw at Seville, Cadiz,
and Granada: if I may be allowed to use the word, a superb girl,
who would make one flee or commit some deviltry; one of those
faces which make you cry, "O poor me!" like Giuseppe Baretti when
he was travelling in Spain. For some moments she stood motionless
with her eyes fixed on mine as if to say, "Admire me;" then she
turned toward the kitchen and cried, "Tia, despachate!" ("Hurry up,
aunty!") This gave me an opportunity of thanking her with a
stammering tongue, and gave her a pretence for approaching me
and replying, "It is nothing," with a voice so gentle that I was
obliged to offer her a chair, whereupon she sat down. She was a girl
about twenty years old, tall, straight as a palm, and dark, with two
great eyes full of sweetness, lustrous and humid as though she had
just been in tears: she wore a mass of wavy jet-black hair with a
rose among her locks. She seemed like one of the Arabian virgins of
the tribe of the Usras for whom men died of love.
She herself opened the conversation:
"You are a foreigner, I should think, sir?"
"Yes."
"French?"
"Italian."
"Italian? A fellow-countryman of the king?"
"Yes."
"Do you know him, sir?"
"By sight!"
"They say he is a handsome young fellow."
I did not answer, and she began to laugh, and asked me, "What are
you looking at, sir?" and, still laughing, she hid her foot, which on
taking her seat she thrust well forward that I might see it. Ah! there
is not a woman in that country who does not know that the feet of
the Andalusians are famous throughout the world.
I seized the opportunity of turning the conversation upon the fame
of the Andalusian women, and expressed my admiration in the most
fervent words of my vocabulary. She allowed me to talk on, looking
with great attention at the crack in the table, then raising her face,
she asked me, "And in Italy, how are the women there?"
"Oh, there are beautiful women in Italy too."
"But ... they are cold?"
"Oh no, not at all," I hastened to respond; "but, you know, ... in
every country the women have an I-know-not-what which
distinguishes them from the women of all other countries; and
among them all the I-know-not-what of the Andalusians is probably
the most dangerous for a poor traveller whose hairs have not turned
gray. There is a word to express what I mean: if I could remember
it, I would say it to you; I would say, "Señorita, you are the most ..."
"Salada," exclaimed the girl, covering her face with her hands.
"Salada! ... the most salada Andalusian in Cordova."
Salada is the word commonly used in Andalusia to describe a woman
beautiful, charming, affectionate, languid, ardent, what you will—a
woman with two lips which say, "Drink me," and two eyes which
make one close one's teeth.
The aunt brought me the eggs, chops, sausage, and oranges, and
the girl continued the conversation: "Sir, you are an Italian: have you
seen the Pope?"
"No, I am sorry to say."
"Is it possible? An Italian who has not seen the Pope! And tell me,
sir: why do the Italians make him suffer so much?"
"Suffer in what way?"
"Yes. They say that they have shut him up in his house and thrown
stones at the windows."
"Oh no! Don't believe it! There is not a particle of truth in it," etc.,
etc.
"Have you seen Venice, sir?"
"Venice? oh yes."
"Is it true that it is a city which floats on the sea?"
And here she made a thousand requests that I would describe
Venice, and that I would tell her what the people were like in that
strange city, and what they do all the day long, and how they dress.
And while I was talking besides the pains I took to express myself
with a little grace, and to eat meanwhile the badly-cooked eggs and
stale sausage—I was obliged to see her draw nearer and nearer to
me, that she might hear me better perhaps, without being conscious
of the act. She came so close that I could smell the fragrance of the
rose in her hair and feel her warm breath; I was obliged, I may say,
to make three efforts at once—one with my head, another with my
stomach, and a third with both—especially when, now and then, she
would say, "How beautiful!"—a compliment which applied to the
Grand Canal, but which had upon me the effect a bag full of
napoleons might have upon a beggar if swung under his nose by an
insolent banker.
"Ah, señorita!" I said at last, beginning to lose patience, "what
matters it, after all, whether cities are beautiful or not? Those who
are born in them think nothing of it, and the traveller still less. I
arrived at Cordova yesterday: it is a beautiful city, without doubt.
