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Happy 90th, Joan M. Lexau! ("Striped Ice Cream!" 1968)
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leno...@yahoo.com
Mar 9, 2019, 1:48:38 PM3/9/19
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Aka Joan L. Nodset, she lives in Otisville, New York. Or, according to some, NYC.
https://www.exodusbooks.com/joan-nodset/1801/
(includes old B&W photo)
Excerpt:
"Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, as Joan Lexau, the author later found employment as an editorial secretary, an advertising production manager, and a free-lance writer. She also worked with Harper and Row Publishers until 1961, the same year her first book saw publication. This success encouraged her to write full-time and primarily for children, though she also contributed to adult magazines such as Good Housekeeping..."
(snip)
From the back cover of "Striped Ice Cream!"
"Becky is feeling miserable. It's almost her birthday, but this year no one seems to care. Becky knows her family is too poor to buy presents. But why do they have to be so mean to her? Whey do they keep whispering behind her back and leaving her out?"
It's amazing how "Striped Ice Cream!" doesn't date that much, after 40 years. More about that, from "St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th ed. St. James Press, 1999":
"The sweet side of harsh reality defines the sentiment and the setting of some of Joan M. Lexau's most effective endeavours. When the scene is Harlem she sketches the street gangs and the tenements, the precarious financial circumstances and the inevitable one-adult households. But such socially erosive factors never dominate. They are the foil which sets off her most telling theme--the triumph of the human spirit.
"It is never an epic victory. Harlem must remain what it is, an all-too-often inescapable terrain, a cauldron forever seething and threatening to reduce solid humanity into a soft decomposing mass. But there are those who with sustained commitment to decency and ordered existence achieve a succession of modest accomplishments in the ongoing struggle against the forces of uncertainty and despair."
Then again, not everyone agrees that it isn't that dated. One naysayer was in "Dictionary of American Children's Fiction, 1960-1984: Recent Books ..., Volume 2."
Anyway:
http://outspokenmotherhood.blogspot.com/2013/04/striped-ice-cream-by-joan-m-lexau.html
(fond memory of "Striped Ice Cream!")
https://www.freejinger.org/blogs/entry/1261-striped-ice-cream/
(another)
One thing that stood out for me, as an adult, was the scene where Becky asks permission, in a public library, to bring her OWN book in and sit down and read it.
The librarian says: "It's such a hot day out, I don't see why not."
Sounds odd, doesn't it? After all, the librarian could have said, simply, "of course you can - that's what we're here for!" But the implication was that she was doing Becky an unusual favor, since Becky wasn't helping the library by actually borrowing a book. Somehow, I doubt that the rules were that strict against CHILD "loiterers" in libraries, in 1968. Unless there's something else going on.
About "The Christmas Secret":
"It is winter in New York City. The wind is cold. It blows through the cracked walls of the apartment where Jose and his mother and his little brother live. 'Mami must be cold with just a cotton blanket,' Jose thinks. 'It is up to me to get her a warm one. Christms is coming in six more days. God, please let me get Mami a blanket for Christmas.' "
About "Olaf Reads," from TIME, 1961:
" 'Olaf Reads'...after a fashion. When his mother sends this freckled little menace out to mail a letter, he puts it in a basket marked PUT LITTER HERE. 'I can read,' said Olaf, 'but they can't spell.' Not librarians, policemen, or entire fire departments can keep Olaf from his disastrous alphabetical go-rounds. As an almost-know-it-all, Olaf is probably the funniest first reader since Mrs. Malaprop."
More on "Olaf Reads," with pictures:
http://ellenclare.blogspot.com/2007/07/book-review-olaf-reads-by-joan-lexau.html
Back cover of "The Trouble With Terry":
"Everything I do turns out wrong!" Terry wails. Poor Terry!
She makes a promise to her best friend - and forgets all about it.
She boils eggs on the stove - and they explode.
She helps her brother deliver papers - and hits her teacher in the
stomach with the Evening News!
Here's Terry in one funny mishap after another - and a wonderful
surprise at the end.
Some covers:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&q=joan+lexau+&btnG=Search+Images
https://www.google.com/search?ei=JQKEXKSvG4St_QaVyoPYCg&q=joan+lexau+kirkus&oq=joan+lexau+kirkus&gs_l=psy-ab.3...30693.33151..33550...0.0..0.158.1260.3j8......0....1..gws-wiz.5OcBjr4qAiI
(Kirkus reviews - two pages worth)
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/294740.Joan_M_Lexau
(reader reviews)
https://www.google.com/search?ei=2wGEXLjNJOnn_QbZ763gCg&q=joan+nodset+kirkus&oq=joan+nodset+kirkus&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i160l2.3126.4257..4446...0.0..0.137.866.0j7......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i22i30j33i299.JNpQ_V0HfZo
(three Kirkus reviews of Nodset books)
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18538.Joan_L_Nodset
(reader reviews of Nodset books)
https://www.google.com/search?q=joan+lexau&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixwKS22_XgAhWHVN8KHSKyCmoQ_AUIESgE&biw=1284&bih=857
(videos about her books)
Bibliography:
Olaf Reads, illustrated by Harvey Weiss. New York, Dial Press, 1961.
