Hague, Michael 1948–

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Hague, Michael 1948–

(Michael R. Hague)

Personal

Born September 8, 1948, in Los Angeles, CA; son of Riley Herbert (a truck driver) and Daisy Marie Hague; married Susan Kathleen Burdick (an artist and author of children's books), December 5, 1970; children: Meghan Micaela, Brittany Michael, Devon Heath. Education: Art Center College of Design, B.F.A. (with honors), 1972.

Addresses

Home—Colorado Springs, CO. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Artist, author, and illustrator. Hallmark Cards, Kansas City, KS, illustrator, 1973-75; Current, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO, illustrator, 1975-77; author and illustrator of children's books, 1977—. Exhibitions: Work exhibited at Port Washington, Long Island, Public Library, 1986, and Children's Books Mean Business group show, 1984. Illustrations appeared on television series thirtysomething, 1989.

Awards, Honors

Dream Weaver chosen for American Institute of Graphic Arts Book Show (formerly Fifty Books of the Year), 1980; International Reading Association Children's Choices citation, 1982, for The Man Who Kept House; Colorado Children's Book Award, University of Colorado, 1984, and Georgia Children's Picture Storybook Award, University of Georgia, 1986, both for The Unicorn and the Lake; Parents' Choice Award, Parents' Choice Foundation, 1984, for The Frog Princess; Aesop's Fables, The Legend of the Veery Bird, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland included among Child Study Association of America Books of the Year, 1985; Graphic Arts Award for Best Juvenile Book, Printing Industries Association, 1986, for A Child's Book of Prayers; Golden Quill Award, 2006.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED CHILDREN'S BOOKS

(Reteller, with wife, Kathleen Hague) East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1980.

(Reteller, with Kathleen Hague) The Man Who Kept House, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1981.

(Editor) Michael Hague's Favorite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1981.

(Editor) Mother Goose: A Collection of Classic Nursery Rhymes, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1984.

(Editor) Aesop's Fables, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1985.

A Child's Book of Prayers, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1985.

Unicorn Pop-up Book, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1986.

Michael Hague's World of Unicorns, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1986, revised as Michael Hague's Magical World of Unicorns, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor) Robert Louis Stevenson, The Land of Nod, and Other Poems for Children, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1988.

My Secret Garden Diary, Arcade (New York, NY), 1990.

Magic Moments: A Book of Days, Arcade (New York, NY), 1990.

Our Baby: A Book of Records and Memories, Arcade (New York, NY), 1990.

A Unicorn Journal, Arcade (New York, NY), 1990.

Michael Hague's Illustrated "The Teddy Bears' Picnic," Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1992.

(Selector) The Rainbow Fairy Book, Morrow (New York, NY), 1993.

(Selector) Sleep, Baby, Sleep: Lullabies and Night Poems, Morrow (New York, NY), 1994.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, and Other Nonsense Poems, North-South Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Michael Hague's Family Christmas Treasury, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1995.

(Selector) The Book of Dragons, Morrow (New York, NY), 1995.

Michael Hague's Family Easter Treasury, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1996.

The Perfect Present, Morrow (New York, NY), 1996.

(Selector) The Book of Pirates, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

(Selector) The Book of Fairy Poetry, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

(Reteller) E. Nesbit, Lionel and the Book of Beasts, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

(Selector) Animal Friends: A Collection of Poems for Children, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2007.

(And selector) The Book of Wizards, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2008.

In the Small (graphic novel), Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2008.

ILLUSTRATOR; CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Ethel Marbach, The Cabbage Moth and the Shamrock, Star and Elephant Books (La Jolla, CA), 1978.

(As Michael R. Hague) Beth Hilgartner, A Necklace of Fallen Stars, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1979.

Jane Yolen, Dream Weaver, Collins (New York, NY), 1979, revised edition, Philomel Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Deborah Apy, reteller, Beauty and the Beast, Green Tiger (New York, NY), 1980.

Eve Bunting, Demetrius and the Golden Goblet, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1980.

Julia Cunningham, A Mouse Called Junction, Pantheon (New York, NY), 1980.

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1980.

Lee Bennett Hopkins, editor, Moments: Poems about the Seasons, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1980.

Clement C. Moore, The Night before Christmas, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1981.

Marianna Mayer, The Unicorn and the Lake, Dial (New York, NY), 1982.

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit; or, How Toys Became Real, new edition, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1983.

