Fan Mail

With the loss of Maurice Sendak, today is a bittersweet today in the children’s publishing community, as we mourn the loss of one of our greats, and celebrate the impact he has had on our lives (and our kids and students!) (For more on Maurice, check out this two-page comic by Art Spiegelman that originally ran in The New Yorker in 1993.)

One of my favorite parts about working in children’s publishing is seeing the impact our books have on real, live children. Our artists love getting fan mail of course, and we love it when they share it with us.

Which brings me to Tressley.

Tressley is such a huge fan of Little Mouse by Jeff Smith, that she designed a hat to celebrate the book! Her dad tells us, “She read Little Mouse Gets Ready to her first grade class while wearing it, and the whole class fell in love with Little Mouse, just like she did.”

When it came time to write a fan letter to Jeff, her dad says “she acted as if she was actually about to meet him, extremely shy. However, she did finally convey to me what she wanted to say, and I have typed her message exactly how she presented it.”

Dear Mr. Smith:

My name is Tressley. I love to draw. I think you are a great artist. I love the ending of Little Mouse Gets Ready, because it was, like, POOF! No clothes. I really like how you drew the book. The mice are cute. I think the Bone books are funny too, especially the snow that goes WHUMP! and just falls out of the sky. My Daddy has a shirt like Phoney Bone. Me and my twin brother hit it and act like we are invincible like when the Mario Bros. get invincible because of stars.

Sincerely,

Tressley

Check out more pics of Tressley’s amazing creation (click to enlarge!):