{"id":31646,"date":"2016-10-28T23:04:47","date_gmt":"2016-10-29T03:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=31646"},"modified":"2016-10-28T23:04:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-29T03:04:47","slug":"review-of-some-writer-by-melissa-sweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=31646","title":{"rendered":"Review of Some Writer! by Melissa Sweet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"some_writer_large\"<\/a>Some Writer!<\/p>\n

The Story of E. B. White<\/p>\n

by Melissa Sweet<\/p>\n

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. 161 pages.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

This book is amazing. I\u2019ve seen Melissa Sweet do picture book biographies, such as Balloons Over Broadway<\/a><\/em> and illustrations as in A River of Words<\/a><\/em>. But this is a full-length children\u2019s biography with 161 pages, with illustrations or photographs or clippings or maps or mementoes or other visual aids on every spread. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve read a biography of E. B. White for adults. While it did include much more detail, this book was far more entertaining. The visual material includes many quotations from E. B. White\u2019s work, typed out on a manual typewriter.<\/p>\n

I was particularly impressed with the map Melissa Sweet made of E. B. White\u2019s (Andy\u2019s) trip across the country in a Model T with his friend Cush in 1922. She painted a map of the United States on wood. There\u2019s a zigzagging trail with numbers and little mementoes attached to the numbers. A Legend on the side explains what each memento represents. For example, number 5 is a piece of sandpaper, and the Legend reads, \u201cSandpapered a dance floor earning $3.00.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a children\u2019s biography, this book does linger over his childhood. He spent lots of time outdoors, but was also writing at a young age, submitting pieces to St. Nicholas.<\/em> A picture of the magazine and an article clipping is included.<\/p>\n

His time at The New Yorker<\/em> is covered, and his move to Maine. There are all kinds of mementoes illustrating these. One of the pages has at the top a quotation from The Letters of E. B. White<\/em>: <\/p>\n

I have discovered, rather too late in life, that there is nothing so much fun as building a boat. The best thing about building a boat is that it allows absolutely no time for writing; there isn\u2019t a minute to spare.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Below the quotation is a page from a book describing how to build a boat, complete with diagrams. The page also shows some old tools he would have used. Across the page in the main text, we learn that Andy built his son a boat after they moved to Maine.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a chapter on each of Andy\u2019s children\u2019s books and a chapter on The Elements of Style<\/em>. The chapter on The Elements of Style<\/em> surprised me. Melissa Sweet takes quotations from three award-winning children\u2019s authors telling their favorite parts of The Elements of Style.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a paragraph from the final chapter:<\/p>\n

His obituary in The New Yorker<\/em> read, in part, \u201cWhite had abundantly that most precious and least learnable of writerly gifts \u2013 the gift of inspiring affection in the reader.\u201d Whether he was working on a poem, a cartoon caption, an essay, or a children\u2019s book, E. B. White felt it was a writer\u2019s obligation \u201cto transmit, as best he can, his love of life, his appreciation for the world.\u201d His friend and editor William Shawn said: \u201cEven though White lived much of his life on a farm in Maine, remote from the clatter of publicity and celebrity, fame overtook him, fortunately leaving him untouched. His connections with nature were intimate and ardent. He loved his farm, his farm animals, his neighbors, his family and words.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can\u2019t overstate how thoroughly and meticulously this book is crafted. Melissa Sweet follows E. B. White\u2019s advice and wastes no words or images. The complete package is stunning.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an Afterword by E. B. White\u2019s granddaughter, but there\u2019s also an Author\u2019s Note. In \u201cAbout the Art,\u201d Melissa Sweet tells us:<\/p>\n

I set out to capture two things as I began the art for this book: the sense of place in White\u2019s writing and the small, vivid details he describes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She achieved this goal beautifully.<\/p>\n

melissasweet.net<\/a>
\nhmhco.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/some_writer.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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