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Part one, because when Googling demographics I found out Ruth Krauss was a secular Jew*, so I pulled another "Maurice Sendak reading project"** and checked out most everything the library has on offer. It'll come up in a number of reviews (some below; some to follow), but many of her books have been reissued with new art over the last ~20 years, particularly if the original illustrator is no longer famous; books illustrated by Sendak and Johnson, frex, haven't been updated. I had no idea this was a thing. None of the originals are readily available for comparison purposes.
* This isn't on her Wikipedia page (not even under "early life," the usual residence of Jewish-ness), but sometimes you just feel it on account of being a surname + friend of Sendak, and further digging proves you right.
** I have a backlog of these reviews but am still poking through his catalog.
Title: The Carrot Seed
Author: Ruth Krauss
Illustrator: Crockett Johnson
Published: HarperCollins, 2004 (1945)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 327,095
Text Number: 1155
Read Because: personal enjoyment, hardback from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: I get it and admire it: stubborn belief in oneself is a sympathetic theme. I would have appreciated it as a child but that it's so brief as to leave almost no impression, because I'm pretty sure I did read it then and didn't retain it. The art is consistent to the point of lifeless, but has an effective use of repetition.
Title: A Hole is to Dig
Author: Ruth Krauss
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Published: HarperCollins, 1992 (1952)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 327,670
Text Number: 1159
Read Because: reading the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Krauss's bold declarative statements, gleefully contradicted and enriched by competing definitions, marries beautifully to Sendak's detailed micro-doodles. A hole is to dig—and to hide in, and fall through, and for a mouse, and to plant seeds, and it's vibrantly childlike: stubborn and playful and creative. This isn't one I read as a kid, but I think I'd've liked it; as an adult reader, it's a delight.
Title: I'll Be You and You Be Me
Author: Ruth Krauss
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Published: HarperCollins, 2001 (1952)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 327,710
Text Number: 1160
Read Because: reading the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: I'd never considered the idea of picture book vignettes—but the micro-narratives suit Krauss's nonsensical, intuitive, declarative style. Sendak's art is sometimes a hot mess, busy and messy to the point of distraction, but it carries an even greater weight than usual for picture books, particularly in the sparsest (but most evocative) stories, like the exceptional "I Went There." Like most short story collections, as this effectively is, there's hits and misses. The sillier stories didn't work for me, which is no surprise. But I love the experiment in style, and the best bits are so much bigger than the page or two they occupy.
( I Went There, which made me tag this book as portal fantasy over on Goodreads )
Title: Goodnight Goodnight Sleepyhead
Author: Ruth Krauss
Illustrator: Jane Dyer
Published: HarperCollins, 2004 (1964)
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 328,440
Text Number: 1163
Read Because: reading the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: This is targeted way too young for my foray into children's literature. It's a simple goodnight book, and I imagine it works as intended for the appropriate audience, but it does nothing for me. I am however fascinated by the rerelease with new art—this was originally Eyes Nose Fingers Toes with art by Elizabeth Schneider, and I wish I could read the original for comparison. Dyer's art here, with vague bulbous faces and weak colored pencil, doesn't impress me.
* This isn't on her Wikipedia page (not even under "early life," the usual residence of Jewish-ness), but sometimes you just feel it on account of being a surname + friend of Sendak, and further digging proves you right.
** I have a backlog of these reviews but am still poking through his catalog.
Title: The Carrot Seed
Author: Ruth Krauss
Illustrator: Crockett Johnson
Published: HarperCollins, 2004 (1945)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 327,095
Text Number: 1155
Read Because: personal enjoyment, hardback from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: I get it and admire it: stubborn belief in oneself is a sympathetic theme. I would have appreciated it as a child but that it's so brief as to leave almost no impression, because I'm pretty sure I did read it then and didn't retain it. The art is consistent to the point of lifeless, but has an effective use of repetition.
Title: A Hole is to Dig
Author: Ruth Krauss
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Published: HarperCollins, 1992 (1952)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 327,670
Text Number: 1159
Read Because: reading the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Krauss's bold declarative statements, gleefully contradicted and enriched by competing definitions, marries beautifully to Sendak's detailed micro-doodles. A hole is to dig—and to hide in, and fall through, and for a mouse, and to plant seeds, and it's vibrantly childlike: stubborn and playful and creative. This isn't one I read as a kid, but I think I'd've liked it; as an adult reader, it's a delight.
Title: I'll Be You and You Be Me
Author: Ruth Krauss
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Published: HarperCollins, 2001 (1952)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 327,710
Text Number: 1160
Read Because: reading the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: I'd never considered the idea of picture book vignettes—but the micro-narratives suit Krauss's nonsensical, intuitive, declarative style. Sendak's art is sometimes a hot mess, busy and messy to the point of distraction, but it carries an even greater weight than usual for picture books, particularly in the sparsest (but most evocative) stories, like the exceptional "I Went There." Like most short story collections, as this effectively is, there's hits and misses. The sillier stories didn't work for me, which is no surprise. But I love the experiment in style, and the best bits are so much bigger than the page or two they occupy.
( I Went There, which made me tag this book as portal fantasy over on Goodreads )
Title: Goodnight Goodnight Sleepyhead
Author: Ruth Krauss
Illustrator: Jane Dyer
Published: HarperCollins, 2004 (1964)
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 328,440
Text Number: 1163
Read Because: reading the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: This is targeted way too young for my foray into children's literature. It's a simple goodnight book, and I imagine it works as intended for the appropriate audience, but it does nothing for me. I am however fascinated by the rerelease with new art—this was originally Eyes Nose Fingers Toes with art by Elizabeth Schneider, and I wish I could read the original for comparison. Dyer's art here, with vague bulbous faces and weak colored pencil, doesn't impress me.
