The Pulitzer Prize-winning artist and writer Art Spiegelman never ceases to amaze me. His 2009 anthology The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics is an extraordinary walk down memory lane. Spiegelman's Golden Age finds for the book are stunning. The introductions that he and his wife Françoise provide in the anthology are insightful. Jon Scieszka's preface gets the ball rolling. It was great to see that our first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature embraced this important project. And now with the recent release of Craig Yoe's Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics I hope we can permanently fix the spotlight on some of these truly wacky, wonderful strips. The Spiegelman and Yoe anthologies are perfect companions. Hopefully Mo "Knuffle Bunny" Willems presence and blessing of the Yoe anthology will also draw new readers back to these classic comics.
Spiegelman and his wife really care about young readers and their new Toon Books project is a dazzler. Their website http://www.toonbooks.com/ provides a handy introduction to their series.
If you ever have a chance to see Art Spiegelman's work up close it is well worth the pilgrimage. His entire "Prince Rooster" story from the pages of LIttle Lit appears in my Monsters and Miracles exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst. The Spiegelman work on display is powerful and you can clearly see a master artist and storyteller at the height of his powers. Mr. Spiegelman was kind and generous enough to provide me with some additional insight into his work. You can read more about Art Spiegelman, Maurice Sendak and others in my essay for the Monsters and Miracles exhibition catalogue. It is a gorgeous book that the Eric Carle printed in Italy.
