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ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Little Critter: Monster Truck
WORK NOTES:
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CITY: Bridgwater
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 265
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_Mayer
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born December 30, 1943, in Little Rock, AR; married first wife, Marianna (divorced, 1978); married second wife, Jo (divorced); married third wife, Gina; children: (second marriage) Len (son), Arden (son), Jessie (daughter), (third marriage) Ben, Zebulon (son).
EDUCATION:Attended Honolulu Academy of Arts and Art Students League.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and illustrator of children’s books. Worked as an art director for an advertising agency until mid-1960s.
AVOCATIONS:Guitar playing, painting, walking in the woods, sitting by the river, listening to opera.
AWARDS:Citation of Merit, Society of Illustrators Annual National Exhibit, 1970, for A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog, 1975, for What Do You Do with a Kangaroo?, and 1976, for Frog Goes to Dinner; Children’s Book Award, American Institute of Graphic Arts, 1971, for A Special Trick; Brooklyn Art Books for Children citation, 1973, for A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog, 1975, for What Do You Do with a Kangaroo?, and 1977, for Frog Goes to Dinner; International Books for Children Award, Association for Childhood Education, 1974, for A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog; Best Books of the Year citation, Child Study Association, 1974, for You’re the Scaredy-Cat; Best Illustrated Books of the Year citation, New York Times, Ten Best Books citation, Learning magazine, and Irma Simonton Black Award, Bank Street College of Education, all 1977, all for Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like; Brooklyn Art Books for Children Award, 1977, for Frog Goes to Dinner; Michigan Young Readers Award, 1982, for Beauty and the Beast; California Young Reader Medal, 1983, for Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp; named National Book Festival Artist of the Year, 2007.
WRITINGS
Works adapted for Atarki diskette by Mindscape include Tonk in the Land of the Buddy-Bots, Tink’s Subtraction Fair, Tink’s Adventure and Tuk Goes to Town, all 1985, Works adapted for CD-ROM include Just Grandma and Me, Living Books (Novato, CA), 1993; Little Monster at School, Living Books, 1994; Just Me and My Dad, GT Interactive Software (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1996; Just Me and My Mom, GT Interactive Software, 1996; The Smelly Mystery Starring Little Monster Private Eye (adaptation of Little Monster’s Scratch-and-Sniff Mystery), GT Interactive Software, 1997; Just Me and My Grandpa, GT Interactive Software, 1998; Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter and the Great Race, Infogames (New York, NY), 2001; and The Mummy Mystery Starring Mercer Mayer’s Little Monster Private Eye, Infogames, 2001. Works adapted as video recordings include Three Mercer Mayer Stories: Herbert the Timid Dragon, Just for You, and How the Trollusk Got His Hat, all Golden Book Video (New York, NY), 1985; Frog Goes to Dinner, Phoenix Films (New York, NY), 1985; Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories (includes “There’s a Nightmare in My Closet” narrated by Michael J. Fox, “There’s an Alligator under My Bed” narrated by Christian Slater, and “There’s Something in My Attic” narrated by Sissy Spacek), MCA Home Video (Universal City, CA), 1992; A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog, Phoenix Films, 1995; and Just Me and My Dad, Sony (New York, NY), 1998. Works adapted for audio recording include Mercer Mayer’s Little Monster Stories (includes “Little Monster at School,” “Little Monster at Home,” “Little Monster’s Counting Book,” and “Little Monster’s Alphabet Book”), Listening Library (New York, NY), 1983; Alligator under My Bed and Other Story Songs, performed by Mayer, Big Tuna New Media (Roxbury, CT), 1999; and The Little Drummer Mouse: A Christmas Story, narrated by Mayer, Big Tuna New Media, 1999. Many of the “Little Critter” stories were programmed as apps for iPad, Android, and other devices by Oceanhouse Media, Silver Dolphin, and Sterling Publishing.
SIDELIGHTS
Popular children’s author Mercer Mayer is well known for his versatility, humor, and artistic skill. One of the first to master the wordless picture book, Mayer also writes and illustrates nonsense fiction, fantasy, and folk tales. He is best known for his multi-volume “Little Critters” stories, which he began writing and illustrating in 1975. In both his writing and illustrating, Mayer emphasizes the unconventional; his language can be simple or sophisticated, while his illustrations run the gamut of artistic styles.
Because his father was in the U.S. Navy, Mayer moved around a great deal as a child. The family eventually settled in Hawaii, where he attended Theodore Roosevelt High School. After graduation he continued his studies at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, then moved to New York City for instruction at the Art Students League. While working for an advertising agency, Mayer assembled an art portfolio for use in landing illustration jobs, but he had little luck; in fact one publisher told him to scrap his portfolio because the work was so bad. Wise enough to learn from the experience, Mayer began to refine his sketching. In the mid-1960s, after quitting his day job, he made the rounds of publishers again, this time securing illustration contracts and beginning his prolific career in children’s books.
The same year that Mayer’s illustrations appeared in stories by other authors, he also published his first original, self-illustrated story, A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog , a popular work that was reprinted in 2003. Here he “expresses the boy’s frustration with economy … ,” wrote George A. Woods in the New York Times Book Review, “and [captures] the range of emotions the frog experiences, bafflement, annoyance, amusement, melancholy, and finally, joy, with a few deft pen strokes.” Robert Cohen, in his review of the work for Young Readers Review, called A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog “delightful” and “most heartily recommended for all picture book collections.”
Mayer has repeated the success of A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog with numerous other volumes. Writing in Young Readers Review, Phyllis Cohen described the self-illustrated There’s a Nightmare in My Closet as a “magnificently funny book” that “must be seen to be fully appreciated.” “Mayer remembers what it was like to be a little kid,” announced Barbara Karlin in appraising Little Monster’s Word Book for the West Coast Review of Books, and “this is a book with which a lot of little people are going to spend many happy hours.” “The narrative is smooth. … Illustrations, boldly executed with rich use of color and careful attention to detail, … are graphically gripping,” concluded Barbara Elleman in a Booklist review of the folk-tale retelling East of the Sun and West of the Moon, another of Mayer’s popular illustrated stories.