Well—will you believe it?—I have already forgotten all that I have
seen; I no longer wish to see anything; I do not even know what
city I am in. Palaces, mosques, they make me laugh. When you have
a consuming fire in your heart, do you go to the mosque to quench
it?—Excuse me, will you move back a little?—When you feel such a
madness that you could grind up a plate with your teeth, do you go
to look at palaces? Believe me, the traveller's life is a sad one. It is a
penance of the hardest sort. It is torture. It is...." A prudent blow
with her fan closed my mouth, which was going too far both in
words and action. I attacked the chop.
"Poor fellow!" murmured the Andalusian with a laugh after she had
given a glance around. "Are all the Italians as ardent as you?"
"How should I know? Are all the Andalusians as beautiful as you?"
The girl laid her hand on the table.
"Take that hand away," I said.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I want to eat in peace."
"Eat with one hand."
"Ah!"
I seemed to be pressing the little hand of a girl of six; my knife fell
to the ground; a dark veil settled upon the chop.
Suddenly my hand was empty: I opened my eyes, saw the girl all
disturbed, and looked behind me. Gracious Heavens! There was a
handsome young fellow, with a stylish little jacket, tight breeches,
and a velvet cap. Oh terrors! a torero! I gave a start as if I had felt
two banderillas de fuego planted in my neck.
"I see it at a glance," said I to myself, like the man at the comedy;
and one could not fail to understand. The girl, slightly embarrassed,
made the introduction: "An Italian passing through Cordova," and
she hastened to add, "who wants to know when the train leaves for
Seville."
The torero, who had frowned at first sight of me, was reassured,
told me the hour of departure, sat down, and entered into a friendly
conversation. I asked for the news of the last bull-fight at Cordova:
he was a banderillero, and he gave me a minute description of the
day's sport. The girl in the mean time was gathering flowers from
the vases in the patio. I finished my meal, offered a glass of Malaga
to the torero, drank to the fortunate planting of all his banderillas,
paid my bill (three pesetas, which included the beautiful eyes, you
understand), and then, putting on a bold front, so as to dispel the
least shadow of suspicion from the mind of my formidable rival, I
said to the girl, "Señorita! one can refuse nothing to those who are
taking leave. To you I am like a dying man; you will never see me
again; you will never hear my name spoken: then let me take some
memento; give me that bunch of flowers."
"Take it," said the girl; "I picked it for you."
She glanced at the torero, who gave a nod of approval.
"I thank you with all my heart," I replied as I turned to leave. They
both accompanied me to the door.
"Have you bull-fights in Italy?" asked the young man.
"Oh heavens! no, not yet!"
"Too bad! Try to make them popular in Italy also, and I will come to
banderillar at Rome."
"I will do all in my power.—Señorita, have the goodness to tell me
your name, so that I may bid you good-bye."
"Consuelo."
"God be with you, Consuelo!"
"God be with you, Señor Italiano!"
And I went out into the lonely little street.
There are no remarkable Arabian monuments to be seen in the
neighborhood of Cordova, although at one time the whole valley was
covered with magnificent buildings. Three miles to the south of the
city, on the side of the mountain, rose the Medina Az-Zahra, the city
of flowers, one of the most marvellous architectural works of the
caliph Abdurrahman, begun by the caliph himself in honor of his
favorite Az-Zahra. The foundations were laid in the year 936, and ten
thousand workmen labored on the edifice for twenty-five years. The
Arabian poets celebrated Medina Az-Zahra as the most splendid of
royal palaces and the most delightfullyl garden in the world. It was
not an edifice, but a vast chain of palaces, gardens, courts,
colonnades, and towers. There were rare plants from Syria—the
fantastic playing of lofty fountains, streams of water flowing in the
shade of palm trees, and great basins overflowing with quicksilver,
which reflected the rays of the sun like lakes of fire; doors of ebony
and ivory studded with gems; thousands of columns of the most
precious marbles; great airy balconies; and between the
innumerable multitudes of statues twelve images of animals of
massy gold, gleaming with pearls, sprinkling sweetened water from
their mouths and noses. In this vast palace swarmed thousands of
servants, slaves, and women, and hither from every part of the
world came poets and musicians. And yet this same Abdurrahman
III., who lived among all these delights, who reigned for fifty years,
who was powerful, glorious, and fortunate in every circumstance and
enterprise, wrote before his death that during his long reign he had
been happy only fourteen days, and his fabulous city of flowers
seventy-four years after the laying of its first stone was invaded,
sacked, and burned by a barbarian horde, and to-day there remain
only a few stones which hardly recall its name.
