Nancy Willard (1936–2017)

I was pleasantly surprised by the whimsical poetic take on William Blake and his poetry that Nancy Willard achieved in A Visit to William Blake's Inn. While the book captured the essence of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, "Tyger, Tyger, Burning bright...", Willard magically enhanced them for a child's introduction to those works with playful beasts, the poet as the master of majestic inn, and easily accessible poetry in four line stanzas with rhyming couplets.
For show more example:
Two mighty dragons brew and bake
and many are the loaves they've burned
and are the spits they've turned
and many those who stop and break
their joyful bread with William Blake.

The musical quality of Nancy Willard's poetry is delightful to read aloud and the illustrations that usually encompass the full two page layout are detailed water color line drawings which capture the dress and architecture of the romantic period. The book is rather long, forty-five pages, but Willard broke up individuals poems under pseudo (perhaps) chapter titles, thus giving the reader the ability to stop after one or at least to break up the book into shorter reading sessions.

What I find so interesting about this book and would use in the classroom, especially a high school one, is the way in which she was able to take a nearly two hundred year old, sometimes very complicated to understand poetry, and put them into a new format. The assignment: To take a poem (and everyone would have the same poem) and have to create a poem in response. The response could by translating the poem into modern english or rap, or creating a conversational response as Ralegh did to Marlowe's The Passionate Shepherd to his love. The assignment would not only force the students to examine the poem closely, it would also hopefully give them a sense that they were in control of it and thus alleviating any fear they have to reading or examining poems. Nancy Willard's A Visit to William Blake's Inn could stand as a wonderful example of one way to create a response - by making an assigned poem into a children's poem. show less

This advanced picture-book/simple chapter-book retelling of the classic French fairy-tale of Beauty and the Beast, transplanted to the Hudson River Valley of the late nineteenth century, reminded me a bit of Robin McKinley's fabulous novelized retelling, Beauty, and I can't think of any praise higher than that! The familiar narrative is faithfully reproduced here, while it is also transformed: the merchant is a New York City businessman, with three daughters, and a mansion on Fifth Avenue, show more overlooking Central Park; the loss of his fortune necessitates that the family retrench and ruralize, withdrawing to a simple country cottage some seventy miles north of the city, along the Hudson; the surprise appearance of a ship thought lost draws him back to the city, where he finds nothing of value, and must leave again as penniless as he came. The fateful ice storm, in which the merchant stumbles upon a magnificent mansion (rather than a castle), the hospitality offered him, until his plucking of the Beast's rose, Beauty's subsequent sacrifice of herself, in order to save him, and her life with the Beast - all are familiar, as is the eventual resolution.

But although all these well-loved story elements are represented, albeit in somewhat new garb, Willard's retelling doesn't simply change their outward appearance. Somehow, she has transformed the way they feel, making the story something both old and new, something borrowed and also uniquely her own. Something that feels like it is a genuine Hudson River tale, to be told alongside such classics as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or Rip Van Winkle. Clearly, this story has something to say about New York City and the Hudson River Valley (which happens to be my part of the world), and Willard's revisionism - something I sometimes find unconvincing, in such fairy-tale retellings - feels both respectful and genuine to me.

Willard's Beauty and the Beast didn't just convince me however, it entertained and enthralled me! I wanted more! More details, more insight into the various characters, more thoughtful asides, as when the narrator says: "Pretty girls are a dime a dozen. Beauty is much rarer than you might suppose." I found life in the Beast's mansion fascinating: Beauty's library made me envious, her discovery of the tower had me on the edge of my seat, and her star-gazing sessions with the Beast - "I often come here, to look at the heavenly beasts," he said. "Such faithful friends they are, the beasts." - were immensely satisfying. Barry Moser's wood engravings, for which he is particularly known, were simply lovely, although (again) I wish there had been more of them! I understand, from the brief note at the rear, that both author and illustrator were inspired by the Hudson River mansion of Wilderstein, in Rhinebeck - I sense a field-trip this summer!

All in all, Willard and Moser have produced a wonderful Beauty and Beast, one I highly recommend to fans of the tale, as well as to devotees of the Hudson River Valley region. I think I need to own a copy of my own... show less

A strawberry pie-obsessed young boy named Little Tom Drum gets quite the surprise when he steals downstairs on the night before his birthday and gobbles up the pie his mother made for the big day. Afflicted with three mouths - presumably as punishment for being such a greedy boy? - he is confined to the house by his parents, given a private tutor, and eventually develops into a talented inventor. Then one day, with the help of a wish machine and some local children, Tom is restored to his show more old eight-year-old self...

Given author Nancy Willard's many folk and fairy-tale retellings - my personal favorite is her Hudson Valley version of Beauty and the Beast - I think it safe to say that the name of the eponymous hero of The Three Mouths of Little Tom Drum is a reference to Tom Thumb, the mischievous pint-sized protagonist of the first English-language fairy-tale ever recorded (in 1621). Although Willard's Tom is not the size of a thumb, he certainly does get himself into a scrape! All that said, although this reference will be of interest to folklore enthusiasts, I found myself somewhat ambivalent about the actual story here. I see online reviewers were put off by Willard's decision to have Tom Drum hidden away by his parents, as this is not the proper course of action to take, with children who look different from their peers. I wasn't particularly bothered by this, as it's clear that there is a fairy-tale element to Willard's story, and that it is not meant to be taken as a realistic narrative. On the other hand, illustrator Kevin Hawkes does dedicate the book to homeschoolers, so take that as you will. For my part, I just found the story a bit scattered, with too many disparate elements - the three-mouth punishment, the wish machine, the inventions, the social exclusion, etc. - that didn't seem to quite fit together in one organic whole. The artwork, as is always the case with Hawkes, was very appealing, but all in all, this isn't one I would particularly recommend. show less

The classic tale of the sorcerer's apprentice who attempts to use his master's magical tools, only to discover that he does not have the knowledge or skill to control them, has been retold many times, from Goethe's 1797 poem Der Zauberlehrling, to Walt Disney's 1940 animated film, Fantasia. This adaptation from children's poet Nancy Williams, and Caldecott Medal-winning illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon - who previously collaborated on the marvelous Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch - takes show more the story in new directions, making the apprentice into a seamstress named Sylvia, come to the sorcerer's house to sew clothing for his many strange creatures.

I enjoyed Willard's poetic text here, but it was the Dillons' artwork that really made the book for me! Beautiful but disturbing - as their best work always is - with countless quirky little details that will draw the reader in, the Dillons' paintings are endlessly fascinating. I loved the ravenous-looking sewing machine, with its toothy grip, and the many little mechanical monsters that spring from its body, when Sylvia tries to chop it up. This artwork is simply magical - a fitting accompaniment to such an enchanted tale! Highly recommended to all young fairy-tale lovers, and to fans of the Dillons. show less