Mayer wrote his first “Little Critter” story in the mid-1970s, where it became part of the popular “Little Golden Books” series. The endearing, big-eyed and overall-clad toddler stand-in has entertained generations of young children in the decades since, finding his way into the “I Can Read!” series as well as other collections of grouped stories. Little Critter has even starred in collaborative stories in which Mayer has been aided by his wife Gina Mayer as well as by several other authors. Mayer’s Little Critter character also entered the growing Christian market through a relationship with Nashville-based publisher Thomas Nelson, producing the faith-based stories You Go First, Little Critter , It’s True!, and several other books in the “Little Critter Inspired Kids” series. Noting that the author’s “narrative and illustrative style remains consistent” with the popular stories “featuring his furry, overalls-clad hero,” a Publishers Weekly critic noted of It’s True! that this story about a lad whose assertions prove false resolves in “a predictable, but satisfying conclusion” that involves “scriptural wisdom from his grandfather.”
Apart from his “Little Critter” tales, Mayer has continued to entertain young children with stories such as There Are Monsters Everywhere, The Little Drummer Mouse: A Christmas Story, and The Bravest Knight as well as To the Rescue! and A Busy Day. Octopus Soup, another original tale, is told entirely through cartoon panels that find a terrified sea creature avoiding a dip in the soup pot and searching for home. Praising the wordless story, a Kirkus Reviews critic wrote that the “pacing and facial expressions extend the comedy in masterly fashion,” while a Publishers Weekly contributor asserted that “Mayer deftly uses the animals’ body language and highly expressive eyes to deliver comedic punches.”
In Too Many Dinosaurs a young boy is dismayed when his mother will not allow him to get a dog. Stomping off to Mr. Jerry’s yard sale to pout, the lad discovers a dinosaur egg and buys it for a dollar. When a triceratops hatches and then runs away (destroying the neighborhood in the process), the wily Mr. Jerry offers to sell the boy a horn that can call dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the horn works so well that the boy’s yard is soon full of dinosaurs and his mother is livid. A second blow on the horn makes the dinosaurs disappear, whereupon the boy’s mother quickly reasons that a puppy might keep her son out of further trouble.
Kay Weisman, writing in Booklist, commended Too Many Dinosaurs for its visual depiction of “lively, prehistoric animals,” adding that Mayer’s “succinct text and uncluttered spreads make this ideal for story hours.” The author/illustrator “employs dramatic framings and exhibits some impressive draftsmanship,” asserted a Publishers Weekly contributor, and in School Library Journal Catherine Callegari predicted of Too Many Dinosaurs that “kids will love the clever twist at the end.”
In spite of his own busy schedule, Mayer has found time to illustrate books for a number of other authors, including John D. Fitzgerald and his “Great Brain” series. His pictures for Marianne Mayer’s retelling of Beauty and the Beast were applauded by P. Gila Reinstein in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as having a “wealth of detail” that is “full and lavish.” Bonita Brodt, writing in the Chicago Tribune, called Mayer’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas a “wonderful interpretation … because it makes the tale accessible to young children and also remains true to the older ones as well.” In summing up Mayer’s success, Reinstein noted: “Reflecting the world … from the child’s point of view has been a hallmark of [his] work from the beginning of his career, and whatever changes come in his approach to children and their books, the honesty and emotional intensity that are essential to his work will remain unchanged.”
In more than forty years of illustration, Mayer’s technique and use of media has changed and developed along with the times. In the 1960s he used pen and ink to create children’s books such as A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog. As color publishing became more common he moved to water color, creating books such as East of the Sun and West of the Moon, which feature “a lavish, romantic, painterly style,” as Anita Silvey observed in Children’s Books and Their Creators. After the mid-1970s, when he “stumbled on” a funny little character, much of his painting was reserved for the voluminous “Little Critter” series. An early devotee of digital illustration, Mayer explained to an Adobe Web site interviewer that “In the digital world, you can scan and paint and manipulate. You can create environments with lights and forms and shading. I was intrigued by that.”
The first book Mayer illustrated digitally, his 1999 picture book Shibumi and the Kitemaker, describes a Japanese emperor’s daughter and her brave efforts to help her people. Reviewing the work for Booklist, Stephanie Zvirin pointed out that “strong, unusual artwork … sets [t]his book apart.” From small designs that are “subtle and in keeping with the Japanese flavor of the story” to large illustrations that “appear almost three-dimensional,” Zvirin found the whole to be “fascinating; slick but also quite sensitive and expressive.”
“I want to create images beyond what I could or would want to paint,” Mayer told the Adobe contributor in discussing the technological innovations that have influenced his work. “Until recently, if you couldn’t paint you couldn’t do images, but I’m taking the talent that I developed in learning to paint and using it to create digital images that get to the same point without painting.” Continuing to embrace technology, Mayer has adapted several of his “Little Critter” stories as interactive apps that mix learning with games and sound effects.
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Children’s Literature Review, Volume 11, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1986.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 61: American Writers for Children since 1960: Poets, Illustrators, and Nonfiction Authors, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1987.
St. James Guide to Children’s Writers, 5th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.
Silvey, Anita, editor, Children’s Books and Their Creators, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 1, 1980, Barbara Elleman, review of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, p. 407; October 15, 1999, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Shibumi and the Kitemaker, p. 444; May 1, 2007, Randall Enos, review of The Bravest Knight, p. 100; September 15, 2011, Kay Weisman, review of Too Many Dinosaurs, p. 72.
Chicago Tribune, December 7, 1986, Bonita Brodt, review of A Christmas Carol: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, section 14, p. 3.
Horn Book, December, 1981, Richard Gaugert, review of A Boy and a Frog, p. 681.
Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2011, review of Octopus Soup; August 1, 2011, review of Too Many Dinosaurs; May 1, 2013, review of Just Me and My Little Brother; May 15, 2013, review of The Trip.
New York Times Book Review, November 26, 1967, George A. Woods, review of A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog, p. 62.