Of another splendid city, called Zahira, which rose to the east of
Cordova, built by the powerful Almansur, governor of the kingdom,
not even the ruins remain: a handful of rebels laid it in ashes a little
while after the death of its founder.
"All returns to the great ancient mother."
Instead of taking a drive around Cordova, I simply wandered here
and there, weaving fancies from the names of the streets, which to
me is one of the greatest pleasures in which a traveller may indulge
in a foreign city. Cordova, alma ingeniorum parens, could write at
every street-corner the name of an artist or an illustrious author
born within her walls; to give her due honor, she has remembered
them all with maternal gratitude. You find the little square of Seneca
and the house where he may have been born; the street of
Ambrosio Morales, the historian of Charles V., who continued the
Chronicle General of Spain commenced by Florian d'Ocampo; the
street of Pablo de Cespedes, painter, architect, sculptor, antiquary,
and the author of a didactic poem, "The Art of Painting,"
unfortunately not finished, though adorned with splendid passages.
He was an ardent enthusiast of Michelangelo, whose works he had
admired in Italy, and in his poem he addressed a hymn of praise to
him which is one of the most beautiful passages in Spanish poetry,
and, in spite of myself, the last verses have slipped from my pen,
which every Italian, even if he does not know the sister language,
can appreciate and understand. He believes, he tells the reader, that
one cannot find the perfection of painting anywhere except
"Que en aquela escelente obra espantosa
Mayor de cuantas se han jamas pintado,
Que hizo el Buonarrota de su mano
Divina, en el etrusco Vaticano!
"Cual nuevo Prometeo en alto vuelo
Alzándose, estendiò los alas tanto,
Que puesto encima el estrellado cielo
Una parte alcanzò del fuego santo;
Con que tornando enriquecido al suelo
Con nueva maravilla y nuevo espanto,
Diò vida con eternos resplandores
À marmoles, à bronces, à colores.
¡O mas que mortal hombre! ¿Angel divino
O cual te nomaré? No humano cierto
Es tu ser, que del cerco empireo vino
Al estilo y pincel vida y concierto:
Tu monstraste à los hombres el camino
Por mil edades escondido, incierto
De la reina virtud; a ti se debe
Honra que en cierto dia el sol renueve."
"In that excellent marvellous work, greater than all that has ever
been painted, which Buonarroti made with his divine hand in the
Etruscan Vatican!
"Look how the new Prometheus, rising in lofty flight, extends his
wings so wide that above the starry sky he has obtained a part of
the celestial fire; with it, returning, he enriched the earth with new
marvels and new surprises, giving life, with eternal splendors, to
marble, bronze, and colors. More than mortal man! angel divine! or
what shall I call thee? Surely thou art not human, who from the
empyrean circle came, bringing life and harmony to chisel and
brush! Thou hast shown men the road hidden for a thousand ages,
uncertain of the sovereign virtue; to thee belongs honor which one
day the sun will bestow."
Murmuring these lines, I came out into the street of Juan de Mena,
the Ennius of Spain, as his compatriots call him, the author of a
phantasmagorial poem called "The Labyrinth," an imitation of The
Divina Commedia very famous in its day, and in truth not without
some pages of inspired and noble poetry, but, on the whole, cold
and overloaded with pedantic mysticism. John II., king of Castile,
went mad over this "Labyrinth," kept it beside the missal in his
cabinet, and carried it with him to the hunt; but witness the caprice
of a king! The poem had only three hundred stanzas, and to John II.
this number seemed too small, and do you know the reason? It was
this: the year contains three hundred and sixty-five days, and it
seemed to him that there ought to be as many stanzas in the poem
as there are days in the year, and so he besought the poet to
compose sixty-five other stanzas, and the poet complied with his
request—most cheerfully, the flatterer!—to gain an occasion for
flattering still more, although he had already flattered his sovereign
to the extent of asking him to correct the poem.
From the street of Juan de Mena I passed into the street of
Gongora, the Marini of Spain, and no less a genius than he, but
perhaps one who corrupted the literature of his country even more
than Marini corrupted that of Italy, for he spoiled, abused, and
corrupted the language in a thousand ways: for this reason Lope de
Vega wittily makes a poet of the Gongorist school ask one of his
hearers, "Do you understand me?"—"Yes," he replies; and the poet
retorts, "You lie! for I do not even understand myself." But Lope
himself is not entirely free from Gongorism, for he has the courage
to write that Tasso was only the rising of Marini's sun; nor is
Calderon entirely free of it, nor some other great men. But enough
of poetry: I must not digress.