Kenneth Grahame, The Reluctant Dragon, new edition, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1983.

C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, new edition, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1983.

Nancy Luenn, The Dragon Kite, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1983.

Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, Rapunzel, Creative Education (Mankato, MN), 1984.

Kathleen Hague, Alphabears: An ABC Book, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1984, published with cassette, Live Oak Media, 1985.

Elizabeth Isele, reteller, The Frog Princess: A Russian Tale Retold, Crowell (New York, NY), 1984.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again, new edition, Houghton Mifflin (New York, NY), 1984.

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, new edition, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1985.

Kathleen Hague, The Legend of the Veery Bird, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1985.

Kathleen Hague, Numbears: A Counting Book, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1986.

Kathleen Hague, Out of the Nursery, into the Night, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1986.

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden, new edition, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1987.

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan, new edition, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1987, centennial edition, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2003.

Carl Sandburg, Rootabaga Stories, Part One, new edition, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1988.

Carl Sandburg, Rootabaga Stories, Part Two, new edition, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1989.

L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz, new edition, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1989, centennial edition, 2000.

Charles Perrault, Cinderella, and Other Tales from Perrault, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1989.

Marianna Mayer, The Unicorn Alphabet, Dial (New York, NY), 1989.

William Allingham, The Fairies: A Poem, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1989.

Kathleen Hague, Bear Hugs, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1989.

Thornton W. Burgess, Old Mother West Wind, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1990.

(With Joe Krush) Carl Sandburg, Prairie-Town Boy, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1990.

Mary Norton, The Borrowers, new edition, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1991.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Morrow Junior Books (New York, NY), 1992.

South Pacific, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (New York, NY), 1992.

The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1993.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear: A Classic Action Rhyme, Morrow (New York, NY), 1993.

Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1993.

Louisa May Alcott, Little Women; or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1993.

William J. Bennett, editor, The Children's Book of Virtues, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

William J. Bennett, editor, The Children's Book of Heroes, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

Hugh Lofting, The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Morrow (New York, NY), 1997.

William J. Bennett, editor, The Children's Book of America, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1998.

The Twenty-third Psalm: From the King James Bible, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1999.

Ten Little Bears: A Counting Rhyme, Morrow (New York, NY), 1999.

William J. Bennett, editor, The Children's Treasury of Virtues, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

William J. Bennett, editor, The Children's Book of Faith, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2000.

A Wind in the Willows Christmas, SeaStar Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, SeaStar Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Kate Culhane, a Ghost Story, SeaStar Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Hugh Lofting, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, edited by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

William J. Bennett, editor, The Children's Book of Home and Family, Doubleday Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2002.

Kathleen Hague, Good Night, Fairies, SeaStar Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Jimmy Kennedy, The Teddy Bears' Picnic, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2002.

L. Frank Baum, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2003, published with new introduction by Michael O. Riley and afterword by Max Apple, Signet (New York, NY), 2005.

Sarah L. Thompson, The Nutcracker, SeaStar Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Marianna Mayer, Legendary Creatures of Myth and Magic, Madison Park Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Jim Aylesworth, Little Bitty Mousie, Walker & Company (New York, NY), 2007.

ILLUSTRATOR; CHRISTMAS CAROLS

We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1990.

Jingle Bells, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1990.

Deck the Halls, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1991.

O Christmas Tree, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1991.

OTHER

Unicorn Calendar, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1989.

Also illustrator of numerous other calendars, including a series based on C.S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia" books.

Sidelights

One of the foremost illustrators of children's books in America, Michael Hague is perhaps best known for his work revisioning such classics as Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows and L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz for a new generation. Hague has also illustrated works by contemporary authors such as William J. Bennett and Jim Aylesworth, and he has published a number of self-illustrated collections of stories and verse, including The Book of Fairy Poetry.

Hague claims to have known he possessed the ability to draw as far back as kindergarten. "My mother had been to art school in England and encouraged me greatly by bringing home art books from which I could copy paintings and drawings," he once told SATA. "She never gave me lessons. I knew as a child that I wanted to illustrate books. I was always reading and rendering illustrations of my own creations for the King Arthur books as well as making portraits of such baseball heroes as Duke Snider of the Los Angeles Dodgers."

