Review by Booklist Review
When Edward Gorey was three years old, he taught himself to read and was given permission to explore his father's library. A few years later, he was reading novels and, before long, writing his own narratives. Gorey also enjoyed drawing and painting. As an adult, he continued to create art and write stories. He moved to New York City, where he attended nearly every NYC Ballet performance for more than 20 years. He created cover art for books, illustrating his own as well as those written by others, including children's books such as Florence Parry Heide's The Shrinking of Treehorn. Nominated for awards after creating the costumes and sets for Dracula on Broadway, he stayed home rather than attend the presentation ceremony. The text and back matter stress Gorey's individuality, his enjoyment of creative work, and his ability to forge his own path throughout his life. Majewski's illustrations, acrylic paintings on paper, are created in a refreshingly childlike style. An original picture-book biography featuring a brilliant individual who was a widely admired artist.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In a world bound by rules and conventions, what's it like to be someone "content to do his own thing, in his own way, in his own time"? Burgess (Sylvester's Letter) and Majewski (The Art of Rewilding) provide an answer in this splendid biography of creator Edward Gorey (1925--2000). Via concise, deeply affectionate prose and lush, playfully elegant acrylic illustrations, the creators divide their subject's life into three "acts"-- a nod to Gorey's love of ballet and theater. Act I portrays the figure's early years and emergence as a "delightfully peculiar" personality given to "painting his toenails green and strutting down a fancy street in bare feet." Act II finds Gorey in New York, discovering a great passion for the New York City Ballet (attending "nearly every performance for over twenty years") and achieving professional success on his own terms. Act III depicts Gorey's later years on Cape Cod, where his artmaking continued unabated among six cats and a plethora of collections ("sea stones, skeletons... and books"). Prolific and one-of-a-kind, Gorey stands out from these pages as profoundly fulfilled--a figure of unwavering authenticity and creativity. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Erica Rand Silverman, Stimola Literary. Illustrator's agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions. (Sept.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2--4--For children intent on marching to the beat of a different drummer and needing some encouragement to keep that beat, there could hardly be a better example (if not, perhaps, role model) than Edward Gorey--who, "when fame came calling," Burgess writes in his admiring summation, "chose creative freedom above all." Here in three free-form acts, the author retraces Gorey's long, productive career from first drawing at a year-and-a-half and first novel at five ("about a vampire named…DRACULA. MUA-HA-HA-HA!") to his role as costume and set designer for an award-winning Broadway smash "about a vampire named… DRACULA. MUA-HA-HA-HA!" and final move with his many rings and cats to Cape Cod. Pointing along the way to some of his visual, literary, and theatrical creations, all characterized by a "deliciously sinister sense of humor," the narrative closes with celebrations of both his innate independence and his enduring, endearing oddball sensibility. Majewski evokes both with scenes in loosely brushed acrylics of a child with a distant gaze growing into a bearded icon in a shaggy fur coat, then lounging in a cluttered studio among cats, books, peculiar puppets, and vaguely menacing monsters or figures in Edwardian dress. VERDICT Required reading for independent spirits--not to mention any future fans of Lemony Snicket, Tim Burton, or practically any other modern writer or artist of Gothic bent.--John Edward Peters
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Anecdotes arranged, verselike, in three acts honor the enigmatic Edward Gorey (1925-2000): iconic artist, writer, voracious collector, and lover of cats. Act One examines Edward's precocious childhood: He drew at 18 months, taught himself to read at 3 and a half, and devoured Dracula just before turning 6. Whether creating his own books or walking through downtown Chicago barefoot, toenails painted green, Edward expressed his originality early. Act Two examines Gorey's decades in New York City, where he illustrated others' books and wrote his own indelibly unique tales. He attended the New York City Ballet's productions religiously. His books, embodying his "deliciously sinister sense of humor," gained a growing following. His sets and costume design for the Broadway production of Dracula yielded fame and a Tony. Gorey eschewed celebrity, however, using his earnings from the show to buy a house on Cape Cod. Act Three explores his time there, writing, drawing, tending his six cats, taking part in community theater productions, and prodigiously collecting books and objects ranging from teddy bears to skeletons. Burgess relishes Gorey's contentment and celebrates his singular artistic achievements. "He lived his life precisely as he wished," and his books' strange denizens live on, "just as Edward imagined." In playful, expressionistic tableaux, Majewski depicts cityscapes, book-stuffed interiors, vibrant stages, selected Gorey characters, and the seaside ease of his final years. An admiring, and admirable, tribute to an iconoclastic artist. (author's note, further reading, quotation citations, chronology, photograph, reproductions of Gorey's work) (Picture-book biography. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