Publisher Weekly, June 15, 1992, review of This Is My Family, p. 101; May 3, 1993, review of Little Critter’s Read-It-Yourself Storybook Six Funny Easy-to-Read Stories, p. 308; September 12, 1994, Melanie Chang, “Little Critter Grows Up,” p. 33; July 19, 1999, review of Shibumi and the Kitemaker, p. 193; October 21, 2013, review of It’s True, p. 55.
School Library Journal, December, 2000, Catherine T. Quattlebaum, review of The Rocking Horse Angel, p. 117; July, 2004, Marge Loch-Wouters, review of Just Big Enough, p. 82; December, 2005, Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of There Are Monsters Everywhere, p. 118; October, 2006, Virginia Walter, review of The Little Drummer Mouse: A Christmas Story, p. 98; June, 2007, Linda Staskus, review of The Bravest Knight, p. 115; October, 2008, Laura Scott, review of Going to the Firehouse, p. 116; April, 2011, Nancy Mackenzie, review of Octopus Soup, p. 149; July, 2011, Melissa Smith, review of A Green, Green Garden, p. 72; September, 2011, Catherine Callegari, review of Too Many Dinosaurs, p. 125; July, 2012, Gloria Koster, review of What a Good Kitty, p. 60.
West Coast Review of Books, September, 1977, Barbara Karlin, review of Little Monster’s Word Book, p. 55.
Young Readers Review, December, 1967, Robert Cohen, review of A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog, p. 12; June, 1968, Phyllis Cohen, review of There’s a Nightmare in My Closet, p. 10.
ONLINE
Adobe Web site, http://www.adobe.com/ (May 1, 2001), Anita Dennis, “Mercer Mayer.”
Antic Digital, http://www.atarimagazines.com/ (February 1, 1985), Anita Malnig, review of Tink’s Adventure and Tuk Goes to Town (Atari games).
Apple Web site, http://apple.com/creative/stories/ (November 27, 2001), “Drawing on the Macintosh.”
Little Critter Web site, http://www.littlecritter.com (December 15, 2013).*
aboutmm
aboutmmphoto
I began illustrating books in 1966. Since that time I have published over 300 books. Most of my books are about things that happened to me when I was a little kid. Now I'm a big kid and I write about things that happen now, especially with my own children and grandchildren. They always remind me of what it is like to be little. Several of my books have been translated into other languages like Spanish, German, French and Japanese. And, I have my own website gallery.
I was born in Arkansas in 1943. Boy, that was a long time ago! It's real fun to
be an old kid. When I was thirteen years old, my parents and my sister and I moved to Hawaii. After high school, I went to Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Then, I went to New York City and the Art Students League. A few years later,
I began writing children's books. Then I moved to New England. My wife, Gina, and I write the Little Critter stories together.
MERCER MAYER WITH POSTER
In 2007, I was chosen to be the National Book Festival "Artist of the Year" and went to Washington, D.C. It was nothing short of amazing! At the Pavillion of States, I signed books, showed people how I draw, and played my ukelele.
There were author pavilions showcasing more than 70 American authors, illustrators, and poets.
Here I am with the special poster I created.
Click here to see other photos.
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Author Spotlight
Illustrator Spotlight
Mercer Mayer
AUTHOR-ILLUSTRATOR SPOTLIGHT: MERCER MAYER
KidLit411 is delighted to present to you the legendary author-illustrator, MERCER MAYER!
This week, KidLit411 had the exciting privilege of talking to Mercer Mayer. I have personally loved this author and his art for as long as I can remember. My childhood was filled with reading his books like the LITTLE CRITTER series and THERE'S A NIGHTMARE IN MY CLOSET. It was a real thrill to have a chance to speak with him directly. Mr. Mayer was just as warm and interesting as I always imagined that he would be, and very generous with his time. Without further ado, KidLit411 introduces the legendary, Mercer Mayer!
Welcome Mr. Mayer, thank you for this interview and for being featured in our AUTHOR-ILLUSTRATOR SPOTLIGHT!
How did you get started in the industry? How long have you been in the industry?
When I was 13, my family moved to Hawaii, and I attended the Honolulu Academy of Arts where I studied art.

From There Are Monsters Everywhere © Mercer Mayer
Then, in 1964, I went to New York and began studying at the Art Students League and shopping my portfolio around to editors. When I first started, I went around to see editors like Ursula Nordstrom at Harper and Phyllis Fogelman at Dial Press. Things were much more open then and you could just knock on a door and get your work seen. An editor at Dial Press expressed an interest in my drawings, but complained that they were having a hard time finding good stories. I thought to myself, I don't have any good stories! She told me to just write about life, and I thought, what the heck, I can do that. I have been doing since, for some 40 plus years.
Was illustrating something that you always wanted to do?
I always wanted to be an illustrator, I just didn't think that I was going to be able to do it. I had even given up until I ran into an old friend of my mother's, Martha Alexander. Martha was a prolific author, and she helped me to break into the industry.
From East of the Sun West of the Moon © Mercer Mayer
Do you illustrate first or write first?
I always draw first. In fact, my first book, A BOY, A DOG, AND A FROG was written in 1967 and released by Dial, and it was a completely wordless picture book. The illustration told the whole story! I am always inspired by something from my childhood, I reflect upon my childhood or my children's childhood constantly to spark ideas. Now I am a grandfather and I get inspiration from my grandkids.
When I wrote THERE'S A NIGHTMARE IN MY CLOSET, people compared it to WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak. They were very critical of my book, saying (unfavorably) that I had modeled my book after his. The thing was, I had never even read WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE when I wrote my book! I wrote it based on my own night time fears as a child. Even though there was some negativity surrounding the book, the book did well and is now considered a classic.
From There's A Nightmare in My Closet © Mercer Mayer
Can you tell us about the LITTLE CRITTER Series?
A sampling of Mercer Mayer's many Little Critters books
In 1975 my first LITTLE CRITTER picture book came out, JUST ME AND MY DAD. In 2013, my latest JUST ONE MORE PET, was released. I have been so lucky to be writing the same series for over 30 years! I have published over 300 books and many generations of kids have grown up reading my books, and that makes me very happy. The issues that Little Critter deals with as he grows up are timeless and classic. They are the same problems that we had 30 plus years ago and those problems are still relevant today.