After the siesta I hunted up my two companions, who took me
through the suburbs of the city, and here, for the first time, I saw
men and women of the true Andalusian type as I had imagined
them, with eyes, coloring, and attitudes like the Arabians, and here
too, for the first time, I heard the real speech of the Andalusian
people, softer and more musical than in the Castiles, and also gayer
and more imaginative, and accompanied by livelier gestures. I asked
my companions whether that report about Andalusia is true,
affirming that with their early physical development vice is more
common, manners more voluptuous, and passion less restrained.
"Too true," they replied, giving explanations, descriptions, and citing
cases which I forbear to repeat. On returning to the city they took
me to a splendid casino, with gardens and magnificent rooms, in one
of which, the largest and richest, adorned with paintings of all the
illustrious men of Cordova, rises a sort of stage where the poets
stand to read their works on evenings appointed for public contests
of genius; and the victors receive a laurel crown from the hands of
the most beautiful and cultured girls in the city, who, crowned with
roses, look on from a semi-circle of seats. That evening I had the
pleasure of meeting several young Cordovese ardently attached, as
they say in Spain, to the cultivation of the Muses—frank, courteous,
and vivacious, with a medley of verses in their heads, and a
smattering of Italian literature; and so imagine how from dusk to
midnight, through those mysterious streets, which from the first
evening had made my head whirl, there was a constant, noisy
interchange of sonnets, hymns, and ballads in the two languages,
from Petrarch to Prati, from Cervantes to Zorilla; and a delightful
conversation closed and sealed by many cordial hand-clasps and
eager promises to write, to send books, to come to Italy, to visit
Spain again, etc. etc.—merely words, as is always the case, but
words not less dear on that account.
In the morning I left for Seville. At the station I saw Frascuelo,
Lagartijo, Cuco, and the whole band of toreros from Madrid, who
saluted me with a benevolent look of protection. I hurried into a
dusty carriage, and as the train moved off and my eyes rested on
Cordova for the last time, I bade the city adieu in the lines of the
Arabian poet—a little too tropical, if you will, for the taste of a
European, but, after all, admirable for the occasion:
"Adieu, Cordova! Would that my life were as long as Noah's, that I
might live for ever within thy walls! Would that I had the treasures
of Pharaoh, to spend them upon wine and the beautiful women of
Cordova with the gentle eyes which invite kisses!"
SEVILLE.
The journey from Cordova to Seville does not awaken a sense of
astonishment, as does that from Toledo to Cordova, but it is even
more beautiful: there are continuous orange-orchards, boundless
olive-groves, hills clothed with vineyards, and meadows carpeted
with flowers. A few miles from Cordova one sees the ruined towers
of the frowning castle of Almodovar standing on a very high rock-
platform, which overlooks a vast extent of the surrounding country;
at Hornachuelos another old castle on the summit of a hill, in the
midst of a lonely, melancholy landscape; and then, beyond, the
white city of Palma, hidden in a dense orange-grove, which is
surrounded in its turn by a circle of truck-farms and flower-gardens.
As the train runs on one is carried through the midst of golden fields
of grain, bordered by long hedges of Indian fig trees and rows of
dwarf palms, and dotted with groves of pine and frequent orchards
of fruit-bearing trees; and at short intervals there are hills and
castles, roaring streams, the slender village belfries hidden among
the trees, and the purple peaks of distant mountains.
Most beautiful of all are the little country-houses scattered along the
road. I do not remember to have seen a single one of them that was
not as white as snow. The house was white, the neighboring well-
curb was white, the little wall around the kitchen-garden was white,
as were also the two posts of the garden-gate: everything seemed
as if it had been whitewashed the day before. Some of these houses
have one or two mullioned windows of Moorish design; others have
arabesques over the door; and still others roofs covered with
variegated tiles like Arabian houses. Here and there through the
fields one sees the red-and-white capes of the peasants, velvet hats
against the green grass, and sashes of all colors. The peasants
whom one sees in the furrows and those who run to see the train
pass are dressed in the costumes of forty years ago as they are
represented in paintings: they wear velvet hats with very broad
brims which roll slightly back, with little crowns like a sugar-loaf;
short jackets, open waistcoats, breeches gathered in at the knee like
those of the priests, gaiters which almost meet the breeches, and
sashes around the waist. This style of dress, picturesque but
inconvenient, is exceedingly becoming to the slender figures of these
men, who prefer discomfort, if it be attended by beauty, to comfort
without it, and who spend half an hour every morning adorning
themselves, besides the time required to get into a pair of tight
breeches which will display a shapely thigh and a well-turned leg.
