JIM!

Beloved children’s book creator James Marshall receives his due.

How well do today’s kids know Marshall’s work? If their knowledge is insufficient, then Connors aims to rectify the situation! Similar to one of Marshall’s George and Martha books, this volume is divided into six short stories. Connors encapsulates the life and work of Marshall, referred to here as James or Jim—his path to publication, his school visits, and his death from AIDS in 1992. The major players in Jim’s life are depicted as Marshall-esque animals: Jim is a fox, his friends and fellow authors Maurice Sendak and Arnold Lobel are a bulldog and a pig (respectively), and Jim’s longtime romantic partner, Billy, is a cat. With its witty invented dialogue, the book falls squarely into the “informational fiction” category of biography, reminding readers that the greatest truths are often told through the eyes of fiction. Connors knows his subject well, each tale highlighting a universal truth through the lens of Marshall’s life; the final chapter, which finds Jim in the hospital surrounded by loved ones, brings this rich and affectionate tribute to a conclusion that's simultaneously uplifting and heartbreaking as Jim muses on his legacy. The book is rife with Marshall in-jokes (delightful touches include the alternate names for Viola Swamp from Miss Nelson Is Missing!), and Connors’ animated, thick-lined cartoon illustrations are reminiscent of Marshall’s own.

Charming, funny, strange, and sad. A better bio of Jim could hardly exist.