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Still hard at work on that publication paper, but it's all coming together now. In the course of further reading I happened on a beautiful discovery. Tell me if you already know about this (and move this if I've put it in the wrong place)...
I was rechecking the publication page for the first edition of SYWTBAW and noticed reference to a David Wiesner painting that inspired DD to write the short story "Uptown Wizard." I don't know why I hadn't clicked it before, but when I did I actually started laughing with sheer pleasure. It was the cover to Firebrat, by Nancy Willard!
- only it wasn't. I have a (much beloved) copy of Firebrat and I could see immediately that they were two different paintings: fraternal rather than identical. My thought then was that this was concept art for Firebrat, but the page refers to it as "Weisner's beautiful work for a promotional poster for the Master Eagle Gallery in New York." Also the timeline was too far off: "Uptown Wizard" was published in 1986 in the anthology Dragons and Dreams, while Firebrat was published in 1988.
Then I read the dedication at the front of Willard's Firebrat:
"To Barbara Lucas,
my editor for eight books,
who showed me a picture by
David Wiesner and said,
"Write the story!"
I give this book
instead of flowers."
I think it's really cool that two authors whose work I so enjoy were both inspired by the same picture - and in Willard's case, teamed up with Wiesner afterward - and came out with two very different stories, though they both share some fundamental elements.
http://www.youngwizards.com/YW-Publication-History-3-De...itions-David-Wiesner
http://www.amazon.com/Firebrat-Nancy.../dp/0394890086
I was rechecking the publication page for the first edition of SYWTBAW and noticed reference to a David Wiesner painting that inspired DD to write the short story "Uptown Wizard." I don't know why I hadn't clicked it before, but when I did I actually started laughing with sheer pleasure. It was the cover to Firebrat, by Nancy Willard!
- only it wasn't. I have a (much beloved) copy of Firebrat and I could see immediately that they were two different paintings: fraternal rather than identical. My thought then was that this was concept art for Firebrat, but the page refers to it as "Weisner's beautiful work for a promotional poster for the Master Eagle Gallery in New York." Also the timeline was too far off: "Uptown Wizard" was published in 1986 in the anthology Dragons and Dreams, while Firebrat was published in 1988.
Then I read the dedication at the front of Willard's Firebrat:
"To Barbara Lucas,
my editor for eight books,
who showed me a picture by
David Wiesner and said,
"Write the story!"
I give this book
instead of flowers."
I think it's really cool that two authors whose work I so enjoy were both inspired by the same picture - and in Willard's case, teamed up with Wiesner afterward - and came out with two very different stories, though they both share some fundamental elements.
http://www.youngwizards.com/YW-Publication-History-3-De...itions-David-Wiesner
http://www.amazon.com/Firebrat-Nancy.../dp/0394890086