Cathy Is Company, illustrated by Aliki. New York, Dial Press, 1961.
Millicent's Ghost, illustrated by Ben Shecter. New York, Dial Press, 1962.
The Trouble with Terry, illustrated by Irene Murray. New York, Dial Press, 1962.
Olaf Is Late, illustrated by Harvey Weiss. New York, Dial Press, 1963.
That's Good, That's Bad, illustrated by Aliki. New York, Dial Press, 1963.
José's Christmas Secret, illustrated by Don Bolognese. New York, Dial Press, 1963; revised edition, as The Christmas Secret, New York, Scholastic, 1973.
Benjie, illustrated by Don Bolognese. New York, Dial Press, 1964.
Maria, illustrated by Ernest Crichlow. New York, Dial Press, 1964.
I Should Have Stayed in Bed!, illustrated by Syd Hoff. New York, Harper, 1965; Kingswood, Surrey, World's Work, 1966.
More Beautiful than Flowers, illustrated by Don Bolognese. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1966.
The Homework Caper, illustrated by Syd Hoff. New York, Harper, 1966.
A Kite over Tenth Avenue, illustrated by Symeon Shimin. New York, Doubleday, 1967.
Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers, illustrated by Tomie de Paola. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1967.
Every Day a Dragon, illustrated by Ben Shecter. New York, Harper, 1967.
Three Wishes for Abner, illustrated by Gloria Kamen. Boston, Ginn, 1967.
Striped Ice Cream!, illustrated by John Wilson. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1968.
The Rooftop Mystery, illustrated by Syd Hoff. New York, Harper, 1968; Kingswood, Surrey, World's Work, 1969.
A House So Big, illustrated by Fritz Siebel. New York, Harper, 1968.
Archimedes Takes a Bath, illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca. New York, Crowell, 1969.
Benjie on His Own, illustrated by Don Bolognese. New York, Dial Press, 1970.
Me Day, illustrated by Robert Weaver. New York, Dial Press, 1971.
Emily and the Klunky Baby and the Next-Door Dog, illustrated by Martha Alexander. New York, Dial Press, 1972.
I'll Tell on You, illustrated by Gail Owens. New York, Dutton, 1976.
I Hate Red Rover, illustrated by Gail Owens. New York, Dutton, 1979.
The Poison Ivy Case, illustrated by Marylin Hafner. New York, Dial Press, 1983.
Strawberry Shortcake and Sad Mr. Sun, illustrated by Pat Sustendal. Beverly, Massachusetts, Parker, 1983.
Don't Be My Valentine, illustrated by Syd Hoff. New York, Harper, 1985.
The Dog Food Caper, illustrated by Marylin Hafner. New York, Dial Press, 1985; London, A. and C. Black, 1987.
Oh, Little Rabbit!, illustrated by Kathy Wilburn. New York, Golden Books, 1989.
Trouble Will Find You, illustrated by Michael Chesworth. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Fiction as Joan L. Nodset
Who Took the Farmer's Hat?, illustrated by Fritz Siebel. New York, Harper, 1963.
Go Away, Dog, illustrated by Crosby Bonsall. New York, Harper, 1963.
Where Do You Go When You Run Away?, illustrated by Adriana Saviozzi. Indianapolis, Bobbs Merrill, 1964.
Come Here, Cat, illustrated by Steven Kellogg. New York, Harper, 1973.
Other (folktales)
Crocodile and Hen, illustrated by Joan Sandin. New York, Harper, 1969.
It All Began with a Drip, Drip, Drip..., illustrated by Joan Sandin. New York, McCall, 1970; Kingswood, Surrey, World's Work, 1972.
T for Tommy, illustrated by Janet Compere. Champaign, Illinois, Garrard, 1971.
That's Just Fine, and Who-o-o Did It?, illustrated by Dora Leder. Champaign, Illinois, Garrard, 1971.
The Tail of the Mouse, illustrated by Roberta Langman. Boston, Ginn, 1974.
The Spider Makes a Web, illustrated by Arabelle Wheatley. New York, Hastings House, 1979.
Jack and the Beanstalk, illustrated by Carol Nicklaus. New York, Random House, 1980.
Other
Come! Sit! Stay!, illustrated by Marsha Winborn. New York, Watts, 1984.
Publications for Adults
Editor, Convent Life: Roman Catholic Religious Orders for Women in North America. New York, Dial Press, 1964.
