A few months back, I featured Barbara Cooney here on Story Warren. Cooney was the author and illustrator of an impressive number of children’s classics; Ox-Cart Man and Miss Rumphius are her most familiar titles.
Now Sarah Mackenzie, proprietress of The Read-Aloud Revival podcast and community, has given us a vibrant biography of Barbara Cooney, entitled Because Barbara: Barbara Cooney Paints Her World.
Mackenzie’s book traces Cooney’s life from early childhood, when Barbara was a girl in New York City, to her adulthood, spent on the shores of Maine. We see Barbara dabble in painting all her life, initially inspired by her mother’s example. Cooney’s artistic pursuits increased substantially as she got older—perhaps a reminder for us mothers, as Cooney kept plenty busy with four adventurous children! Once the children were grown, Cooney undertook what she believed to be her greatest illustrative works, beginning with my favorite title, Miss Rumphius.
One of my favorite illustrations in the book depicts Barbara in her earlier stage of life, with young children at home. She is sick in bed, thermometer clenched tightly between her lips. A cup of tea and some crumpled tissues are on the nightstand. Despite her illness, Barbara is reading a fantasy book, her mind filled with the images she’s reading. Nevertheless, the children are all over her: sitting on the bed, playing with swords, and talking on the phone nearby. Mothers never get a sick day. Even after she won the Caldecott Medal for Chanticleer and the Fox, Barbara’s drawing table still rested “in the center of the busiest room in the house.”
The illustrations also give us little peeks at Barbara’s books as she’s painting them. We see an ox cart peeking up near the Maine ocean’s waves; lupines flower all over the pages as she is writing Miss Rumphius. It’s a stunning book, fitting for the lady who, much like Miss Rumphius, desired to leave the world a more beautiful place.
If you have an aspiring writer or artist in your home, this book would be an encouraging companion for them. Barbara was an individual who unapologetically pursued beauty in life and spread it to others, whether it be in her art or her artfully packed picnics by the sea. It’s a tribute to a life well lived.
The book can be purchased at Waxwing Books or anywhere else you purchase books.
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- Because Barbara: Barbara Cooney Paints her World - August 28, 2024
- Author Feature: Barbara Cooney - May 1, 2024
- A Winter Book Basket - February 7, 2024
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