Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White

Melissa Sweet (Caldecott Honor artist of Jen Bryant's The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus and A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams) has written and illustrated Some Writer!, the first-ever visual biography of E.B. White, the beloved children's book author, New Yorker columnist, poet, the "White" in Strunk and White's Elements of Style and true writer's writer. In a clean, engaging style and "clear, brief, bold" sentences fit for an E.B. White biography, Sweet takes readers on a journey through his life as writer, husband and father, starting with his earliest days in New York and blissful childhood summers in Maine. The elaborate, thoughtfully choreographed scrapbook bursts with colorful collages made up of Sweet's charming original paintings; whimsical dioramas and maps; abundant family photos; paper ephemera; vintage office supplies; pieces of old books; chunks of barn; eggs; leaves; and old typewriter keys. The pages whisper "labor of love."

Sweet gives White himself the floor quite often, peppering quotations from his books, journals and letters throughout, all thoroughly sourced.

The stories behind Stuart Little and 1953 Newbery Honor Medalist Charlotte's Web are thrilling for those who hold dear the dapper mouse, spider and pig. Garth Williams's funny sketches of different versions of Charlotte the spider's face are priceless (one on the cutting-room floor was modeled after the Mona Lisa). Sweet pulls out all the stops to bring the legendary author to life for readers young and old in her fresh and beautiful tribute, just as down-to-earth, playful and steeped in the wondrous natural world as E.B. White would have wanted it to be. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness
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