Just One More Pet
Is there any advice that you would give to aspiring authors/illustrators?
Do not QUIT! Do not give up and keep beating down doors until someone answers you. You are going to be rejected- expect it, accept it and move on. Don't get bogged down in rejection because it is all part of the process. Everyone gets rejected. Early in my career, I had an art director tell me that I should quit. I didn't listen. If I had, LITTLE CRITTER and LITTLE MONSTER would not be here. If writing or illustrating is your passion, keep at it!
Some of The Little Monsters series
Last question: Do you like anchovies on your pizza?
What an interesting question! I like pizza and I certainly don't mind having it with anchovies.
Thanks so much for spending some time with us at KidLit411, Mr. Mayer!
Mercer Mayer is the writer and illustrator of the Little Critter First Readers, as well as the Little Critter Spectrum. He began writing and illustrating children's books in 1966 and he has published more than 300 titles. His award-winning work features dragons, cuddly monsters, wonderful creatures, and endearing critters.
Mercer Mayer was born in Arkansas in 1943. When he was thirteen years old, his family moved to Hawaii. After high school, he attended the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and then he went to New York City and the Art Students League.
"Most of my books are about things that happened to me when I was a little kid," says Mercer. "Now that I'm a big kid, I write about things that happen now, especially with my own children and grandchildren. They always remind me of what it is like to be little."
In 2007, Mercer Mayer was chosen to be the National Book Festival Artist of the Year. He and his wife, Gina, write the Little Critter stories together. They live in New England.
Visit: www.littlecritter.com
'I Don't Envision an End Like I Don't Envision a Beginning': An Interview with Mercer Mayer
BY TYLER HARPER
The author of more than 300 children's books on spending a lifetime with a single character, the process necessary to produce three books a year, and talking to kids about death.
Interview
NOVEMBER 12, 2015
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TYLER HARPER
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It’s easy to overlook authors of children’s books. Their work isn’t so much meant to be critiqued by adults: it’s there to fill the spaces in our kids’ brains with words and images and ideas and lessons, then be forgotten for decades until those kids grow up and need stories to tell their own families. It’s a circle filled with dinosaurs and wizards and princesses wearing paper bags in books that have been ripped, drooled on, consumed, and abused.
Mercer Mayer has been filling that circle since the publication of his first book, A Boy, A Dog and a Frog in 1967.
BOOKS
A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog
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MERCER MAYER
In 1975 he published a book called Just For You about a hedgehog-looking child who is set on helping his mother with her chores. The book was a surprise hit, and Mayer’s publisher asked for more. Mayer is now 71 and has drawn and written over 300 books during his career, the majority of which feature the same furry kid called Little Critter.
BOOKS
Just for You (Little Critter)
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MERCER MAYER
His latest book, Just A Special Thanksgiving, was released in September.
I spoke with Mayer over the phone about Little Critter, his career, and mortality. He laughed a lot and seemed to delight in reflecting on a life spent writing for children. I also asked him about the grasshopper and the spider, which will only make sense if you’ve read as many of his books as I have.
*
You’ve worked on this character for forty years. Is that strange to hear somebody else say that?
Mercer Mayer: Well, it just doesn’t make sense because the last forty years seems like about ten. As I’ve gotten older time has gotten extremely faster. So forty years, it’s like, eh, so what? You do change when you age, it’s very funny: your mind changes, your outlook changes, everything changes.
How so?
You come to the realization, hopefully, that this is a terminal situation and you have no idea when, but you have to get behind that in order to go along and see what’s happening in the world. So things you’ve done for many years, it doesn’t seem like many years, at least to me—it just seems like a period of time I’ve done this. This is what I do. I write crazy stories about Little Critter and draw them. But outside of that I don’t get wowed by the thought of forty years gone by.
Is it comforting in a way to have that? So much can happen in forty years—that can be a lifetime. But you’ve also had this strange little character that you’ve been drawing that whole time that’s been a constant in your life.
Well, sure, it’s paid the rent, sent kids to college, all sorts of stuff. Very comforting.
Do you ever get bored by the character?
Yes and no. I have this process I go through all the time, it never stops: When I start a Little Critter book, writing one, I feel like I’ll never write another one again. I can never possibly write another one, there’s just nothing left to write about. And then when I finish drawing and all that, it gets coloured and comes up, it looks very nice. Then, “Oh my god, I have to come up with another, because on my contract it says I agreed to do that.” So I go into a funny state of avoiding all work on Little Critter for a month or so.
What brings you back to it?
I don’t get so far away that I have to come back. But I have to let it go because these stories are very weird. You think about all the things you can write about and think, “Oh, I’ve written about that and I’ve written about that.” And then you think of one subject you haven’t written about—of course, the one subject you haven’t written about doesn’t seem possible to write about. But that’s just your mind going through the typical crap that your mind goes through. You keep messing with the idea and you keep playing with the idea, that’s all you gotta do. You gotta keep messing with it and playing with it. Eventually I start messing with things again and playing with things again, and before you know it out comes a book. Wow! Damn! Look at that. They come very quick. When they come, they come very quick.
Is there anything you haven’t done? I read in an earlier interview that you’ve never figured out how to write about death. I have a four-year-old son who is asking me about death and I honestly don’t have any idea how to have that conversation with him yet, and I was thinking about you and how difficult it must be when you’re thinking about ideas how to translate them for your audience, which is children.
It’s a two-pronged thing here. I think it’s impossible to write a book about death that would be very, very helpful. The problem is this is a marketing issue. Some parents, for example, they don’t believe in anything. Other parents are born-again Christians. Others are Muslims. Others are Jewish. In my house, I am the Buddhist. There are all different takes on this subject of death, [so] how do you approach a Little Critter? It has to be done through his father or mother or the two of them—they’ve got to come to some sort of conclusion about what death is, and you can’t really do that when you have so many views on what death is. It’s not really possible, because you’re going to offend half of them and the other half will probably applaud you.
How much of your experience as a parent weighs into the stories that you pick?
