Product Description

From the team that brought us A Hole Is To Dig, here's another romp through the wild and wonderful imagination of children.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #234917 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-01
• Released on: 2001-05-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

Amazon.com Review
From the creators of A Hole Is to Dig comes a reissue of another classic, I'll Be You and You Be Me. Author Ruth Krauss and illustrator Maurice Sendak, with a little help from some young friends, capture all the ups and downs of friendship. A charmingly meandering series of stories, poems, and pen-and-ink line drawings feels like a scrapbook of kid-speak:

--He runs
--I run
--He jumps
--I jump
--He dunks his toast
and I dunk mine

Short-short plays, mysteries, and fairy tales are sprinkled with Sendak's (Where the Wild Things Are, etc.) tiny, sketchy images. Open to any page and dive right in! (Ages 3 to 6) --Emilie Coulter

About the Author
Ruth Krauss, a member of the experimental Writer's Laboratory at the Bank Street School in New York City in the 1940s, imaginatively used humor and invented words to create some of the very first books for children that highlighted the child s inner life. She collaborated with some of the greatest illustrators in children s literature, including her husband, Crockett Johnson.

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Customer Reviews

The Finest Children's Book I Know
As a child in the 1950s, this was my very favorite book, much like a deeply treasured playmate. When I became a father, I looked for it to share with my daughter, but it was way, way out of print. Decades later, I became a father again and found a used paperback copy in Canada. My 2 1/2 year old daughter now loves this book as much as I did almost fifty years ago, and asks for it every night. It is timeless. One of the reasons I think it has lasted so well is that much of the ideas the great Ruth Krauss used for the book came from small children themselves. It also features the early work of Krauss'long-time collaborator who went on to write wonderful books himself, Maurice Sendak. I'm very happy that I'll Be You and You Be Me has now been reissued in hardback. If you are a parent of a child under five, do yourself a favor and buy this book--before it goes out of print again

A Timeless Treasure.....
Almost fifty years ago, Ruth Krauss and Maurice Sendak collaborated on this special little book, told from a child's perspective, about love and friendship (love is the same as like/only you spell them different-/only more of the same, sort of-/Love has more stuff in it!), and it is as fresh and meaningful today, as it was back in the early fifties. I'll Be You And You Be Me is a marvelous collection of poems, stories, short plays, fairy tales and other bits of whimsy and imagination. Ms Krauss uses her talented ear to capture the essence of a small child at play and you can almost hear that little voice talking and explaining his or her vision of life and the world, as you read (I went to you./I went to me./I went to/every where./And I went/THERE.). Mr Sendak complements each written idea with his expressive and wonderfully detailed pen and ink drawings. Together, this dynamic duo has authored a simple, gentle book full of childlike insight, wisdom and humor that will charm and delight both youngsters and adults. Perfect for preschoolers, I'll Be You And You Be Me is a masterpiece and a timeless treasure to read together and share and pass along to friends family and future generations.

Krauss and Sendack, how can you go wrong?
I just came here from reviewing "A Very Special House" and I feel like I'm repeating myself. This was a book my sisters and I loved when we were children. One of the places I lived had a wonderful children's books store, and even though at the time I had no intention of ever having children myself, I bought it just for me. It was probably ten years later when I had my daughter, and I could hardly wait for her to be old enough to enjoy it. It isn't a story, it's a series of vignettes. Sometimes several items to a page, sometimes just one picture. Some of the bits are told entirely in pictures, but there is certainly no feeling of a comic book, it's very serious about friends and best friends and imagination. I don't look at it much these days, but I only have to look into my mind to see the dance of the little red shoes. "Someday, someday, little red shoes" became a family phrase for something you yearn for and will keep as a touchstone. Someday I'll get that. It doesn't seem to matter that it won't be today, it's enough to know that (that beautiful ring I saw at the craft show . . . the hybrid car . . . the glass blowing classes) are still wonderful dreams that I haven't given up.