Fan Mail Corner #012: The only book I stole from class

It keeps coming up

Hey friends,

This post is a continuation of FMC#011, in which I talked about the Roald Dahl book that changed my life.

In this ‘stack, I want to talk a little bit about Arnold Lobel.

Arnold Lobel is one of the few creators that I’ve been a fan of for my entire life.

I love Frog and Toad and regularly reach for them when my daughter is indecisive about what book she wants before bedtime. I love Mouse Soup, and Mouse Tales, and I love love love The Great Blueness. My daughter is particularly obsessed with Prince Bertram the Bad. All amazing books.

But when I was a kid, this was my favorite book: OWL AT HOME by Arnold Lobel.

My copy I’ve had since the late 1900s

I am lucky to still have my childhood copy of "Owl at Home” - a copy that I stole from my first grade classroom - got caught and my mom replaced - and I still have it to this day.

This is where I crossed out my teacher’s name and wrote my own. I’m sorry.

Like Frog and Toad, Owl at Home has five stories, and my favorite was one called “Strange Bumps”.

In the story, Owl is going to bed, and he throws the covers over his feet. As soon as he does, two strange bumps appear at the foot of his bed. He removes the covers, and the bumps disappear, but as soon as he puts the covers back on, the bumps are back!

He eventually gets so worked up that he destroys his bed and sleeps downstairs in an armchair.

I thought this was hilarious and I have unwittingly referenced this image in my work again,

My book, GOOD NIGHT OWL, 2016

and again,

NUMBER ONE SAM, 2014

and again.

THE BOOK HOG, 2019

Lobel is an artist where I feel like he is always one step ahead creatively.

More than once I have opened one of his books, found at a used bookstore or ordered from eBay, and discovered that - through text or image - he got somewhere first.

It was about a year ago that I bought a copy of “The Strange Disappearance of Arthur Cluck” an early reader by Nathaniel Benchley. I had never seen the book before, but I bought it as part of my ongoing quest to get all books illustrated by Arnold Lobel.

I was SHOCKED - S-H-O-C-K-E-D - SHOCKED when I saw this spread:

THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF ARTHUR CLUCK by Benchley and Lobel

Now check out this spread from my book GOOD NIGHT OWL, published in 2016:

Pretty wild, right?

I swear I had never seen this book before - and even if I somehow did see it as a kid and had forgotten - I certainly hadn’t seen it anytime around when I was making GOOD NIGHT OWL. I snapped a photo and sent it to my editor:

What does this mean?

I don’t know.

But I know that the books I loved as a kid have stuck with me my whole life.

OWL AT HOME and Arnold Lobel’s work in general has certainly stuck with me.

OWL AT HOME was the first book I really fell in love with.

The first book that felt “mine”.

Even if it was a stolen copy.

—

And that my friends, is it for now. I try to keep these entries in that coveted “2 minute read” window.

Thank you for reading.

More from me soon!

______________________________________________________________________

Thanks for being a subscriber and taking a look every once in a while.

If you have a question about how I made something (or really whatever) you’d like answered, please email me at jgpizzoli@gmail.com or send snail mail to:

Greg Pizzoli’s Fan Mail Corner
700 S 7th Street
Fishbox #5445
Philadelphia PA 19147
USA

This is Greg Pizzoli's Fan Mail Corner. Thanks for being here!

And don’t forget to check out my new book, Lucky Duck! Available everywhere quality picture books are sold. Thank you!