R.I.P. Frank Asch, 76, in 2022 (writer/illus. of "Moonbear" books)

[Lenona]

I can't find an obit, but he was born in August of 1946 and Wikipedia says he was 76 when he died.

In his last years, he lived in Kapa'au Hawaii.

I knew him for "The Blue Balloon," which is eerie.

From Wikipedia:

...In 1968, Asch published his first picture book, George's Store. The following year, he graduated from Cooper Union with a BFA. Since then he has taught at a public school in India, as well as at a Montessori school in the United States, and conducted numerous creative workshops for children. He has written over 60 books, including Turtle Tale, Mooncake, I Can Blink and Happy Birthday Moon. In 1989 he wrote Here Comes the Cat! in collaboration with Vladimir Vagin. The book was awarded the Russian National Book Award and was considered the first Russian-American collaboration on a children's book...

He had four entries in the "Something About the Author" encyclopedias.

More here:

https://www.facebook.com/FrankAsch/

To my surprise, he also wrote the 1970 book "Yellow Yellow"! I definitely remember that one.

https://partnersandson.com/products/yellow-yellow
(some pictures and a review)

Excerpt:

"A boy, a yellow hard hat, and a dizzying urban landscape from the artist of Who Needs Donuts, Yellow Yellow is a charmingly simple story of a child whose playground is a gritty urban cityscape, written by Frank Asch and drawn by Mark Alan Stamaty. With no parent in sight, the boy wanders the sidewalks to find a yellow construction hat which quickly becomes his favorite belonging; earning him many compliments from strangers on nearby stoops. Eventually the boy meets the owner of the hat and must return it, leading the child to make his own yellow hat. Yet the story comes alive via the visual feast of urban oddities..."

https://www.books4yourkids.com/2019/05/yellow-yellow-story-by-frank-asch.html
(more about the book - and more pictures)

Btw, the cartoonist Stamaty is still around, at 76.

https://momreadit.com/2019/05/24/a-concept-classic-returns-yellow-yellow-by-frank-asch-mark-alan-stamaty/
(even more about it. Quote: "If you love the old school Sesame Street music cutaways, like the famous pinball “12” song, Yellow Yellow will hit you right in the heartstrings.")

https://www.facebook.com/LibrairieDandQ/videos/story-time-yellow-yellow/195817101718240/
(read-aloud - it's 3:36 minutes long)

On to "The Blue Balloon"...

Here's what I posted at Booksleuth, in 2009, when I couldn't remember the author's name:

I saw this in the 1970s. It's ALMOST wordless, with simple ink illustrations. A boy's balloon pops. In tears, he glues the pieces together and inflates it again - and it has an unhappy expression. But then the string "pops"! He catches the balloon by climbing onto a house. The house "pops"! The balloon now has a wicked smile on its face - and the string snaps, dropping the boy into the clutches of a dinosaur-like creature. It turns out to be friendly and gives the boy some "balloon food." The boy sets out the food and the balloon can't resist it. The boy approaches with a gun and ties another string onto the balloon. But then the boy "pops"! The balloon sheds tears and drifts away. A flower grows at the spot.

Pretty memorable!

https://community.abebooks.com/s/question/0D58V00007dtbnUSAQ/creepy-wordless-balloon-story?topicId=0TO8V0000015HqUWAU&count=undefined

As you'll see, it took a whole week for the posters to come up with the right book.

Here's where you can see the pictures:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=balloon&w=23097960%40N04

Trouble is, they're out of order and at least three are missing.

Of course, given the gun, the book is now kind of unpopular.

More about that, with comments from Asch himself:

http://wildthings.blaine.org/?p=173

Btw, that old joke Asch tells about the busy father, the boy, and the double-sided picture was also presented by MAD cartoonist Dave Berg (in one of his books), but with more philosophical phrasing. Something like "once I got the man straightened out, the whole world fell into place." (As I remember, Berg was pretty religious.)

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=582673243&rlz=1CAVLER_enUS1084&q=frank+asch+books&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimh9aHvsaCAxWSFlkFHXtvCIEQ0pQJegQIDRAB&biw=1920&bih=956&dpr=1
(book covers)

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/author/frank-asch/
(a lot of Kirkus reviews)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/75172.Frank_Asch

https://biography.jrank.org/pages/910/Asch-Frank-1946.html
(booklist and LONG article on his work)

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=582673243&rlz=1CAVLER_enUS1084&q=frank+asch&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiU2v_7vMaCAxV3EFkFHeKhCDMQ0pQJegQICxAB&biw=1920&bih=956&dpr=1
(his videos and read-alouds)