{"product_id":"9781617036248-crockett-johnson-and-ruth-krauss-how-an-unlikely-couple-found-love-dodged-the-fbi-and-transformed-childrens-literatu","title":"Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHow an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children's Literature\u003cbr\u003eCrockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss were a husband-and-wife team that created such popular children's books as \u003cem\u003eThe Carrot Seed\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eHow to Make an Earthquake\u003c\/em\u003e. Their style - whimsical writing, clear and minimalist drawing, and a child's point-of-view - is among the most revered and influential in children's literature. This critical biography examines their lives and careers.\u003cbr\u003eCrockett Johnson (born David Johnson Leisk, 1906-1975) and Ruth Krauss (1901-1993) were a husband-and-wife team that created such popular children's books as \u003cem\u003eThe Carrot Seed and How to Make an Earthquake.\u003c\/em\u003e Separately, Johnson created the enduring children's classic \u003cem\u003eHarold and the Purple Crayon\u003c\/em\u003e and the groundbreaking comic strip \u003cem\u003eBarnaby\u003c\/em\u003e. Krauss wrote over a dozen children's books illustrated by others, and pioneered the use of spontaneous, loose-tongued kids in children's literature. Together, Johnson and Krauss's style--whimsical writing, clear and minimalist drawing, and a child's point-of-view--is among the most revered and influential in children's literature and cartooning, inspiring the work of Maurice Sendak, Charles M. Schulz, Chris Van Allsburg, and Jon Scieszka. \u003cbr\u003eThis critical biography examines their lives and careers, including their separate achievements when not collaborating. Using correspondence, sketches, contemporary newspaper and magazine accounts, archived and personal interviews, author Philip Nel draws a compelling portrait of a couple whose output encompassed children's literature, comics, graphic design, and the fine arts. Their mentorship of now-famous illustrator Maurice Sendak (\u003cem\u003eWhere the Wild Things Are\u003c\/em\u003e) is examined at length, as is the couple's appeal to adult contemporaries such as Duke Ellington and Dorothy Parker. Defiantly leftist in an era of McCarthyism and Cold War paranoia, Johnson and Krauss risked collaborations that often contained subtly rendered liberal themes. Indeed, they were under FBI surveillance for years. Their legacy of considerable success invites readers to dream and to imagine, drawing paths that take them anywhere they want to go.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55209506079094,"sku":"9781617036248","price":151.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_28586706.jpg?v=1738228062","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781617036248-crockett-johnson-and-ruth-krauss-how-an-unlikely-couple-found-love-dodged-the-fbi-and-transformed-childrens-literatu","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}