Philip Nel (1) (1969–)

Behind A Hole is To Dig and Harold And the Purple Crayon were the vibrant Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson. While their best-known published collaboration was The Carrot Seed, how many of us knew that they were husband-and-wife, a team that also collaborated on a rich partnership of sailing, socializing, activism, and world travel? That, for nearly a decade, they nurtured then-novice illustrator Maurice Sendak, with Krauss negotiating the advance that led to Sendak being able to move into show more full-time illustration? That Krauss wrote avant-garde poetry and Johnson (born David Leisk) became so adept at mathematical formulas that he was published in academic journals? Whether you are a fan of the capacity and trajectory of people in general or a children's lit fan in specific, this scholarly work affectionately yet firmly traces the couple's lives against a backdrop of politics and publishing at large. Highly recommended. (121) show less

Seeing the one star reviews of this book have made me feel strongly that I should review it, which for some reason I didn't do when I read it last summer.

It's a fine book. Nel points out institutionalized racism in publishing, specifically the subset of children's books. He encourages the disproportionately white writers, publishers, teachers, librarians, reviewers, booksellers, etc to do better.

This is an academic work, which many readers find dry. Some also find it sanctimonious or morally show more superior, which is weird: I mean, isn't it obvious that the beneficiaries of institutionalized racism or sexism or whatever are the ones who have to change the system? I don't read that as any sort of moral high ground, just you know, not being an entitled and oblivious asshole.

Library copy show less

An annotated edition Dr. Seuss' classic The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.

A fun way to explore these classic children's picture books. Nel includes original sketches, notes ongoing motifs in Seuss' work and recycling of plot points, and explores the playing with language of which Seuss was so fond. Nel also has done considerable research and includes quotations from a multitude of academic works on these picture books. There are extensive end notes and references. Nel also show more includes two essays written by Seuss on the process of writing The Cat in the Hat. Interesting for those with fond memories of these picture books but also a useful academic work. show less

Wow wow wow! So much I didn’t know here. Sometimes it’s a bit much, and sometimes the connection to the text is pretty tenuous, but lots of cool stuff. Like this list of things Dr. Seuss thought were funny to children: “sounds, surprise, grotesque/incongruous, falling down (the mighty falling), absurdity, horseplay.” The Mighty Falling! That’s my band name, right there.