Scan barcode
Reviews
Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom by Ursula Nordstrom, Leonard S. Marcus, Maurice Sendak
erboe501's review against another edition
3.0
This took me a few months to get through, so I don't have as comprehensive of a view on Nordstrom's evolution as I would have liked (there was a lot of stopping and starting on this, and some extra books in-between). This is partly due to my few and scattered moments of reading in school, and also because of the nature of the book. There are nearly 400 pages of letters, and I found that I couldn't read more than around 15 pages at a time without beginning to skim. It takes a letter or two to get back into the groove of her writing style, and then after about 10, I couldn't read them with the focus they warranted. Nonetheless, as a lover of children's books like Goodnight Moon and Harold and the Purple Crayon this was a fascinating read. Nordstrom was a forceful personality; she persisted with erratic illustrators, emotional writers, and intolerant librarians. Even when she was nagging a procrastinating writer, she always held onto her sense of humor and wit. I loved her focus on the child as the primary consumer, rather than on the parent who bought the book. She didn't care if the parents liked the books or not; if the children enjoyed it, it was a success. I would recommend this to anyone interested in publishing (which is why I picked up the book), children's books in general, or strong and successful female workers. I have a newfound appreciation for editors of children's books, especially Nordstrom, who helped to make the industry what it is today and cultivated so many of the books that I grew up on.
cianamacaroni's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
gretaswags's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
misajane79's review against another edition
4.0
Nordstorm was the children's book editor at Harper for decades. She was E. B. White's editor. She discovered Maurice Sendak. And the list just goes on. Her letters were charming and insightful and revealed how a good editor pushes and critiques and just gets the job done. And it was all enough to make me want to camp out in the children's section of the library for a few days and reread old favorites and discover new ones.
sillypunk's review against another edition
5.0
Such a wonderful collection of letters.I can't believe I hadn't heard of her before: https://blogendorff.com/2019/01/11/book-review-dear-genius-the-letters-of-ursula-nordstrom/
spiderfelt's review against another edition
1.0
I put this away after twenty minutes of reading. The introduction was interesting background, offering insight into Ursula Nordstrom, clearly a force to be reckoned with and a trailblazer in the publishing industry. However, her letters alternately bored and vexed me. I used to dream of being an editor for a publishing company, back when I was researching university programs. For various reasons, I didn't end up following that rack, and now I see how unsuited I would be for that work. Could you lease make the characters in your stories bunnies instead of humans? Could you draw more confidence in the little boy's expression. Oh we love your work, but there really needs to be more certainty in the mouse's posture. Your best work is yet to come, if you just apply yourself and start writing again.
razishiri's review against another edition
5.0
Stuart Little. Charlotte's Web. The Runaway Bunny. Little House in the Big Woods. Bedtime for Frances. Where the Wild Things Are. A Kiss for Little Bear. It's Like This, Cat. Freaky Friday. Harriet the Spy.
It's hard to imagine that a single individual was involved in the publication of so many beloved childhood classics, but Ursula Nordstrom was such a woman. As director of Harper Publishing's childrens department from 1940 to 1973, she was friend and mentor to some of the most creative writers and artists of the day. This compilation of her personal correspodence, published 10 years after her death, is a fascinating excursion into the world of children's publishing through the life of one of its most brilliant and influential editors.
The first thing I noticed while reading Nordstrom's letters: she's funny. Not 21st-century, passive-agressive sarcasm funny, but real old-fashioned wit. No smileys here, but plenty of sly allusions, affectionate banter and code words (MCP is male chauvinist pig). The amount of personality she puts in her letters makes one long for the snail mail days.
The second thing: sincerity. Though sometimes self-deprecating, Nordstrom was ever sincere in her praising her author "geniuses" (hence the title Dear Genius). In her very first letter to Laura Ingalls Wilder as an assistant editor, Nordstrom writes, "all of us were upset about [an editorial error in her book] because, very frankly, every single bit of copy written for your lovely book has been worked over with enthusiasm and affection". I especially enjoyed reading her letters to John Stepdoe, the teenage author of Stevie, which strike the perfect balance between respectful encouragement and motherly scolding. Nordstrom was somewhat subversive in her conviction that children's books should be written for children, not the adults who buy them -- if the word wasn't now associated with Sarah Palin, I'd call her a maverick. She was utterly devoted to her audience and her work. One can't help but conclude that the moral and artistic education of children was in the best of hands.
In Goodreads reviews, I'm usually stingy about handing out five stars, but I really can't give this volume anything else. It amazed me, and it spoke to a part of me I haven't been in touch with for a long time. There is something holy about the books you read as a little kid. For someone who cried over Charlotte's death, who tried to start a spy notebook like Harriet, whose aldolescence was defined by Freaky Friday, who still reads The Runaway Bunny when she can't sleep at night -- meeting Ursula Nordstrom is like coming home. And now I'm being overly sentimental, but as Ms. Nordstrom quoted on page 270:
"Every time a resolve or fine glow of feeling evaporates without bearing fruit, it is worse than a chance lost; it works to hinder future emotions from taking the normal path of discharge."
- William James
It's hard to imagine that a single individual was involved in the publication of so many beloved childhood classics, but Ursula Nordstrom was such a woman. As director of Harper Publishing's childrens department from 1940 to 1973, she was friend and mentor to some of the most creative writers and artists of the day. This compilation of her personal correspodence, published 10 years after her death, is a fascinating excursion into the world of children's publishing through the life of one of its most brilliant and influential editors.
The first thing I noticed while reading Nordstrom's letters: she's funny. Not 21st-century, passive-agressive sarcasm funny, but real old-fashioned wit. No smileys here, but plenty of sly allusions, affectionate banter and code words (MCP is male chauvinist pig). The amount of personality she puts in her letters makes one long for the snail mail days.
The second thing: sincerity. Though sometimes self-deprecating, Nordstrom was ever sincere in her praising her author "geniuses" (hence the title Dear Genius). In her very first letter to Laura Ingalls Wilder as an assistant editor, Nordstrom writes, "all of us were upset about [an editorial error in her book] because, very frankly, every single bit of copy written for your lovely book has been worked over with enthusiasm and affection". I especially enjoyed reading her letters to John Stepdoe, the teenage author of Stevie, which strike the perfect balance between respectful encouragement and motherly scolding. Nordstrom was somewhat subversive in her conviction that children's books should be written for children, not the adults who buy them -- if the word wasn't now associated with Sarah Palin, I'd call her a maverick. She was utterly devoted to her audience and her work. One can't help but conclude that the moral and artistic education of children was in the best of hands.
In Goodreads reviews, I'm usually stingy about handing out five stars, but I really can't give this volume anything else. It amazed me, and it spoke to a part of me I haven't been in touch with for a long time. There is something holy about the books you read as a little kid. For someone who cried over Charlotte's death, who tried to start a spy notebook like Harriet, whose aldolescence was defined by Freaky Friday, who still reads The Runaway Bunny when she can't sleep at night -- meeting Ursula Nordstrom is like coming home. And now I'm being overly sentimental, but as Ms. Nordstrom quoted on page 270:
"Every time a resolve or fine glow of feeling evaporates without bearing fruit, it is worse than a chance lost; it works to hinder future emotions from taking the normal path of discharge."
- William James
sharonfalduto's review against another edition
Childrens' book editor at Harper from the 1940s through 1981, who oversaw the publication of classics such as "Goodnight Moon," "Harriet the Spy," and "Where the Wild Things Are," and who was a fine letter writer herself.