A Year of Mandy

One of my best beloved books is Mandy by Julie [Andrews] Edwards (Harper and Row, 1971). I still have my battered Bantam paperback (1977) with the original Judith Gwyn Brown illustrations  (sadly, not the lovely hardcover edition pictured here) and reach for it whenever I'm in need of comfort reading. For those of you who haven't read Mandy, it's the story of a lonely little girl who discovers an abandoned cottage on the other side of the orphanage wall. Spring, summer, and fall, Mandy tends to the cottage and its garden, making it a place of her very own; but when winter comes, and Mandy gets sick, her secret is no longer safe.

Both thematically and structurally, Mandy's story corresponds to the seasons of the year. The book itself is divided into four sections, each with a different number of chapters (summer is the shortest), and this year, I'm planning to reread each section closely and share some thoughts--personal and professional (so to speak)--about it here. Starting with Spring, in April (because spring is somehow not here yet). I would love it if anyone wanted to join me.

[This is sort of like what Elizabeth Burns at A Chair, A Fireplace & a Tea Cozy just did with Harriet the Spy (also Harper and Row, 1964) in honor of its fiftieth anniversary. I must have read Harriet at around the same time I read Mandy (I had the Dell Yearling edition, 1980) and I confess: I didn't really like Harriet! Although I was fascinated by her. Maybe I should revisit that book, too?]

Warwick Hutton

I've just rediscovered the work of Warwick Hutton, a British author and illustrator of retellings--mythological, biblical, folk and fairy tales of all sorts. Hutton's illustrations are rendered in delicate pen-and-ink and watercolor wash and characterized by spacious sea and landscapes; oversized yet oddly graceful figures, of both people and animals; and lots of interesting compositional elements. We own only one of his books, a retelling by Susan Cooper of The Silver Cow: A Welsh Tale (Atheneum, 1985), in which the Tylwyth Teg reward a farmer's son for his playing of the harp with a beautiful, bountiful silver cow--until the greedy farmer goes a bit too far, and loses her and all the silver cows that had been born to her: the treasures of his herd. (Hutton also illustrated Cooper's retelling of The Selkie Girl; I don't like selkie stories, so I haven't read that one.)

I especially like Hutton's own retellings of Greek myths, though; these include Theseus and the Minotaur (my favorite), Perseus, and Persephone, as well as the Homeric stories of The Trojan Horse and Odysseus and the Cyclops. All of these are, sadly, out of print. Hutton himself, who was also a painter and, like his father John, a glass engraver, died in 1994 at the age of 45. I've added his books to my "must buy if I see them at the used book sale" list. They are really lovely.

2014 Astrid Lindgren and Hans Christian Andersen Awards

Congratulations to Swedish author Barbro Lindgren, winner of the 2014 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in the field of children's literature (Barbro is no relation to Astrid, I don't think, but it's a nice coincidence!). Our favorite Barbro book is Oink, Oink Benny, illustrated by Olof Landstrom and translated by Elisabeth Kallick Dyssegaard (2008):

"Benny is going out. He is tired of hanging around inside. Benny's little brother is going out, too.
He's also sick of hanging around inside.
"Stay away from the mudhole," says Benny's mama.
"Oink, oink,' says Benny.
Then Benny and his little brother head straight for the mudhole. [from the jacket flap]

Of course they do.

And congratulations as well to Japanese author Nahoko Uehashi and Brazilian illustrator Roger Mello, recipients of the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Awards. Uehashi's Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (translated by Kathy Hirano, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu; Arthur A. Levine, 2008) won the 2009 Batchelder Award, which is how I came to read it; and Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness (2009) won a 2010 Batchelder Honor. Maybe now the rest of the series (there are ten books) will be available in translation, along with Uehashi's other fantasy novels.

But first, let's see something by Roger Mello! One of the lovely things about these awards is the hope that they will help make the work of international authors and illustrators more widely available.

[Coincidentally, I just finished 2008 ALMA winner Sonya Hartnett's novel The Children of the King (2012; first US edition Candlewick, 2014). Short version: I loved it.]

Where's Mommy? (Mary and the Mouse)

The very first book I reviewed on this blog (and I use "reviewed" loosely; perhaps better to say "mentioned") was Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary by Beverly Donofrio, illustrated by Barbara McClintock (Schwartz and Wade, 2007). So I was naturally curious about the companion book Where's Mommy?, which is out now, and am happy to report that it is just as charming as the original. It has the same parallel structure, too, picking up with Maria and Mouse Mouse at bedtime one summer evening, when they discover that their mothers (the original Mary and the Mouse) are missing. Separate searches lead them to the garden shed, and a surprise that readers of Mary and the Mouse will already suspect.

I wish I had larger images of McClintock's detailed illustrations, rendered in pen-and-ink, watercolor, and gouache, to share (see them at Schwartz and Wade's Where's Mommy? flickr set). The book takes place entirely in and around (and under) Maria's family's contemporary ranch house, all glass brick and stone--a perfect fit for the long horizontals of the double-page spreads. My favorite image is of the living room (it's in the flickr set)--besides the bookcase, which is ample, I especially like the painting on the wall: it's a reproduction of Goya's portrait of Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga, with three cats (at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). The mouse family living below gets a print of Hunca Munca from Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Two Bad Mice.

[Barbara McClintock is one of my favorite illustrators. Does anyone know whatever happened to Adele and Simon in China? It was supposed to come out Fall 2011.]