Leonard S. Marcus - Pass It Down: Five Picture Book Families Make Their Mark

FOR MY SON, JACOB,

AND IN MEMORY OF MY PARENTS

Copyright 2007 by Leonard S. Marcus
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

First published in the United States of America in 2007
by Walker Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
E-book edition published in July 2009
www.bloomsbury.com

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Marcus, Leonard S.
Pass it down : five picture book families make their mark / Leonard S. Marcus.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-10: 0-8027-9600-1 ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-9600-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8027-9601-X ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-9601-1 (reinforced : alk. paper)
1. Authors, American20th centuryFamily relationships. 2. Authors, American20th centuryBiography. 3. IllustratorsUnited StatesFamily relationships. 4. IllustratorsUnited StatesBiography. 5. Parent and childUnited StatesBiography. 6. ChildrenBooks readingUnited States. I. Title.
PS129.M37 2006 813'.5409dc22 [B] 2006012288

ISBN 978-0-8027-2141-9 (e-book)

Book design by Claire Counihan

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Table of Contents

Donald Crews, Ann Jonas, and Nina Crews

Clement and Edith Thacher Hurd and Thacher Hurd

Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers

Jerry Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

Harlow and Anne Rockwell and Lizzy Rockwell

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my thanks to the artists and writers who gave their time and shared their thoughts and memories during the course of the making of this book. For their generous and timely help, thanks also go to: John Barneson of the Kerlan Collection, University of Minnesota; Regina Griffin of Holiday House; Constance Myers; Gloria Jean Pinkney; and Phoebe W. Yeh of HarperCollins. I would also like to express my appreciation for the good work of my editor, Emily Easton, and her assistant, Kate Sullivan; to Claire Counihan for the care and artistry with which she has designed this book; to my agent, George M. Nicholson, for his friendship and guidance; and to my wife and son for their love and support.

Photo Credits

Courtesy of Donald Crews and Ann Jonas, Donald Crews, Donald Crews, Ann Jonas, Donald Crews, courtesy of Donald Crews and Ann Jonas, top: courtesy of Thacher Hurd, bottom: Susan Sandoe, top and bottom: courtesy of Thacher Hurd, courtesy of Thacher Hurd, courtesy of Thacher Hurd, Kambui Olujimi, Walter Dean Myers, Sandra Payne, left: Dwight Carter, right: Alan S. Orling, top: courtesy of Jerry and Gloria Jean Pinkney, bottom: Jerry Pinkney, left: Ronnie Maher, right: Anne Rockwell, Harlow Rockwell

Publisher Credits

Freight Train Copyright 1978 by Donald Crews. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Bigmama's Copyright 1991 by Donald Crews. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. The Quilt Copyright 1984 by Ann Jonas. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. OneHot Summer Day Copyright 1995 by Nina Crews. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 1995 by Thacher Hurd. First appeared in Pea Patch Jig, published by HarperCollins. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Illustration Copyright 1997 by Christopher Myers from Harlem:A Poem by Walter Dean Myers. Published by Scholastic Inc./Scholastic Press. Reprinted by permission. Illustration Copyright 2003 by Christopher Myers. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Blues Journey by Walter Dean Myers by permission of Holiday House, Inc. Jacket illustration for Blues Journey adapted from a photograph by Eudora Welty with the permission of Russell & Volkening as agents for the author. Copyright 1989 by Eudora Welty. From Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia C. McKissack, Copyright 1988 by Patricia C. McKissack. Illustrations 1988 by Jerry Pinkney. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc. From Papa Small by Lois Lenski, Copyright 1951 by Lois Lenski, Copyright renewed 1979 by Laird Fortune Covey & Stephen John Covey. Used by permission of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division from My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell, illustrated by Harlow Rockwell and Lizzy Rockwell. Text Copyright 1989 Anne Rockwell. Illustrations Copyright 1989 Harlow Rockwell and Lizzy Rockwell.

Look in the mirror. Who do you see? You, of course, but not you alone. Each of us also carries with us, and within us, all sorts of family traits and resemblances. "What curly hair you havejust like your father's! Ah, but you have your mother's beautiful brown eyes." Grown-ups are always making such remarks to the children they know best. It may seem corny of them to do so. Yet who can blame them? Your face and mine each tell a story that, while mostly our own story, also has much to say about our part in a long, many-stranded tale of generations.

Not all family traits have to do with looks. A child may inherit a tendency to double-jointedness, or an allergy to fish, or a talent for math or music or art. Being born with a talent is just the start, though. Years of study or practice may be needed to make the most of it. Sadly, some people never get the chance. Others are discouraged from pursuing their talent or choose not to do so. It sometimes happens, however, that a child grows up to become an artist or writer. It sometimes even happens that that gifted person's child becomes an artist or writer too. In Pass It Down, we meet five such grown sons and daughters who became picture-book creators, like their parents.

These days, there are a great many "picture-book families." But thirty or more years ago, there were hardly any. What brought about this change? After World War II, millions of American soldiers returned home from the battlefield, married, and started families. Tired of war and eager to offer their children safer, happier lives, many of these new parents moved to the suburbs. They gave their children bicycles and other toys and made sure their youngsters got a good education. These same parentsand those who came after them in the 1950s and 1960salso bought record numbers of books for their children. Because they did so, more artists and writers than ever were needed to create children's books. Making children's books became a more respected profession, and as the children of these writers and illustrators grew up, some of them decided to try their own luck with a paintbrush or pen.