Lenona.
https://www.exodusbooks.com/joan-nodset/1801/
(includes old B&W photo)
Excerpt:
"Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, as Joan Lexau, the author later found employment as an editorial secretary, an advertising production manager, and a free-lance writer. She also worked with Harper and Row Publishers until 1961, the same year her first book saw publication. This success encouraged her to write full-time and primarily for children, though she also contributed to adult magazines such as Good Housekeeping..."
(snip)
From the back cover of "Striped Ice Cream!"
"Becky is feeling miserable. It's almost her birthday, but this year no one seems to care. Becky knows her family is too poor to buy presents. But why do they have to be so mean to her? Whey do they keep whispering behind her back and leaving her out?"
It's amazing how "Striped Ice Cream!" doesn't date that much, after 40 years. More about that, from "St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th ed. St. James Press, 1999":
"The sweet side of harsh reality defines the sentiment and the setting of some of Joan M. Lexau's most effective endeavours. When the scene is Harlem she sketches the street gangs and the tenements, the precarious financial circumstances and the inevitable one-adult households. But such socially erosive factors never dominate. They are the foil which sets off her most telling theme--the triumph of the human spirit.
"It is never an epic victory. Harlem must remain what it is, an all-too-often inescapable terrain, a cauldron forever seething and threatening to reduce solid humanity into a soft decomposing mass. But there are those who with sustained commitment to decency and ordered existence achieve a succession of modest accomplishments in the ongoing struggle against the forces of uncertainty and despair."
Then again, not everyone agrees that it isn't that dated. One naysayer was in "Dictionary of American Children's Fiction, 1960-1984: Recent Books ..., Volume 2."
Anyway:
http://outspokenmotherhood.blogspot.com/2013/04/striped-ice-cream-by-joan-m-lexau.html
(fond memory of "Striped Ice Cream!")
https://www.freejinger.org/blogs/entry/1261-striped-ice-cream/
(another)
One thing that stood out for me, as an adult, was the scene where Becky asks permission, in a public library, to bring her OWN book in and sit down and read it.
The librarian says: "It's such a hot day out, I don't see why not."
Sounds odd, doesn't it? After all, the librarian could have said, simply, "of course you can - that's what we're here for!" But the implication was that she was doing Becky an unusual favor, since Becky wasn't helping the library by actually borrowing a book. Somehow, I doubt that the rules were that strict against CHILD "loiterers" in libraries, in 1968. Unless there's something else going on.
About "The Christmas Secret":
"It is winter in New York City. The wind is cold. It blows through the cracked walls of the apartment where Jose and his mother and his little brother live. 'Mami must be cold with just a cotton blanket,' Jose thinks. 'It is up to me to get her a warm one. Christms is coming in six more days. God, please let me get Mami a blanket for Christmas.' "
About "Olaf Reads," from TIME, 1961:
" 'Olaf Reads'...after a fashion. When his mother sends this freckled little menace out to mail a letter, he puts it in a basket marked PUT LITTER HERE. 'I can read,' said Olaf, 'but they can't spell.' Not librarians, policemen, or entire fire departments can keep Olaf from his disastrous alphabetical go-rounds. As an almost-know-it-all, Olaf is probably the funniest first reader since Mrs. Malaprop."
More on "Olaf Reads," with pictures:
http://ellenclare.blogspot.com/2007/07/book-review-olaf-reads-by-joan-lexau.html
Back cover of "The Trouble With Terry":
"Everything I do turns out wrong!" Terry wails. Poor Terry!
She makes a promise to her best friend - and forgets all about it.
She boils eggs on the stove - and they explode.
She helps her brother deliver papers - and hits her teacher in the
stomach with the Evening News!
Here's Terry in one funny mishap after another - and a wonderful
surprise at the end.
Some covers:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&q=joan+lexau+&btnG=Search+Images
https://www.google.com/search?ei=JQKEXKSvG4St_QaVyoPYCg&q=joan+lexau+kirkus&oq=joan+lexau+kirkus&gs_l=psy-ab.3...30693.33151..33550...0.0..0.158.1260.3j8......0....1..gws-wiz.5OcBjr4qAiI
(Kirkus reviews - two pages worth)
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/294740.Joan_M_Lexau
(reader reviews)
https://www.google.com/search?ei=2wGEXLjNJOnn_QbZ763gCg&q=joan+nodset+kirkus&oq=joan+nodset+kirkus&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i160l2.3126.4257..4446...0.0..0.137.866.0j7......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i22i30j33i299.JNpQ_V0HfZo
(three Kirkus reviews of Nodset books)
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18538.Joan_L_Nodset
(reader reviews of Nodset books)
https://www.google.com/search?q=joan+lexau&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixwKS22_XgAhWHVN8KHSKyCmoQ_AUIESgE&biw=1284&bih=857
(videos about her books)
Bibliography:
Olaf Reads, illustrated by Harvey Weiss. New York, Dial Press, 1961.
