B-109

Robert Lopshire and Maria Karipidou

Robert Lopshire published five Beginner Books in his lifetime, but he also did books for several other publishers. One of his final books was 1993’s Shut the Door!, which was published as a “First Little Golden Book.” These were even littler than the typical Little Golden Books, and the language was simplified. This particular story, told in rhyming couplets, is a logical insanity plot about the escalating effects of little bear forgetting to close the door to his house. Given all of those factors, and the fact that it was done by a beloved Beginner Book veteran, the director Little Golden Books, Diane Muldrow, had the great idea to turn Shut the Door! into a Beginner Book.

Though Bob's illustrations for the original book were charming and well-composed (as his work always was), the square dimensions prevented them from being adapted to the portrait rectangle Beginner Book format. So they brought in German illustrator Maria Karipidou. Maria attended Trier University of Applied Science and graduated with a degree in design and illustration. She lives in Karlsruhe, Germany, and teaches at the School of Design in Pforzheim. Though she has illustrated many children’s books, Shut the Door! is one of her first in English.            

Maria’s style is cute and exaggerated, finished in the style of what I call Neo-Mid-Century-Disney-Concept-Art. The pictures are certainly bolder and brighter than Bob’s originals, but are missing the constant left-to-right momentum that Bob had baked into his approach from working so closely with Ted and absorbing his philosophies.

B-111

Diane Muldrow and Mike Yamada

In this book, which is reminiscent of the Bright and Early Books that spotlight different parts of the body, a young Black girl celebrates her favorite color.

There’s no plot, just a journey through all the different shades and manifestations of the hue: “Pink is a leaf / Pink is a place / Pink is a gem / Pink is a face.” Perhaps the most significant moment is when she claims she’ll be president one day, and have the White House repainted in pink. Historically, Beginner Books have never gotten political (unless you count Ted’s repurposing of Marvin K. Mooney to advocate for the resignation of Richard Nixon), but it’s hard not to grasp the significance of a young Black girl confidently stating her intention to be president, especially considering that the book was written and released during the regressive Trump administration and foretold the 2024 candidacy of Kamala Harris.

The Pink Book is written in verse that alternates between couplets, internal rhymes, and four-line rhymes. While it’s not unusual for Beginner Books to combine different meters, usually one dominates over the others. Here the verse goes back and forth with no pattern, which prevents it from establishing a comfortable rhythm.

Writer Diane Muldrow (born circa 1962) is no stranger to Random House. She worked there as an editor for many years, and was primarily in charge of Little Golden Books after Random House purchased the line in 1998. Diane has written and edited books celebrating Little Golden Books, and she has even written some  herself, including Where Do Giggles Come From? (with Anne Kennedy), How Do Penguins Play? (with David Walker), and The Fairies’ Ball (with Olivia Chin Mueller). She also worked with fellow Beginner Book creator Bob Staake on 2010’s We Planted a Tree.

Diane grew up in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and attended Ohio University, earning degrees in both dance and journalism. She would use both in her career. According to her website, in the late 1980s and early 1990s Diane was an avant-garde dancer, actress, and singer in New York. In the mid-1990s she went to work for Scholastic as an editor, which eventually led her to Random House. Her great affection for Little Golden Books made her the perfect person to steward the line, honoring the past classics and finding new artists and writers to add books to it.

The illustrations for The Pink Book are appropriately bright and all-consuming, done in the same Mid-Centry-Disney-Concept-Art style Maria Karipidou and Nicola Slater employ. That’s fitting in this case, because artist Mike Yamada actually worked in visual development for Disney, as well as Dreamworks. His credits include Big Hero 6, How to Train Your Dragon, and Monsters vs. Aliens. The L.A.-based artist is also a veteran of kids’ books, having done pictures for Hannah Barnaby’s Bad Guy, Luke Reynolds’s Bedtime Blastoff, Jennifer Liberts’s Go, Go…series of Step Into Reading books, among others. He also wrote and drew Cool Cat and Top Dog.