Maurice Sendak

All Tied Up In A Bow

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by Jas Faulkner

writer’s note: Abject apologies to Diane.  This is late and I am sorry. 

The email -the second this month asking me about  hockey books- came from Sam and Tab.  Someone brought in copies of “Saving Face: The Art and History of the Goalie Mask” and “Shooting Stars: Photographs of the Portnoy Collection at the Hockey Hall of Fame” and wanted to know if I thought they had a chance of selling them.  In “God, Flag, and Football” country that Mississippi can be, I told them to get them for their own enjoyment while they’re at work and hope someone from Southaven, current home of the River Kings, might take an interest and buy them.  Neither of the girls are particularly interested in hockey, but both love sports photography and these books have some shots that would be assessed as gorgeous by anyone who loves looking at beautifully composed pictures.

Even though the two books Sam asked about are thoroughly researched and well written, it brings to mind the fact that , as we get closer to the biggest gift buying and giving time of the year in North America, a whole section of books that are meant to be seen and not heard- er- read will make an appearance on sales tables at brick and mortar stores all over the continent.

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New York Is Book Country No More

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One of the celebrated posters announcing the book fair.

New York hasn’t been book country since the tragic day of 9/11,  in my opinion.  Because of the security risks, a tradition died.  Every year the city would have a street fair full of books, authors, publishers, and people wandering up and down a particular part of Fifth Ave in late Sept. Although the fair did try to reestablish itself for a couple of years, after moving to The Village, and then Central Park, it lost much of its luster and girth and finally petered out.

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Higgelty Pigglety Pop! Maurice Sendak Follows Jennie to the Castle Yonder

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by Jas Faulkner Admitted or not, sometimes trapped deep beneath layers of intellectual noise is the part of us that wants to don a wolf suit and run wild, unfettered by the concerns of real life. The men and women who create those special places are our real life magic makers. Even if we know … Read more

Stephen Colbert Vs Maurice Sendak, or Vice Versa

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Once again, I tripped over an episode of mock conservative Stephen Cobert’s show, and low and behold, he’s interviewing the famous children’s writer and illustrator–Maurice Sendak. If you’ve not seen Colbert–think of a fake sincere smart aleck whose comebacks are fast and furious, and usually hilarious. I find it hard to believe in this day … Read more

Is Canada A Better Protector Of Intellectual Freedom?

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I ran across an article about challenges the Canadian libraries and school libraries faced for the year 2010. Despite lagging a year behind in their statistics, the outcome was quite pleasing to me, as someone who has written so much on banning books from school and public libraries in the US.  Report of the Annual … Read more