Books filled Hague's childhood home, and he willingly entered their fictional worlds. Comic books and Disney books were among his favorites, and his most treasured book demonstrated how to draw and animate the Disney characters. "I'm still a great Disney fan—I hold documents as one of the first Mickey Mouse Club members," Hague once admitted. "To this day I remember an enormous man named Roy, a Disney animator often featured on the Mickey Mouse Club television show. I used to think to myself, ‘One day he'll retire, and then ….’" Hague also cites Asian printmakers Hiroshige and Hokusai, as well as illustrators Arthur Rackham, W. Heath Robinson, N.C. Wyeth, and Howard Pyle, as influences on his work. The artist who left the most lasting impression on Hague, however, was Hal Foster, who created the epic Prince Valiant comic strip. "The wealth of information he provided in each picture had a great impact on me," Hague noted in an essay on BookPage Online. As he also told SATA, "I still have a hard time accepting that Prince Valiant is not a real character from English history."

Hague had many friends while growing up and he was involved in numerous sports, his favorite being baseball. He continued drawing throughout high school and also dreamed of playing professional baseball, all the while realizing that he was not talented enough to do the latter. After high school Hague briefly attended junior college before transferring to the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. His original major was illustration and he hoped for a career in children's books. However, the college directed its illustration majors toward more promising careers, such as advertising, so Hague changed his major to painting. His wife, Kathleen, was also a painting major, and the two married while still students.

Although Hague retained a strong interest in doing children's books, by graduation he was convinced that he could not earn a living at it and decided to teach instead. When he discovered that teaching was not the career for him, Hague applied for a job at Hallmark Cards and worked for two years in their Kansas City studio. "It was great to get paid for drawing every day," he recalled. Although he was glad to have a job, Hague still refused to give up on the publishing industry. He put together a portfolio during his first week at Hallmark and sent it out to numerous publishers. "Many of the comments I received early were quite discouraging," he recalled. "Some editors said my work was ‘too weird’ for children. Many art directors sent back my portfolio with no comment. Silence was the worst response, and alas, the most frequent. How did I keep my morale up? I just assumed they were idiots. Dr. Seuss went to twenty-nine publishers before he had his first book published. After five years, I finally was offered illustration work and then it all seemed to come at once."

The first illustration job Hague earned was a cover and an inside story for Cricket magazine, and his first published book illustration was a pop-up book version of Gulliver's Travels. Meanwhile, Hague had begun working for Current, Inc., another greeting-card company located in Colorado Springs. "While I was working at Current I contacted Green Tiger Press," Hague once commented. "To my delight, they asked what I would like to illustrate. The first thing that came to my mind was Beauty and the Beast, which they agreed to. My illustrations for the book were influenced by the Cocteau film. It took a long time before I had another opportunity to propose what I wanted to illustrate to a publisher. When you're getting started, it's the publishers who make suggestions, and illustrators tend to accept everything and anything. It still takes me a long time to say ‘no’ to a project that doesn't interest me. But after the publication and success of The Wind in the Willows in 1980, I was in a position to suggest books I like to illustrate."

Hague's maternal grandmother was born in 1908, only two years before The Wind in the Willows was published for the first time. "She can recall with delight her father reading aloud to her about the adventures of Mr. Toad and his friends," related Hague. "The book was her father's favorite, and indeed became hers as well. My grandmother passed on a love of ‘Willows,’ as she refers to it, to my mother; and so when the story reached me it had already claimed three generations and captivated its fourth generation in me." The book's main characters include Mole, Ratty, Badger, and Mr. Toad; and they, along with their surroundings, have inspired an immense following over the years. "With such a loyal and affectionate following, from young children to their great-grandparents, I felt a great responsibility in illustrating the book," explained Hague.

The Wind in the Willows had also been illustrated by two of Hague's idols, Ernest Shepard and Arthur Rackham, so when he was first approached about the project he was "thrilled, honored, and a bit frightened," Hague once noted. "I love the book. I love the dependable Water Rat, the kindly Mole, the sturdy Badger, and especially Mr. Toad. And so it is, as when one is in love,

one forgets all obstacles and fears. That is what happened to me. I've not tried to create a new visual style or interpretation of the story," continued Hague. "I have instead tried to infuse my illustrations with the same spirit Kenneth Grahame's magic words convey. There is, I think, a bit of Toad in all of us. Certainly there must have been some of Mr. Toad in me when I agreed to illustrate this book." Hague later published a slightly altered version of the fifth chapter of that book as A Wind in the Willows Christmas, pairing it with "vibrant, cozy, and charming" gouache paintings, according to a School Library Journal reviewer.