They have nothing in common with our Northern peasant of the
hard face and dull eye. Their great black eyes meet your own with a
smile, as if they would say, "Don't you remember me?" They cast
daring glances at the ladies who put their heads out of the windows,
run to fetch a match before you have so much as asked for it,
sometimes answer your questions in rhyme, and are even capable of
laughing to show their white teeth.
At Rinconado the campanile of the cathedral of Seville comes into
view in a line with the railroad, and to the right, beyond the
Guadalquivir, one sees the beautiful low hills, covered with olive-
groves, at the foot of which lie the ruins of Italica. The train rolled
on, and I said to myself, under my breath, speaking faster and faster
as the houses became thicker, with that suspense, full of longing and
delight, which one feels on approaching the doorway of one's love,
"Seville! this is Seville! The queen of Andalusia is at hand, the
Athens of Spain, the mother of Murillo, the city of poets and lovers,
the storied Seville, whose name I have pronounced from a child with
a sentiment of loving sympathy! What should I have given a few
years since to have seen it? No, it is not a dream! Those are really
the houses of Seville; those peasants yonder are Sevillians; that
campanile which I see is the Giralda! I am at Seville! How strange! It
makes me laugh! What is my mother doing at this moment? Would
that she were here! Would that this friend and that were here! It is a
sin to be alone! See the white houses, the gardens, the streets....
We are in the city.... It is time to get out.... Ah! how beautiful is life!"
I went to a hotel, threw down my valise in the patio, and began to
stroll about the city. It seemed like seeing Cordova over again, on a
large scale, embellished and enriched; the streets are wider, the
houses higher, the patios more spacious, but the general appearance
of the city is the same: there is the same spotless white, the same
intricate network of streets, everywhere the fragrance of orange-
blossoms, that subtile air of mystery, that Oriental atmosphere,
filling one's heart with a delicious sense of amorous melancholy, and
calling to mind a thousand fancies, desires, and visions of a distant
world, a new life, an unknown people, and an earthly paradise of
love, pleasure, and content. In those streets one reads the history of
the city: every balcony, every fragment of sculpture, every lonely
crossway, recalls some nocturnal adventure of a king, the inspiration
of a poet, the romance of a beauty, an amour, a duel, an abduction,
a story, or a festival. Here a memento of Maria de Padilla, there one
of Don Pedro; yonder of Cervantes, Columbus, Saint Theresa,
Velasquez, or Murillo. A column tells of the Roman dominion; a
tower, the splendor of Charles V.'s monarchy; and an alcazar, the
magnificence of the Arabian court. Beside the modest white cottages
rise sumptuous marble palaces; the little tortuous streets open into
vast squares full of orange trees; from silent, deserted corners one
enters with a short turn a street filled with a noisy crowd: and
wherever one passes one sees on the opposite side the graceful
lattices of the patios, flowers, statues, fountains, flights of stairs,
walls covered with arabesques, small Moorish windows, and slender
columns of costly marble; and at every window and in every garden
little women clothed in white, half hidden, like timid nymphs, among
the leaves of grapevines and rosebushes.
Passing from street to street, I came at length to the bank of the
Guadalquivir, close to the avenues of the Christina promenade, which
is to Seville what the Lung d'arno is to Florence. Here one enjoys a
charming spectacle.
I first approached the famous Torre del Oro. This famous tower was
called the Golden, either because it received the gold which the
Spanish ships brought from America or because King Don Pedro hid
his treasures there. It is an octagonal structure of three stories,
growing smaller as they ascend, crowned with battlements and
washed by the river. The story runs that this tower was built in
Roman times, and that for a long period the king's most beautiful
favorite dwelt there after it had been joined to the Alcazar by an
edifice which was torn away to make room for the Christina
promenade.
