For Maurice

Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four-and-twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie!

When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing;
Was not that a dainty dish
To set before the king?

The above illustration is from my book Sing a Song of Sixpence
published by Dial Books in 1985

The dedication in this book…”For M. and J.”
…for Maurice Sendak and Jane Bierhorst, my teachers and in my mind…the King and Queen of picture books. My challenge to myself was to create a book from the poem that Randolph Caldecott, the “Father of Picture Books” illustrated in 1880.

Every book that I make, I return to the lessons learned from these two talented and generous people.

This is my birthday wild thing from Maurice that hangs in my studio.

Maurice…You are on my wall…on my shelves…in my heart…thank you…tcp