Oh lord, lots. I wrote Little Critter before I had children, the first Little Critter book in [1975], and my first child came in 1981. So there was a lot of time. I was basically writing about my own childhood, or my own fears or my own confusion as a child. Then as time goes by, that childish mindset is something you see in your own children, and it’s interesting to see the logic going behind it because it’s, well, it’s very logical to them all the time. Or it’s very weird and they can’t figure it out, but they just keep going.
You just released a book about Thanksgiving, and I was surprised you’d never done a Thanksgiving book before. Did that idea come from you or did somebody ask you?
Well, actually, we had done a book, Just So Thankful, a generic Thanksgiving book, because they didn’t want to tackle Thanksgiving, which would mean that after Thanksgiving the book would just die. That book did very, very well, [but] for some reason after a couple years the publishers got together and said, “We want a Thanksgiving book.” Why? Thanksgiving has become a big national holiday. So Thanksgiving is almost as big as Christmas.
How much do you work? How much do you have to produce per year?
About three books per year on average.
How long does it take you from concept to finished product on your end?
It takes about four months. Whether it [actually takes that much time] or not, I don’t know. So much of writing and illustrating your own book is a give and take you’re having with the universe: “That doesn’t work, universe, give me something better.” [And the universe will sometimes say:] “Actually, maybe don’t work that day, it’s just not coming.” Then you think, “Oh, I’m going to work this through,” and you work like a devil for two or three days. It’s all about how it’s progressing as an entity—it’s demanding things of you, and you say, “Okay, I’ll do it,” or, “No, I can’t deal with that right now, it’s too confusing.” At least that’s [how it is] for me. But I’ve been very disciplined my whole life working. I have a tendency to work five days a week. Not all day, not during the day necessarily, but four hours, five hours, sometimes six hours.
Okay, so, I don’t want to offend you. I am going to ask this question though. I’m just going to put it out there. You’re 71.
No.
Yeah! No kidding. There’s no reason for you to keep working. Why are you?
Well, it depends on why you’re working in the first place. I mean, technically, I could retire. But then I would get extremely bored and write a book. Put it this way: I am basically retired and I am somehow now writing three books a year.
Do you know how to not work? After all this time are you capable of not drawing or not writing?
I don’t know. I haven’t gone that long without doing it. Am I capable of doing it? I’m a Buddhist and I practice all sorts of meditation, so I’m very much active in learning how to do nothing. So I practice a lot of doing nothing.
Does your Buddhism inform these books at all?
No, not really. Buddhism came out of my reflections on life after a number of years and the books just kind of wandered along by themselves.
What about the character? You do other books and you do other things, but this character, why does it work for you as a storyteller?
It started a long time ago—I drew this funny little dummy of this little hedgehog-type guy, he didn’t have any clothes at the time, and it was called Just For You. [It was] about this little guy who was trying to do all these wonderful things for his mother and making a mess as he goes. The book did phenomenally well for Golden Books and they wanted another one. Then they asked for a couple [more] books—makes sense to do one after the next—and there you have it. It just develops like that.
So you’re actually coming up on 50 years since your first book, A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog was published. Between that book and Little Critter, were you trying to find something that would stick?
No, no, I just did things that came to me. Liza Lou And The Yeller Belly Swamp was one of my first books, like the frog books, and I took it into the publisher when I did my first book—this is back in the days when you could do this kind of stuff—I walked into the publisher of Dial Books and said I’ve done this dummy like you’ve suggested I do, but I can’t think of any words. And she sat down and looked at it and said, “Oh wow, no words. Let’s publish it the way it is.” You always, as a writer or an artist, you always hope your work will sell, because it validates you when you do it.
I never was thinking of a great character, I was just thinking of great books. And when I did this little guy, this dummy called Just For You, the publisher I took it to looked at it and said, “Oh Mercer, you don’t really want to publish another dumb little animal book do you?” I said, “Well, I haven’t published an animal book, first of all. I’d like to publish this damn little animal book.” But then I said, “You don’t need this,” took it out of her hands and went to Golden Books. They thought it was great—they love little dumb animal books.
But more than anything, Little Critter is a reflection of little kids trying to get socialized in the world. That’s what it’s all about when you’re little, and all the things you have to deal with. All of this subject matter is just things that arise in a child’s life, one way or another, and how you resolve them or what you find out about them. But they’re not extremely turgid or in the dramatic sense of losing your pet dog—it’s just an experience, and the way a kid would have that experience.
Before we move on, I want to quick ask you, and I feel like this is a question only someone who has read your books a lot could ask you, but where did the idea come from for you to add the grasshopper and the spider? Finding those little characters hidden away in your images always felt like a treat.
Because I can’t stop. A picture tells a story a little differently from the words. It’s not something I think about—I do it. I don’t literally interpret every word and leave everything blank. It’s a visual experience of the words, and [there can be] many different visual experiences of those words, but mine is whatever goes on with Little Critter. And then these, for some reason, the grasshopper came along first and then the spider, and they just wander in and out of the page and nobody ever refers to them at all. They’re just there. It started off as a funny thing, and then after about ten books people [started saying], “Where’s the spider?” I dropped the grasshopper because he was such a difficult little guy to draw in all these different poses. So I thought, “I want to have a mouse or a frog.” I tried all these things; the spider always stayed. And now I’ve settled on the spider and a mouse because they’re just a funny combination. And they just wander around. That’s all.
Is that something kids notice?
Oh yeah, kids notice that kind of stuff immediately. Kids notice all sorts of strange things. If I forget to have a button coloured on Little Critter’s overalls, I could get mail saying, “Little Critter has no button on.”
Liza Lou is a book I grew up with, but I don’t think I understood that you did it until I became a parent and I went back to it, because it is so completely different from your other works. In the years before Little Critter, how much of that time between A Boy, a Dog and a Frog and Little Critter were you still trying to decide what kind of artist you’d like to be? How much development was happening at that point?