This promenade extends from the ducal palace of Montpensier to the
Torre del Oro. It is entirely shaded with Oriental plane trees, oaks,
cypresses, willows, poplars, and other trees of northern latitudes,
which the Andalusians admire, as we admire the palms and aloes of
the plains of Piedmont and Lombardy. A great bridge spans the river
and leads to the suburb of Triana, from which one sees the first
houses on the opposite bank. A long line of ships, coasting vessels,
and barges extends along the river, and from the Torre del Oro to
the ducal palace there is a coming and going of rowboats. The sun
was setting. A crowd of ladies filled the avenues, groups of workmen
were crossing the bridge, the workmen on the ships labored more
busily, a band of music was playing among the trees, the river was
rose-colored, the air was fragrant with the perfume of flowers, the
sky seemed all on fire.
I returned to the city and enjoyed the marvellous spectacle of Seville
by night. All the patios were illuminated—those of the humble
houses with a half light, which gave them an air of mysterious
beauty, those of the palaces, full of little flames which were reflected
in the mirrors and flashed like jets of quicksilver in the spray of the
fountains, and shone with a thousand colors on the marbles of the
vestibules, the mosaics of the walls, the glass of the doors, and the
crystal of the candlesticks. Inside one saw a crowd of ladies,
everywhere one heard the sound of laughter, low voices, and music;
one seemed to be passing through so many ball-rooms; from every
door flowed a stream of light, fragrance, and harmony; the streets
were crowded; among the trees of the squares, in the avenues, at
the end of the narrow streets, and on the balconies,—everywhere
were seen white skirts fluttering, vanishing, and reappearing in the
darkness, and little heads ornamented with flowers peeped
coquettishly from the windows; groups of young men broke through
the crowd with merry shouts; people called to each other and talked
from window to street, and everywhere were rapid motion, shouting,
laughter, and festal gaiety. Seville was simply an immense garden in
which revelled a people intoxicated with youth and love.
Such moments are very sad ones for a stranger. I remember that I
could have struck my head against the wall. I wandered here and
there almost abashed, with hanging head and sad heart, as if all
that crowd was amusing itself for the sole purpose of insulting my
loneliness and melancholy. It was too late to present my letters of
introduction, too early to go to bed: I was the slave of that crowd
and that gaiety, and was obliged to endure it for many hours. I
found a solace in resolving not to look at the faces of the women,
but I could not always keep my resolve, and when my eyes
inadvertently met two black pupils the wound, because so
unexpected, was more grievous than if I had encountered the
danger more boldly. Yes, I was in the midst of those wonderfully
famous women of Seville! I saw them pass on the arms of their
husbands and lovers; I touched their dresses, breathed their
perfume, heard the sound of their soft speech, and the blood leaped
to my head like a flame of fire. Fortunately, I remembered to have
heard from a Sevillian at Madrid that the Italian consul was in the
habit of spending the evening at the shop of his son, a merchant; I
sought out the shop, entered, and found the consul, and as I
handed him a letter from a friend I said, with a dramatic air which
made him laugh, "Dear sir, protect me; Seville has terrified me."
At midnight the appearance of the city was unchanged: the crowd
and light had not disappeared; I returned to the hotel and locked my
door with the intention of going to bed. Worse and worse! The
windows of my room opened on a square where crowds of people
were swarming around an orchestra that played without interruption,
when the music finally ended the guitars commenced, together with
the cries of the water-carriers and snatches of song and laughter;
the whole night through there was noise enough to wake the dead. I
had a dream at once delightful and tantalizing, but rather more
tantalizing than delightful. I seemed to be tied to the bed by a very
long tress of dark hair twisted into a thousand knots, and felt on my
lips a mouth of burning coals which sucked my breath, and around
my neck two vigorous little hands which were crushing my head
against the handle of a guitar.
The following morning I went at once to see the cathedral.
To adequately describe this measureless edifice one should have at
hand a collection of the most superlative adjectives and all the most
extravagant similes which have come from the pens of the grand
writers of every country whenever they have described something of
prodigious height, enormous size, appalling depth, and incredible
grandeur. When I talk to my friends about it, I too, like the Mirabeau
of Victor Hugo, involuntarily make un colossal mouvement d'epaules,
puff out my throat, and gradually raise my voice, like Tommaso
Salvini in the tragedy of Samson when, in tones which make the
parquet tremble, he says that he feels his strength returning to his
limbs. To talk of the cathedral of Seville tires one like playing a great
wind instrument or carrying on a conversation across a roaring
torrent.
