In search of info on a 50's/60's illustrator-author of children's books
February 20, 2012 8:03 AM Subscribe
I grew up always loving a children's book titled Throw a Kiss, Harry. The author is Mary Chalmers. She wrote a number of children's book and illustrated for several other authors. I have been able to find several of them through Alibris, but I have been unable to find much info on this great author. I believe she is still living and would be in her eighties, but other than that, I am at a loss. I would love to find out more about her and her work. After and an extensive web search I have no leads. Any ideas?
Also, her entry in the Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature (2003).
posted by ryanshepard at 8:54 AM on February 20, 2012
posted by ryanshepard at 8:54 AM on February 20, 2012
One of my favorite books when I was little was Three to Get Ready by Betty Boegehold, illustrated by Mary Chalmers. I never actually owned a copy, but checked it out from the library all the time. I found a copy on Alibris a couple of years ago for a buck or two. I also still have my copy of The Snuggle Bunny (listed above) and didn't realize until I was a grown-up that they had been illustrated by the same person, which I think had a lot to do with why they were both favorites.
(I found those cover images here.)
posted by usonian at 9:19 AM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
(I found those cover images here.)
posted by usonian at 9:19 AM on February 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
Oh, and DUH... I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but you could contact the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC).
posted by Madamina at 9:05 PM on February 20, 2012
posted by Madamina at 9:05 PM on February 20, 2012
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Mary (Eileen) Chalmers
Born: March 16, 1927 in United States, New Jersey, Camden
Nationality: American
Occupation: Children's writer
WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR:
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Come for a Walk with Me, Harper (New York City), 1955.
Here Comes the Trolley Car, Harper, 1955.
A Hat for Amy Jean, Harper, 1956.
A Christmas Story, Harper, 1956.
George Appleton, Harper, 1957.
Kevin, Harper, 1957.
Throw a Kiss, Harry, Harper, 1958, new edition, 1990.
Boats Finds a House, Harper, 1958.
The Cat Who Liked to Pretend, Harper, 1959.
Mr. Cat's Wonderful Surprise, Harper, 1961.
Take a Nap, Harry, HarperCollins, 1964, new edition, 1991.
Be Good, Harry, Harper, 1967.
Merry Christmas, Harry, Harper, 1977, new edition, 1992.
Come to the Doctor, Harry, Harper, 1981.
Six Dogs, Twenty-Three Cats, Forty-Five Mice, and One Hundred Sixteen Spiders, Harper, 1986.
Easter Parade, Harper, 1988.
ILLUSTRATOR
Dorothy Walter Baruch, I Would Like to Be a Pony, and Other Wishes, Harper, 1959.
Ursula Nordstrom, The Secret Language, Harper, 1960.
Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, Goodnight, Andrew; Goodnight, Craig, Harper, 1969.
Ruth Krauss, I Write It, Harper, 1970.
Syd Hoff, When Will It Snow?, Harper, 1971.
Nancy Jewell, The Snuggle Bunny, Harper, 1972.
Russell Hoban, Letitia Rabbit's String Song, Coward (New York City), 1973.
When Daisies Pied, and Violets Blue: Songs from Shakespeare, Coward, 1974.
Alice Bach, The Day after Christmas, Harper, 1975.
Janice May Udry, "Oh No, Cat!," Coward, 1976.
Stephen Manes, Mule in the Mail, Coward, 1978.
Patricia Lauber, Home at Last! A Young Cat's Tale, Coward, 1980.
Stephanie Calmenson, Marigold and Grandma on the Town, HarperCollins, 1994.
Author and illustrator.
Family: Born March 16, 1927, in Camden, NJ; daughter of Donald Keith and Clarissa (Fox) Chalmers. Education: Studied at Philadelphia Museum College of Art for four years, and Barnes Foundation, two years. Addresses: Home: Haddon Heights, NJ.
"Sidelights"
The best known works of Mary Chalmers are her self-illustrated miniature books for preschool-aged children. Her tiny, detailed drawings charmed parents, children, and critics alike. Her stories were acclaimed for their synthesis of imagination and simplicity.
The earliest books focus on human characters and events. In Come for a Walk with Me, Chalmers tells the story of a little girl's walk through the countryside with her friend Will Rabbit. The New Yorker complimented Chalmers for her "artless prose," and Chicago Sunday Tribune critic Polly Goodwin took notice of the "enchanting pictures in soft springlike colors." These kudos and others like them echoed throughout the 1950s whenever a new Chalmers book appeared in print.
Here Comes the Trolley Car is a story of the city, in which a disabled trolley car leads to a picnic for all the passengers. A Horn Book reviewer remarked that, with a minimum of text and her "lively little pictures," Chalmers succeeds in "giv[ing] each of her characters a definite personality." A Hat for Amy Jean connects town and country when two little boys and their pets walk all the way to the city to buy their sister a birthday present. The Horn Book called the story "charming and childlike." M. S. Libby, writing in the New York Herald Tribune Book Review, found the drawings even more delicate than earlier work: "the tiny flowers . . . suggest a mille fleurs tapestry." In A Christmas Story, a little girl and three animal friends set out to find a star for the top of the Christmas tree. Once again, reviewers like O. D. Hormel of the Christian Science Monitor discovered that "the miniature illustrations are enchanting." The New York Times critic E. L. Buell found that the narrative, brief as it is, "creates a mood" which, combined with the tiny pictures, should "fascinate any child."
After these successful efforts, Chalmers began to create little fantasies about animals with human traits. George Appleton is a lonely dragon who finds a playmate when a little cat named Trilby ventures into the forest to search for adventure. Christian Science Monitor reviewer Pamela Marsh predicted that George Appleton "should be in constant demand--a demand parents will be happy to fulfill." Kevin is the story of a rabbit and a white cat who play checkers in the woods while tending the wildflowers. Kirkus Reviews appreciated the tale for its "utter solemnity . . . and the absence of any attempt at cuteness." while the New York Times called it "a gentle little fantasy of happenstance, written and illustrated with a child-like charm."
"These early books earned Chalmers unequivocal praise for her miniature drawings, but some critics simultaneously commented about the spare text and cursory story lines around which the pictures revolve. Later stories seem to reflect an increasing attention to narrative. Boats Finds a Home is the story of a ship's cat who goes ashore to find a "real" home. Boats is very particular about the type of house he needs, however, and his search becomes what Kirkus Reviews called "a delightful reading adventure." Other critics also began to value the text, including a Christian Science Monitor reviewer who reported a "satisfying end [that] will provoke a contented sigh." Chalmers's next book was the story of a cat who enjoyed "pretending" so much that he created a play in which he performed all the roles himself. Though some critics restricted their praise to the drawings, Kirkus Reviews recommended The Cat Who Liked to Pretend as "[a] delightful excursion into a luminous realm of imagination, lucid prose, and tender drawings."
posted by ryanshepard at 8:49 AM on February 20, 2012 [2 favorites]