Product Description

Continuing a two-year program to bring back twenty-two Maurice Sendak treasures long out of print, our second season of publication highlights one of the most successful author-illustrator pairings of all time. A pioneer of great children's literature, Ruth Krausspublished more than thirty books for children during a career that spanned forty years. Krauss and Sendak collaborated on eight books, and we are delighted to reintroduce four of these gems in brand-new editions, together with a favorite Maurice Sendak picture book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #147843 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-01
• Released on: 2001-11-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Now in its second season, HarperCollins's reissue of 22 Sendak classics continues. This time, his collaborations with Ruth Krauss take center stage. In Charlotte and the White Horse, first published in 1955, creamy pages frame Sendak's softly lit illustrations of a girl who convinces her father to keep a wobbly legged horse and cares for him until he can stand on his own. Sendak's delicate watercolors suit the dream-like mood of a boy who accomplishes all that he sets out to do in his imaginary world, in I Want to Paint My Bathroom Blue (1956), also by Krauss. A boy's imagination also comes to the fore in A Very Special House (1953) by Krauss, as the artist depicts the hero creating a home filled with a turtle, a giant, a very old lion and "some monkeys and some skunkeys." Oversize pages brim with the creatures as well as his house's "very special" furnishings. Open House for Butterflies (1960) takes a similar format to these collaborators' classic A Hole Is to Dig, and lastly, Hector Protector and As I Went Over the Water: Two Nursery Rhymes (1965) by Sendak conveys as much plot through the artist's wordless spreads as with the minimal text. For collectors and budding readers alike. Nov.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Most, most special indeed! What fun! Sheer nonsense in text and pictures, the inimitable drawings of Mr. Sendak. -- Saturday Review

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.

Customer Reviews

I'm getting one for every child I know
This book came to our family as a hand-me-down from a neighbor for my 2-year-old son, and now we can't live with out it. The rhymes are so witty, entertaining and infectious that I can't tell people about the book without quoting verbatim. Krauss's playful use of language is eternally endearing and Sendaks quirky illustrations of chair-chomping lions and clumsy giants are a treasure. I had feared that this book would be out of print. Now that I have found it, I am buying it for every child (and parent) I know starting with my three-year-old nephew.

The Best Children's Book Ever!
I LOVED this book as a child, so much that I asked for a copy as a birthday gift as an adult. This is the most visually entertaining, linguistically exciting, playful and joyful story I ever read in a children's book. Sendak's simple illustrations are profoundly expressive and appropriate for Kraus' self-indugent imaginary escapade. Yes, to most people it probably seems a little bit weird, but if you have an imaginitive child in your life....BUY HIM OR HER THIS BOOK!

More More More! More More More!
...and it's just a house for me me me
At first reading, somewhat bizarre. So read it twice! It grows on you; it grew into our favorite children's book. It screams to be read aloud; the rhymes aren't Seuss-ly annoying, and the rhythms are interesting.
"...they and I are making music
and we're falling over laughing"
The simple illustrations (Sendak, I think?) are great. Krauss's expressions of child-ego are true-to-my-memory, and rang bells with my kids. I could not afford books back then; fortunately our children's librarian had my taste in books (I don't recall any Berenstain Bears!); but this was one book I HAD TO OWN. It makes a very JOYFUL noise. Read it, then find a copy of Pete Seeger's or Woody Guthries' folk songs for kids... a perfect hour.