Title: The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown
Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrated by: Sarah Jacoby
Publisher: Balzar and Bray, 2019
I was so fortunate to hear Mac Barnett read this book at the Anderson Bookstore Children's Literature Breakfast way back in February. I fell in love. This is an important book.
It is a little bit biography of Margaret Wise Brown. You will learn bits and pieces of her life as you read. It is a little bit biography of Anne Carroll Moore who doesn't even appear in the book until page 20. A little bit about censorship. A little bit about life and death. A little bit about being strange and being yourself. Yes, it is an important book that tells you important things about Margaret Wise Brown and important things about life and death.
The First page: "It did not seem important that anyone wrote these stories. They were true. And it still doesn't seem important! All this emphasis today on who writes what seems silly to me as far as children are concerned." -- Margaret Wise Brown.
The first lines of the story: (I say story because while this is a biography, it is also a story.)
"Margaret Wise Brown lived for 42 years. This book is 42 pages long. You can't fit somebody's life into 42 pages, so I am just going to tell you some important thing."
Man, he had me at Hello.
Most picture books are not paginated. But this one is. Mac refers to the page we are on several times in the book just as he tells us how many pages the book is. We learn about Margaret as a child, as an author, and as an adult. We get tidbits of her life surrounded by the world around her and how she interacts with it. He tells us her books are strange, she is strange, and yet, she is compelling and exciting. I love people who are all of those things.
And then there are the illustrations. Sarah Jacoby brings Margaret Wise Brown to life in vivid colors and movement. Throughout she slips in book covers of Margaret's books and uses the characters from her stories to show the action within the biography. Be sure to check out the cover under the paper cover. It is lovely. Look closely at the illustrations. It's more than just Margaret's books (I think I missed that until I took a close-up photo of the page) So many details!
Activities:
Play Seek and Find throughout the book. What book covers do you see? Have you read those books? Check them out and keep the reading going. What other details do you notice? Are illustrations used in tiny spots from larger illustrations in the book? Count the rabbits.
Pick a bouquet of flowers and set them on your table. Enjoy the fleeting moments of flowers.
Read books by Margaret Wise Brown
Teachers and Librarians: This would make a great read for Banned Book Week. Or maybe the week before Banned Book Week. A door to open up to conversations about Banned Books. "Because every good book is at least a little bit strange, and there are some people who do not like strange things in their worlds." I hope today, libraries are less restrictive in their selection policies. I believe for the most part that they are. But, I also believe that we can ALWAYS do better. Whether that is buying more Indie published books that maybe didn't get reviewed in the major journals, seeking out more diversity in books by own voices authors, offering controversial programming, speaking up for all people, and being the place that communities can rely of for opening our minds and allowing us to learn and release our biases.
Thesarahjacoby.com
@sjacobee
https://veryimportantmargaret.tumblr.com/
Be sure to check out Susanna Hill's Blog where you can look for reviews by book, title, and by themes. And you can check out her weekly #PPBF post along with links to many more wonderful posts here.
Kudos to Barnett for being brave enough to write this biography of one of the most famous children's authors in exactly the way she'd love. At least from what I know about her. It was a tall order, and he delivered. I own this book and will look to it for guidance the way Barnett looks to MWB for guidance in so many ways.
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