I fell into these books. I came to New York with a bunch of paintings, very Salvador Dali-ish, strange and graphic and gory things that got a lot of attention on Madison Avenue. When I brought my paintings in they saw them, they all, not all but a good number of good galleries, said, “Do you want me to work towards a show?” So I set off to paint for this show, and the sad truth of it is I found out after doing about four or five of these things that the only reason I did them was for shock value, and I had nothing whatsoever to say. It was just shock value and I was tired of doing it, so I just stopped painting. It was stupid. I went to an old friend after a year or so, a friend of my mother’s who had been doing children’s books. She says, “Oh come by, see what I’m doing.” So I went over to her studio and she’d been doing all these paintings of cute little girls in little dresses and little dolls and little animals having tea. Her name was Martha Alexander and she was quite well known at the time. I said, “Oh, I can do that, that’s something I’ve always wanted to do.” When I was in high school in Hawaii I wanted to do children’s books, but the teacher said, “We’re going to spend one week on children’s books because you can’t make any money doing them.” I said, “Oh god, that’s terrible.” So I forgot about it. [But Alexander] gave me the names of editors and publishers she knew and told me a good song and dance to get in there. I said, “Hi, I’m Mercer Mayer, I’m just in from Hawaii, and Martha Alexander says I should give you a quick call.” They all saw me right away.
I wanted to ask you about your writing. You have such a clear voice, and it’s something I discovered in one of your earliest books, which I have as The Bravest Knight but which was first published as Terrible Troll. There’s so much of it that I can see later went into Little Critter, and one of the primary things is you’ve got a clear cadence in your lines, almost to the point where I feel like I can’t read it any other way to my son. It’s always lists of things that the character is doing: “I shined his shoes,” “I cleaned the horse,” “I picked a hat.” Are you conscious of it when you write that way?
BOOKS
The Bravest Knight
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MERCER MAYER
I’m conscious of all these ideas in order to get them into a book that used to be 32 pages, now 24, whatever. To get an idea without tons of words, saying practically nothing … a novel, kids aren’t going to respond to that. They want to see something happening and progressing. “I did this and I did this and I did this.” Because that’s what kids do. “I do this and I do this.” So whatever the subject is, you have to get into it and think of all the things you would do if you became the squire to the bravest knight or if you lived a hundred thousand years ago or whatever. You’ve just got to think about all the things you’d have to have—you’d have to have a hat with a big fluffy feather, you work for a knight and travel around making bad guys do good things. It’s not so much cadence as it is listening to things and a way of listing what you would do. And you have to make it exciting because I’m not teaching anybody anything, I’m just trying to get them into reading and enjoying the book.
Do you see an end to this at some point?
Yeah, I’ll be dead. I will be dead. So don’t worry about it, you’ll join me.
Well, I don’t think I’ll join you, but you are right, we are going that way.
Well, you know, you’re going there.
But there’s no reason for you to quit. You’re just going to keep going as long as you can?
I don’t really think about it that much. I really don’t. I never felt like I’m really going to work. Sometimes my goofing off seems like work and it’s like, “Oh crap, I’ve got to finish this in two weeks, because I’m behind so much and behind the ball.” But I don’t envision an end like I don’t envision a beginning. We’re all here now and it’s just what we do. Be here now.
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Mercer Mayer
Born December 30, 1943 (age 79)
Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Occupation Artist, illustrator, writer
Period 1967–present
Genre Children's literature
Website
www.littlecritter.com
Mercer Mayer (born December 30, 1943) is an American children's author and illustrator. He has published over 300 books, using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his Little Critter and Little Monster series of books.[1]
Life and career
Mayer was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. His father was in the United States Navy, so the family moved many times during his childhood before settling in Honolulu, Hawaii. There, Mayer graduated from high school in 1961. While attending school at the Honolulu Museum of Art, Mayer decided to enter the field of children's book illustration. To that end, he created a portfolio of sketches and peddled them wherever he could. Though his professors feared the young artist would never be good enough to make a living as an illustrator, Mayer was not dissuaded.[citation needed]
Mayer moved from Hawaii to New York City in 1964, pursuing further instruction at the Art Students League of New York, where he met an artist named Marianna who became his first wife. He also met an art director who told Mayer that his portfolio was so bad that he needed to throw it away.[citation needed] Though offended, Mayer did.[citation needed] During his spare time from his job at an advertising agency, the artist created a completely new portfolio. These new sketches persuaded editors at Dial Press and Harper & Row to give him some illustration work.[citation needed]
Mayer published his first book, A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog, at Dial Press in 1967.[2] It was notable for being a completely wordless picture book—one that tells its story entirely through the use of pictures. Mayer was one of the first illustrators to be credited with using this format. Five more books in this series followed. He also produced If I Had a Gorilla about the advantages of ape ownership.[3]
The book There's a Nightmare in My Closet drew on Mayer's childhood fears of monsters in his room at night. Critics compared the book unfavorably to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are (ironically Sendak himself found no such comparison and enjoyed Nightmare; having been a friend of Mayer's),[4] but children and their parents loved the story and it became very popular, with at least 14 editions being released since its publication in 1968, and was featured on Reading Rainbow. An animated special was made, which faithfully followed the book and added two small sections where the boy is playing outdoors at sunset and reflects how the monster will soon come, as well as arranging his planes and toy soldiers around the closet to form a "defense force". The inner monologue of the boy was voiced by Michael J. Fox. The titular nightmare monster also starred in a music video for Alice Cooper's "Welcome to my Nightmare".[5]
Mayer joined Golden Publishing, the creators of Little Golden Books, in 1976. Through them he has sold his "Little Critter" and "Little Monster" series, which are popular with beginning readers.
In 1978, Mayer divorced Marianna. The following year, he married his second wife, Jo. The couple had three children: two sons, Len and Arden as well as a daughter named Jessie.[citation needed] Mayer and his third wife Gina, had two sons of their own (Ben and Zebulon). He currently lives in Roxbury, Connecticut. Gina collaborated with him on many of his books since the early 1990s. Gina died November 27, 2017, at age 51 due to illness.
In addition to writing and illustrating his own books, Mayer has collaborated on many projects with other children's authors. He has illustrated books for John Bellairs, Jane Yolen, Jan Wahl, Jay Williams, and John D. Fitzgerald, among others.
Selected bibliography
Main article: Mercer Mayer bibliography
Well-known series
Little Critter
Little Monster
Boy, Dog, Frog
Citations
"FastPencil Premiere Signs Mercer Mayer". Publishers Weekly. Jan 25, 2011.
