Shock and grief hit the world of children’s book readers and writers this week in the death of Tomie de Paola. The lovable little guy became a literary giant among children, teachers, and writers. His website says he illustrated 268 books and wrote 144 with only three of those illustrated by another artist. His distinctive illustrations required only a glance to know the artist. Not only were his books favorites for kids and their teachers, he shared his knowledge and passion generously with writers, becoming a longtime supporter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. But the real grief comes from the personal feelings that arose through his life and his words.
My personal favorite comes from a book that Tomie signed the only time I met him in 1983. I was teaching second grade, and he signed it to “The Beautiful Butler Bunch,” the name I gave all my classes. My classes loved all his stories, but Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs became a favorite and then therapy. The story is an account of Tommy losing his great-grandmother with his mother’s explanation that a falling star may be a kiss thrown down to him from her in heaven, and his application of that as a grown man when he loses his grandmother as well and sees another falling star. (Tomie said he changed the spelling of the boy’s name so nobody would know it was really him.)
Sometime after I got the book, Cristina, one of my dependably good students, suddenly started to have trouble staying on task and began missing obvious answers in the papers she turned in. The first day I just thought something had distracted her, but by the second day, I knew something was wrong and called her mother with my concern. Her mother said she knew what the problem was and would come in the following day.
Cristina’s grandmother had died unexpectedly. Artwork, carefully done by Cristina for her grandmother, had not been mailed and added to her grief. I pulled Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs and told the mother to take it home to read with Cristina and talk about their loss. The next day, Cristina returned as her old self. She would not be the last second grader to take it home after losing a grandparent. You might be able to guess by its condition that though my second graders took good care of the book, they wore it absolutely out!
My Facebook lit up this week as book loving friends shared their grief with the news that Tomie had died from the aftereffects of a fall. I share their sorrow, but I’m going to be on the lookout for falling stars since Tomie will be joining Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, and I’m expecting him to be throwing down kisses.