L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz is another favorite story from Hague's childhood. "When I was a child, there were three places I would have given anything to visit," the author/illustrator once stated. "One was England in the days of King Arthur; another was the Wild West of Hopalong Cassidy; the third, quite different, was the Wonderful Land of Oz. Arthur's England and Hoppy's West were confined to earthly borders. The landscape of Oz was as large or as small as I wished it to be. And, like Alice's Wonderland, it was populated with such extraordinary creatures that I knew anything might happen there. It was a place where the laws of our universe seldom applied." His desire to visit the land of Oz never waned over the years, so it was with much enthusiasm and joy that he accepted the job of painting his own Oz. "I count myself as one of the most fortunate of beings," Hague once said. "For as an artist I have not only the pleasure but the duty to daydream. It is part of my work. I have been a contented daydreamer all of my life, often to the exasperation of those around me. While creating the illustrations for The Wizard of Oz, I would slip away. My hands went about their business while my mind walked among the Quadlings and the fierce Kalidahs." Reviewing the hundredth anniversary edition of that book, Lynne T. Burke wrote in Reading Today that "Hague's old-fashioned style and muted watercolor palette are the perfect foil for this full-length version of America's best-known fairy tale."

Hague has also illustrated other childhood classics, such as Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit, Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, Margery Williams's The Velveteen Rabbit and J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories, Charles Perrault's Cinderella, and Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, and Other Nonsense Poems. Booklist reviewer Shelley Townsend-Hudson declared that in The Owl and the Pussy-Cat "Hague plays off the sensual and grotesque elements of the poetry and uses rich texture and imagination to extend the text's foolishness." The illustrator also offers his own take on The Book of Beasts, a work by nineteenth-century writer E. Nesbit, in Lionel and the Book of Beasts. Kirsten Cutler, writing in School Library Journal, praised Hague's "signature, elaborately detailed art," noting that the "luxurious details" add to the fantastical setting of Nesbit's story. In Sarah L. Thompson's version of The Nutcracker, "Hague's illustrations in pen and ink, watercolor, and colored pencil set a dark and theatrical mood," remarked a Kirkus Reviews contributor.

Working with his wife, children's author Kathleen Hague, Hague has produced several story collections, including the popular idea books Alphabears: An ABC Book, Numbears: A Counting Book, and Calendarbears. Reviewing Calendarbears in Booklist, April Judge dubbed it a "playful collection of bouncy rhymes." Hague teamed with Bennett, a former U.S. secretary of education, on Bennett's anthologies The Children's

Book of Virtues, The Children's Book of Faith, and The Children's Book of Home and Family. Based on Bennett's bestselling work for adults, The Children's Book of Virtues contains a wealth of stories and poems. "Hague's plentiful artwork adds enormously to the charm of the collection," noted Booklist critic Susan Dove Lempke. The Children's Book of Faith is a volume of Biblical tales, scripture passages, and prayers; School Library Journal reviewer Patricia Pearl Dole noted that Hague's paintings "give interest and drama to the text." Ilene Cooper, reviewing The Children's Book of Home and Family in Booklist, remarked that "Hague's golden-glow pictures are what give this a feel of warmth and love." Hague also contributed the artwork to Jim Aylesworth's Little Bitty Mousie, a rhyming alphabet book. The illustrator's "delicate plays of light and bright colors bring a visually arresting blend of realism and fancy" to the work, observed a critic in Kirkus Reviews.

Among the author-illustrator's more popular self-illustrated titles are books full of furry forest creatures and teddy bears. Many of these self-illustrated titles are compilations of works culled from nursery rhymes, Irish legends, and even the Bible, to which Hague adds his detailed signature drawings. In Michael Hague's Family Easter Treasury, for example, he selects from works including Mother Goose, the Bible, and from the poets William Blake and Emily Dickinson, among others. In Teddy Bears' Mother Goose, Hague compiles fifty-five nursery rhymes illustrated with "precise detail" that "adds to the charm" of the rhymes, noted Townsend-Hudson. The Perfect Present deals with the adventures of a rabbit named Jack in a shop full of old-fashioned toys. "Fans of Hague's extravagant, nostalgic style will have a feast," commented Susan Dove Lempke in a Booklist review of that book. Reviewing the same title, a contributor for Publishers Weekly concluded, "Hague's sumptuous wintry watercolors are among his strongest work." An Irish folktale is served up in Kate Culhane: A Ghost Story, and fairies take center stage in The Book of Fairies, a tale complemented by "Hague's lush, highly detailed artwork," according to Cooper. In a related work, The Book of Fairy Poetry, Hague collects verse from such esteemed authors as Walter de la Mare and Sir Walter Scott. Jane Marino, writing in School Library Journal, complimented the "stunning illustrations," adding that Hague's "beings, both beautiful and fearsome, beckon to children on every page."