"A BOY, A DOG AND A FROG". Kirkus Reviews. 1967. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
"One Monster About Another". Publishers Weekly. 1 May 2002.
Streetman, Burgin. "Meet Mercer Mayer: Part One". Vintage Kids Books My Kids Love. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
"Editions list". Goodreads. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
General sources
St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th edition, St. James Press (Detroit), 1999.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/gina-mayer-obituary?pid=187368986
External links
Official website Edit this at Wikidata
Little Critter author Mercer Mayer launches new shingle
With a massive catalogue of over 300 titles to play with, Mayer’s company will expand his many book-based IPs into animated content and consumer products.
By Cole WatsonNovember 16, 2022
Just Me and My New Company. Or so might be the title of the next book in iconic author/illustrator Mercer Mayer’s decades-long career, with the announcement today that he has established a new business venture to extend the reach of his IPs beyond publishing.
Mayer is partnering with digital producer and game designer John Sansevere to launch TWELVE/30, which will focus on exploiting his kids book catalogue of more than 300 titles across all consumer products and entertainment media categories. The pair first worked together in 2012, using Sansevere’s New York-based game studio Dancing Penguins to develop an educational kids app called Little Critter: Where Is My Frog.
Also based in New York, their new joint-venture’s daily business and overall strategy will be overseen by Sansevere as managing partner. First up for development is Mayer’s Little Critter franchise, a long-running book series that’s ripe for extensions in consumer products and animation.
The first Little Critter book was published in 1975, and the franchise now features 200-plus titles that have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide. Aimed at kids ages two to six, the stories center around the adventures of a friendly and sometimes mischievous critter who deals with common childhood challenges like nightmares, potty training and growing up.
Ahead of officially forming the company this month, its co-founders signed their first licensing agreement in September. They will create a new series of Little Critter books for early readers with HarperCollins, which currently publishes 54 Little Critter titles and has an option to pick up more under the new deal.
TWELVE/30 also plans to develop a series of six-minute Little Critter animated shorts, which are currently being written and storyboarded. And other Mayer IPs earmarked for new business include the 11-title Little Monster book series and the author’s first published picture book from 1967, A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog.
Mercer Mayer Teams with John Sansevere to Launch TWELVE/30
Mercedes Milligan
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Mercedes Milligan
November 16, 2022
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Bestselling children’s book authors and illustrator Mercer Mayer has partnered with digital media writer, producer and game designer John R. Sansevere to form TWELVE/30, LLC, with a mission to develop and exploit Mayer’s catalog of over 300 titles across all media and consumer products. TWELVE/30 has exclusive media and licensing rights across all consumer products categories and all new publishing. Sansevere will serve as the company’s Managing Partner.
Alligator Under My Bed
“Multiple generations born after 1980 grew up with Mercer Mayer’s books and are now passing on their love for his characters and stories to their own children,” commented Sansevere. “The first IP we will develop is Little Critter, one of the last remaining evergreen U.S. publishing brands that has never had a TV show or large-scale licensing and merchandising program. With the 50th anniversary of Little Critter coming up in 2025, this is a perfect time to bring the world of Little Critter to new audiences everywhere through animated content and appealing products that will allow children to further engage with the brand.”
The initial brand focus for the newly established company will be Mayer’s iconic Little Critter, for which over 200 million books have been sold since Just for You, the first book in the series, debuted in 1975. Targeting children two to six years old, Little Critter’s hilarious and deeply relatable scrapes and escapades continue to charm audiences everywhere as the issues he deals with as he grows up are as timeless, classic and relevant today as they were over 40 years ago. Multiple titles have appeared on The New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly lists of all-time best-selling children’s paperback books.
Prof Wormbog
Other series to be initially developed include the 11-title Little Monster book series about a juvenile dragon-y, dinosaur-like creature and his daily adventures; the six-title A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog series, featuring Mayer’s first published book, which was wordless; his classics, including There’s a Nightmare in My Closet and There’s an Alligator Under My Bed; as well as the iconic One Monster After Another, Professor Wormbog in Search of the Zipperump-a-Zoo and the quirky, spooky picture book Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp.
TWELVE/30 has signed its first licensing agreement with HarperCollins for a new series of Little Critter books to include two titles under the publisher’s recently launched “I Can Read Comics” label, as well as two new readers in the “I Can Read” series for which there are currently 22 top-selling Little Critter titles according to the publisher. There are 54 Little Critter titles with HarperCollins, with an option for more, and 41 titles with Random House in print or rotation. Little Critter will also soon be featured in a Costco Little Critter Deluxe Treasury Collection.
Little Critter
Little Critter
TWELVE/30will also create animated content for the IPs for television and/or streaming. The first project will be a series of animated shorts with the first Little Critter “I Can Read Comics” title as the basis for the initial episode, to premiere on a newly branded Little Critter YouTube channel.
“I’ve been publishing stories for over 55 years, adventures inspired from my childhood or my children’s childhoods, and now I get inspiration from my grandkids,” said Mayer. “I’ve long wanted to explore opportunities that will allow kids to engage with my characters and stories in ways that appeal to a new generation of children. Having worked with John over the years, I am extremely excited to collaborate with him again in the launch of TWELVE/30and to continue creating inspiring new content and products based on my published works that parents will trust, and children will love.”
Mercer Mayer’s ‘Little Critter’ to be Developed into Global Entertainment Property
All global rights to the ‘Little Critter’ IP acquired by the newly-established Little Critter LLC formed by John R. Sansevere-headed investment group.
By Jennifer Wolfe | Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 7:26pm
In Books, Business, Cartoons, Licensing | ANIMATIONWorld, Headline News | Geographic Region: North America
NEW YORK -- With over 200 million Little Critter books sold and over 100 titles currently in print in the U.S. alone, global popularity for the Little Critter character, created by award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Mercer Mayer, continues to grow. The success of the evergreen Little Critter has led to an agreement that was signed today between Mercer Mayer and Little Critter LLC, to develop the IP into a global entertainment brand. John R. Sansevere will spearhead the venture to create animated content for multiplatform distribution and to develop a strategic global licensing and merchandising program across a multitude of categories.
