Clement Hurd
Clement Hurd | |
---|---|
John Thacher Hurd | |
Parent | (father) |
Clement Gazzam Hurd
Biography
Early life
Hurd was born in New York City
Career
Hurd returned to New York in 1933 to work as a commercial artist. There Margaret Wise Brown was an editor at W. R. Scott, as well as a writer of picture book texts. On seeing two of his paintings, she asked him if he would consider illustrating children's books. She wrote a text herself, for what became Bumble Bugs and Elephants (1938) —"perhaps the first modern board book for babies."[4] Hurd's next collaboration with Brown, The Runaway Bunny, has been in print continuously since its 1942 publication. Their next book, Goodnight Moon (1947), is considered classic children's literature in North America; by 1990, the total number of copies sold was more than 4 million.[6] In 2007, the National Education Association listed Goodnight Moon as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".[7] In 2012 it was ranked number four among the "Top 100 Picture Books" in a survey published by School Library Journal.[8]
Hurd also illustrated over fifty books written by his wife Edith Thacher Hurd (a friend of Brown's) as well as a children's book written by Gertrude Stein, The World Is Round. Hurd wrote and illustrated the book Run, Run, Run.
Hurd died of Alzheimer's disease at a San Francisco hospital in 1988.[5]
Personal life
His son Thacher Hurd is also a children's book author and illustrator, and referred in an interview to the "wonderful aura of creativity" surrounding his father and the Vermont farm that was their home.[4]
Legacy
A doctored/altered photo of Hurd was included in the 60th anniversary republication of Goodnight Moon with a cigarette removed from his hand, an incident of tobacco bowdlerization that caused controversy over publication standards.[9]
Hurd's work, as well as that of his wife and son, were featured at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center in the 2004 exhibition "From Goodnight Moon to Art Dog: The World of Clement, Edith and Thatcher Hurd."
Selected works
- The World Is Round (New York: W. R. Scott, 1939), words by OCLC 10175454
- The Merry Chase (Random House, 1941)
- The Race Between the Monkey and the Duck (Wonder Books, 1946)
- Run Run Run: Story of Black Cat and Dog (Harper, 1951), OCLC 1412335
- Margaret Wise Brown
- Bumble Bugs and Elephants (W. R. Scott, 1938)
- The Runaway Bunny (Harper, 1942)
- Goodnight Moon (Harper, 1947)
- My World (Harper, 1949), Brown – a Goodnight Moon book
- Good-night Moon Room (Harper, 1984) — pop-up book version
- Goodnight Moon's 123: A Counting Book (HarperCollins, 2007)
- Goodnight Moon's ABC: An Alphabet Book (HarperCollins, 2010)
- Edith Thacher Hurd
- Benny the Bulldozer (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1947)
- Little Brass Band (Harper, 1955)
- Windy and the Willow Whistle (Sterling, 1956)
- Mr. Charlie, the Fireman's Friend (Lippincott, 1958)
- Last One Home is a Green Pig (Harper, 1959)
- Hurry Hurry (Harper, 1960)
- Come and Have Fun (Harper, 1962)
- Christmas Eve (Harper, 1962)
- No Funny Business (Harper, 1962)
- The Day the Sun Danced (Harper, 1965)
- Johnny Lion's Book (Harper, 1965)
- What Whale? Where? (Harper, 1966)
- The Blue Heron Tree (Viking, 1968)
- This is the Forest (Coward-McCann, 1969)
- Catfish (Viking, 1970)
- Johnny Lion's Bad Day (Harper, 1970)
- Wilson's World (Harper, 1971)
- Johnny Lion's Rubber Boots (Harper, 1972)
- The Mother Owl (Little, Brown, 1974)
- The Mother Kangaroo (Little, Brown, 1976)
- Look for a Bird (Harper, 1977)
- The Mother Chimpanzee (Little, Brown, 1978)
- Under the Lemon Tree (Little, Brown, 1980)
References
- ^ "RICHARD M. HURD, 75, FINANCE FIRM HEAD; Chairman of Lawyers Mortgage Corporation Dies in Hospital," New York Times (June 7, 1941).
- ^
Silvey, Anita (2002). The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 214. ISBN 9780547348896.
olivia thacher hurd.
- ^ The New York Red Book. Williams Press. 1916. p. 65.
- ^ a b c d Leonard S. Marcus (1997). "Meet Clement Hurd". Enter the World of Margaret Wise Brown. HarperCollins Children's. Retrieved 2014-10-01. Apparently citing Marcus's book, Dear Genius, The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom.
- ^ a b McDowell, Edwin (February 10, 1988). "Clement G. Hurd, 80, Illustrator Of Many Children's Books, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- ^ "The Writer's Almanac for the week of May 21, 2007". Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ National Education Association (2007). "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". Archived from the original on 2013-07-30. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
- ^ Bird, Elizabeth (July 6, 2012). "Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results". "A Fuse #8 Production". Blog. School Library Journal (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com). Archived from the original on December 4, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
- ^ Wyatt, Edward (November 17, 2005). "'Goodnight Moon', Smokeless Version". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
External links
- Clement Hurd Papers at Children's Literature Research Collection, University of Minnesota
- Clement Hurd at Library of Congress, with 99 library catalog records