"A Hole is to Dig," written by Ruth Krauss and pictures by Maurice Sendak, is one of my all time favorite books. It's just perfect. For all the reasons you may imagine (it's funny, it's cute, and, obviously, informational since we learn so many reasons and uses for a hole...), but it's also got that something extra that makes it a miracle. If you don't already own it, get yourself to a library and check it out - you'll be spending some time reading and rereading it, I promise.
And I just read in an article in the nytimes magazine ("Bringing 'Where the Wild Things Are' to the Screen") that there's an upcoming HBO documentary about Maurice Sendak called "Tell Them Anything You Want." The posted clip is of Sendak talking about how the children he drew were a reflection of the children he saw while growing up (not the ones with "cute upturned noses" found in kids' books at the time) and it was these very children which Ruth Krauss wanted to populate her book.
I'm going to need one of my friends to DVR this documentary for me (hint, hint, Mae) because I really love hearing a writer or artist talk about how his or her work came to be. It can be so inspiring at the same time that it humanizes the artist as someone who, just like everyone else, has to sit down at a table and work.