John R. Sansevere, a successful producer, creative director, writer, and designer for all aspects of entertainment, including games, publishing, and television, has been a long-time business partner of Mayer. He established Little Critter LLC together with Sword, Rowe & Company, DisruptiveLA, and Richard Dreher, each of whom will provide a unique advisory role to the company. Sword Rowe, which serves as Little Critter LLC’s strategic and financial advisor, is a boutique merchant bank whose principals, Sam Holdsworth and Dan Rowe, have a long history of launching successful content and IP focused businesses. DisruptiveLA’s James Burke and Chris Miller provide extensive production expertise; and real estate developer Richard Dreher brings his knowledge of capital formation.
To support its efforts, Little Critter LLC has retained Stuart Snyder, the former President/COO of Turner Broadcasting System’s Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media division, and Snyder Media Group, to provide strategic guidance and support across all elements of the project, including identifying and evaluating business opportunities, and to provide leadership of the Little Critter brand in keeping with Little Critter LLC’s efforts to grow the brand in all formats.
“John and I have worked together for many years, and there is no one whom I trust more to lead this esteemed group that he has assembled to bring new and meaningful Little Critter experiences to children everywhere,” commented Mercer Mayer.
“The unwavering popularity of Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter not only in the U.S., but also in overseas markets, solidified for Mercer and myself that it’s time to bring fans new ways to engage with Little Critter,” remarked Sansevere. “In our fast-paced modern world, the importance of embracing traditional family values and the simple things in life are important to parents, and are the heart of this classic and beloved IP. With tens of millions of preschoolers all over the world and the boom of new outlets for children’s programming, Little Critter multiplatform content makes more sense now than ever before.”
“I am excited to be working with John and Sword Rowe to help bring the evergreen character, Little Critter, to its next level of success,” added Snyder.
Little Critter has entertained children for over 40 years. Featured in more than 300 books, which have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, Little Critter is enthusiastic and spirited, an every boy with a big heart and perfect role model for young children everywhere. Currently in development in a 3D version of Mercer Mayer’s signature watercolor style is a CG-animated series set in the world of Critterville, populated by a diverse cast of appealing animal characters, where old-fashioned family values reign with a twenty-first century twist. Humorous and rich storytelling focuses on neighborhood adventures and the challenges of growing-up, with a narrative underpinning that promotes social-emotional learning and the value of family and community.
Little Critter’s popularity continues to grow. In the U.S., where Random House and Harper Collins are the book publishers, there are currently over 100 titles in print. Little Critter has appeared on the New York Times Best-Seller List, Publisher’s Weekly List of All-Time Best-Selling Children’s Paperback Books, and Publisher’s Weekly list of All-Time Best-Selling Children’s Paperback Books of the Year. Overseas, Little Critter has been translated into 8 languages and sold in 10 countries. In China, 12 Little Critter titles were published in 2013; as a result of their success, 108 additional titles are set for release in 2016. In Korea, 16 Little Critter titles were licensed to Eplis for an audio/book package; Eplis has since licensed 40 additional Little Critter titles to be released in an enhanced ebook program.
45 Little Critter mobile apps have also been published, 39 of which were developed by OceanHouse Media, whose Little Critter: First Day of School app reached #4 in iTunes paid book charts. Sansevere’s Dancing Penguins produced an additional 6 apps, including Little Critter: Where Is My Frog, published by Sterling, and the winner of the 2012 Appy Award in the Games: Educational/Family/Kids category; and Little Critter: The Trip published by Baker & Taylor, was a Parent’s Choice Award Winner, and reached #4 in the Educational category and #7 in Kids for iPad.
Source: Little Critter LLC
It's True
Mercer Mayer. Thomas Nelson, $9.99 (24p) ISBN 978-1-4003-2246-6; $3.99 paper ISBN 9781-4003-2247-3
Mayer's Little Critter returns in a new series based on religious themes, beginning with honesty. The book's narrative and illustrative style remains consistent with that of Mayer's many previous titles featuring his furry, overalls-clad hero. Full- and half-spread illustrations feature a familiar cast of animals with big, cartoon-like eyes at home, at school, and at play. In this tale, Little Critter describes a string of events in which his claims to have finished his homework, fed the dog, and brushed his teeth, for example, prove only half-true. When a half-truth told in school leads to false expectations, he realizes "that not telling the whole truth was really the same as lying." Anguished to the point of running away, Little Critter hears scriptural wisdom from his grandfather: "In the Bible, God says the truth will set you free." This leads to a predictable, but satisfying conclusion. Easy to relate to, this story will likely have cross-over appeal to Mayer's fans and a broad Christian audience. You Go First is being released simultaneously. Ages 1-4. (Oct.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"It's True." Publishers Weekly, vol. 260, no. 42, 21 Oct. 2013, p. 55. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A349902356/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0fece5b8. Accessed 16 June 2023.
MAYER, Mercer. Little Critter: Monster Truck. illus. by Mercer Mayer. 32p. (My First I Can Read). HarperCollins. Mar. 2023. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9780062431493; pap. $4.99. ISBN 9780062431486.
PreS-Gr 1--Little Critter's friend Tiger has a new Squisher monster truck, and his dad will buy him one, too, if he helps pay for it by doing chores. But to Little Critter's disappointment, the toy store is out of Squishers! However, it turns out that his uncle has a real monster truck, and after a Monster Truck Rally, there's a surprise for Little Critter. This title is meant for shared rather than independent reading. As such, it appears more challenging than some emergent readers, but a note clearly explains the roles of both the adult and child in exploring the language together. With no more than two sentences per page, Mayer presents readers Little Critter's predicament. This is a pleasant early reader with playful illustrations and a sweet character that might already be familiar to many. VERDICT A satisfying addition to emergent reader collections for classrooms and for libraries where previous titles by this author are popular.--Gloria Koster
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Koster, Gloria. "MAYER, Mercer. Little Critter: Monster Truck." School Library Journal, vol. 69, no. 2, Feb. 2023, pp. 66+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A735604998/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=546b73d0. Accessed 16 June 2023.