Cathy Is Company, illustrated by Aliki. New York, Dial Press, 1961.
Millicent's Ghost, illustrated by Ben Shecter. New York, Dial Press, 1962.
The Trouble with Terry, illustrated by Irene Murray. New York, Dial Press, 1962.
Olaf Is Late, illustrated by Harvey Weiss. New York, Dial Press, 1963.
That's Good, That's Bad, illustrated by Aliki. New York, Dial Press, 1963.
José's Christmas Secret, illustrated by Don Bolognese. New York, Dial Press, 1963; revised edition, as The Christmas Secret, New York, Scholastic, 1973.
Benjie, illustrated by Don Bolognese. New York, Dial Press, 1964.
Maria, illustrated by Ernest Crichlow. New York, Dial Press, 1964.
I Should Have Stayed in Bed!, illustrated by Syd Hoff. New York, Harper, 1965; Kingswood, Surrey, World's Work, 1966.
More Beautiful than Flowers, illustrated by Don Bolognese. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1966.
The Homework Caper, illustrated by Syd Hoff. New York, Harper, 1966.
A Kite over Tenth Avenue, illustrated by Symeon Shimin. New York, Doubleday, 1967.
Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers, illustrated by Tomie de Paola. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1967.
Every Day a Dragon, illustrated by Ben Shecter. New York, Harper, 1967.
Three Wishes for Abner, illustrated by Gloria Kamen. Boston, Ginn, 1967.
Striped Ice Cream!, illustrated by John Wilson. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1968.
The Rooftop Mystery, illustrated by Syd Hoff. New York, Harper, 1968; Kingswood, Surrey, World's Work, 1969.
A House So Big, illustrated by Fritz Siebel. New York, Harper, 1968.
Archimedes Takes a Bath, illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca. New York, Crowell, 1969.
Benjie on His Own, illustrated by Don Bolognese. New York, Dial Press, 1970.
Me Day, illustrated by Robert Weaver. New York, Dial Press, 1971.
Emily and the Klunky Baby and the Next-Door Dog, illustrated by Martha Alexander. New York, Dial Press, 1972.
I'll Tell on You, illustrated by Gail Owens. New York, Dutton, 1976.
I Hate Red Rover, illustrated by Gail Owens. New York, Dutton, 1979.
The Poison Ivy Case, illustrated by Marylin Hafner. New York, Dial Press, 1983.
Strawberry Shortcake and Sad Mr. Sun, illustrated by Pat Sustendal. Beverly, Massachusetts, Parker, 1983.
Don't Be My Valentine, illustrated by Syd Hoff. New York, Harper, 1985.
The Dog Food Caper, illustrated by Marylin Hafner. New York, Dial Press, 1985; London, A. and C. Black, 1987.
Oh, Little Rabbit!, illustrated by Kathy Wilburn. New York, Golden Books, 1989.
Trouble Will Find You, illustrated by Michael Chesworth. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Fiction as Joan L. Nodset
Who Took the Farmer's Hat?, illustrated by Fritz Siebel. New York, Harper, 1963.
Go Away, Dog, illustrated by Crosby Bonsall. New York, Harper, 1963.
Where Do You Go When You Run Away?, illustrated by Adriana Saviozzi. Indianapolis, Bobbs Merrill, 1964.
Come Here, Cat, illustrated by Steven Kellogg. New York, Harper, 1973.
Other (folktales)
Crocodile and Hen, illustrated by Joan Sandin. New York, Harper, 1969.
It All Began with a Drip, Drip, Drip..., illustrated by Joan Sandin. New York, McCall, 1970; Kingswood, Surrey, World's Work, 1972.
T for Tommy, illustrated by Janet Compere. Champaign, Illinois, Garrard, 1971.
That's Just Fine, and Who-o-o Did It?, illustrated by Dora Leder. Champaign, Illinois, Garrard, 1971.
The Tail of the Mouse, illustrated by Roberta Langman. Boston, Ginn, 1974.
The Spider Makes a Web, illustrated by Arabelle Wheatley. New York, Hastings House, 1979.
Jack and the Beanstalk, illustrated by Carol Nicklaus. New York, Random House, 1980.
Other
Come! Sit! Stay!, illustrated by Marsha Winborn. New York, Watts, 1984.
Publications for Adults
Editor, Convent Life: Roman Catholic Religious Orders for Women in North America. New York, Dial Press, 1964.
Lenona.
leno...@yahoo.com
Mar 9, 2019, 2:53:43 PM3/9/19
to
On Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 1:48:38 PM UTC-5, leno...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> It's amazing how "Striped Ice Cream!" doesn't date that much, after 40 years.
I meant 50, of course.
>
> It's amazing how "Striped Ice Cream!" doesn't date that much, after 40 years.
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