In contrast with his approach to his original stories, Hague tries to imbue his illustrations for classic stories with the same essence that inspired the author of the story itself. "I begin with character studies and try to capture on paper what I see in my mind's eye," explained Hague. To avoid making a book repetitious, he places his characters in a variety of light sources. "Light is one of the elements which makes a painting real," he once commented, "especially when you are painting the fantastic. The more real a tree looks, or the light appears, the more believable the fantasy elements will be. One can't afford to be vague when illustrating fantasy. Ninety percent of a fantasy book should be based on the real world; you don't need many strange elements to make a story work. In a good illustration of a knight riding on a horse, for example, the viewer will ride over the next hill with him, even though the artist hasn't illustrated what's over there. It's not hard to animate or give gesture to fantasy creatures once you have principles of drawing. I try to make movement and gesture look believable, and one way to do that is to be sure that the backgrounds are realistic. It adds emphasis. Once again, I build a concrete world—not a fuzzy, dream-like place—where kids can see real sky or walls or cities. Then a dragon can become believable."

Hague claims to have no special tricks or secret answers when it comes to illustrating. If something does not look right, he tweaks it until it does. "Sometimes I'll have a bad day, when nothing seems to come easy," he once observed. "People ask me how long it takes to do a painting, and I can't really say because it changes from painting to painting from day to day. I've done some paintings in one day, others in two weeks. I couldn't say why that is." While working on his illustrations, Hague creates for himself, not for a particular audience: "When I illustrate, I don't think about kids, or what age group the book is aimed toward. I don't like to generalize or second guess my audience. I try to please myself. I am still in touch with my childhood, with the child that still exists in me."

Some three decades after entering the world of book illustrating, Hague shows no signs of slowing down. "I strive to create something from an empty canvas that becomes a whole ‘other world’ that people can visit for a while and totally believe in," he noted on the Henry Holt Web site. "That challenge of bringing a subject to life and making it believable—that's what is exciting to me as an artist." For Hague, the world of imagination is among "the only forms of magic left. "When I was a kid, I thought that magicians actually did work magic—the power to cut a woman in two and put her back together again. As I got older," he recalled to SATA, "I, of course, realized that these were optical illusions. After a while one draws a distinction between doing tricks and imagination. Our imagination is real magic. And while imagination may change in our increasingly technological world, it is still magic—it's what got us to the moon! Without it, we'd still be living in trees."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 1995, Shelley Townsend-Hudson, review of The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, and Other Nonsense Poems, p. 638; January 1, 1996, Susan Dove Lempke, review of The Children's Book of Virtues, p. 838; September 1, 1996, Susan Dove Lempke, review of The Perfect Present, p. 136; March 15, 1997, April Judge, review of Calendarbears: A Book of Months, p. 1247; December 15, 2000, Ilene Cooper, review of The Book of Fairies, p. 812; July, 2001, Shelley Townsend-Hudson, review of Teddy Bears' Mother Goose, p. 2013; November 1, 2002, Ilene Cooper, review of The Children's Book of Home and Family, p. 486; December 1, 2006, John Peters, review of Lionel and the Book of Beasts, p. 53; October 15, 2007, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Little Bitty Mousie, p. 51.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2003, review of The Nutcracker, p. 1320; September 1, 2007, review of Little Bitty Mousie.

Publishers Weekly, September 30, 1996, review of The Perfect Present, p. 88.

Reading Today, December, 2000, Lynne T. Burke, review of The Wizard of Oz, 100th Anniversary Edition, p. 35.

School Library Journal, October, 2000, review of A Wind in the Willows Christmas, p. 59; December, 2000, Patricia Pearl Dole, review of The Children's Book of Faith, p. 130; October, 2003, Eva Mitnick, review of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, p. 60; May, 2005, Jane Marino, review of The Book of Fairy Poetry, p. 108; January, 2007, Kirsten Cutler, review of Lionel and the Book of Beasts, p. 100; July, 2007, Susan Scheps, review of Animal Friends: A Collection of Poems for Children, p. 91.