The cathedral of Seville stands alone in the centre of a vast square,
and consequently one can measure its vastness at a single glance.
At the first moment I thought of the famous motto which the
chapter of the primitive church adopted on the eighth of July, 1401,
when they decreed the erection of the new cathedral: "Let us build a
monument which will make posterity declare that we were mad."
Those reverend canons did not fail in their intention. But one must
enter to be sure of this.
The exterior of the cathedral is grand and magnificent, but not to be
compared with the interior. The façade is lacking: a high wall
surrounds the entire building like a fortress. However much one
walks around and looks at it, one cannot succeed in fixing in one's
mind a single outline which, like the preface of a book, will give a
clear conception of the design of the work; one admires and
occasionally breaks out in the exclamation, "It is stupendous!" but it
does not please, and one hurries into the church, hoping to feel a
sentiment of deeper admiration.
On first entering one is amazed, and feels as if one were lost in an
abyss, and for some moments the eye can only describe immense
curves through that vast space, as if to assure you that the sight is
real and that fancy is not deceiving you. Then you approach one of
the pilasters, measure it, and look at the others in the distance: they
are as massive as towers, and yet they look so slender that one
trembles to think the edifice is resting on them. You run from one to
another with a rapid glance, follow their lines from pavement to
vaulted arch, and seem to be able to count the moments which it
would take for the eye to climb them. There are five naves, each of
which would form a great church, and in the central nave one could
build another high cathedral with its cupola and belfry. Altogether
they form sixty light, noble vaults which seem to be slowly
expanding and rising as one looks at them. Everything in this
cathedral is enormous. The great chapel in the middle of the
principal nave, so high that it almost touches the roof, seems like a
chapel built for giant priests, to whose knees the common altars
would scarcely reach; the Easter candle seems like the mast of a
ship, the bronze candlestick which supports it, like the pilaster of a
church; the organs are like houses; the choir is a museum of
sculpture and carving which alone deserves a day's study. The
chapels are worthy of the church: in them are scattered the
masterpieces of sixty-seven sculptors and thirty-eight painters.
Montegna, Zurbaran, Murillo, Valdes, Herrera, Boldan, Roelas, and
Campana have left a thousand immortal traces of their handiwork.
The chapel of Saint Ferdinand, which contains the tombs of this
king, his wife Beatrice, Alfonso the Wise, the celebrated minister
Florida Blanca, and other illustrious personages, is one of the richest
and most beautiful. The body of King Ferdinand, who rescued Seville
from the dominion of the Arabs, clothed in his coat-of-mail with
crown and royal robe, rests in a crystal casket covered with a pall;
on one side lies the sword which he wore on the day of his entrance
into Seville; on the other, the staff, an emblem of authority. In this
same chapel is preserved a little ivory Virgin which the sainted king
carried with him to war, and other relics of great value. In the other
chapels there are great marble altars, Gothic tombs, statues of
stone, wood, and silver enclosed in large glass cases, with the breast
and hands covered with diamonds and rubies; there are also
magnificent paintings, but, unfortunately, the dim light which falls
from the high windows does not make them clear enough to be
enjoyed in all their beauty.
From the examination of the chapels, paintings, and sculptures one
returns unwearied to admire the cathedral in its grand and, if one
may say, its formidable aspect. After climbing to those dizzy heights
one's glance and thoughts, as if exhausted by the effort, fall back to
the earth to gather new strength for another ascent. And the images
which multiply in one's head correspond to the vastness of the
basilica—measureless angels, heads of enormous cherubim, great
wings like the sails of a ship, and the fluttering of immense white
robes. The impression produced by this cathedral is wholly religious,
but it is not depressing: it is that sentiment which bears the thought
into interminable spaces and the awful silences where the thoughts
of Leopardi lost themselves; it is a sentiment full of yearning and
holy boldness, that delightful shudder which one feels on the brink
of a precipice, the turbulence and confusion of great thoughts, the
divine fear of the infinite.
As the cathedral is the most various of Spain (since the Gothic,
Germanic, Græco-Roman, Moorish, and, as it is vulgarly called, the
plateresque styles of architecture, have each left their individual
impress upon it), it is also the richest and has the greatest
privileges. In the times of greater clerical power they burned in it
every year twenty thousand pounds of wax; in it every day were
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