Press Release

Courageby Bernard Waber

• Introduction• Bernard Waber: A Biographical Essay• Happy Birthday, Lyle! Celebrating 40 Years of Lyle the Crocodile• Questions and answers

Introduction

There are many kinds of courage.Awesome kinds.And everyday kinds.Still, courage is courage—whatever kind.— from Courage, by Bernard Waber

What is courage? In his newest book Bernard Waber, sometimes humorously and at other times movingly, portrays the many forms of courage. There are the everyday kinds that normal, ordinary people exhibit all the time, like "being the first to make up after an argument," or "going to bed without a nightlight." There are the admirable kinds like "sending a valentine to someone you secretly admire and signing your real name." And there are the heroic kinds . . .

Perfectly and deftly, without sentimentality, award-winning author/illustrator Bernard Waber touches on the many kinds of courage and celebrates the moments, big and small, that bring out the hero in each of us.

Perhaps best known for his stories about Lyle, the lovable crocodile who lives in New York City, Bernard Waber has been creating books for children for more than forty years. He grew up in Philadelphia and, intent on entering the financial world, enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. After his freshman year, his schooling was interrupted by World War II. When Waber returned to civilian life, he enrolled at the Philadelphia College of Art, a decision he never regretted.

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Soon after graduation, Bernard Waber and his wife, Ethel, moved to New York, a city they loved at once and still do—a feeling Mr. Waber celebrated in his book The House on East 88th Street (1962), which is now celebrating its fortieth year in print. After years spent working for magazines, including Life and People, Mr. Waber now focuses completely on creating books for young readers.

Bernard Waber: A Biographical Essay

"This is Mr. Waber. Mr. Waber is the man who writes those stories about Lyle the Crocodile" is sometimes the way I am introduced to a child. We greet each other, the child and I, and I begin to imagine disappointment in the wide-eyed gaze. Perhaps there was expectation that the "real" Lyle would leap out from behind this not-unusual-looking author. It is tempting, but I resist becoming Lyle and behaving in some ingratiating fashion to desperately compensate for the absent crocodile hero. I offer, instead, to show off some of my Lyle memorabilia, a collection acquired mostly through the generosity of good-humored friends and readers.

My early efforts at drawing were mostly confined to the laborious copying of photographs of film stars and other celebrities of the day. I received respectable grades in art classes during my school years, but I don't think that seriously indicated a career direction. Perhaps art seemed too frivolous for one raised during the Depression. Besides, I was a rather earnest young man and chose instead to major in finance at the University of Pennsylvania. After just one year of schooling, World War II interrupted those high-minded plans. Perhaps it was moving about, meeting people of various backgrounds and experience — I don't recall a precise moment - but somehow during those army days my interest shifted to drawing and painting.

Returning to civilian life, I discarded high finance for enrollment at the Philadelphia College of Art. It was a decision I never regretted. During the four years I attended school, I found great joy in painting and drawing. Soon after graduation, and newly married, Ethel and I moved to New York, a city we loved at once and still do. I celebrated that feeling in The House on East 88th Street (1962), which is celebrating its fortieth year in print this year. My first New York employment was in the promotion department of Condé Nast Publications, and although I have continued in the magazine field, writing and illustrating children's books has been my primary interest since 1961.

My involvement with children's books originated with some illustrations of children I carried in my art portfolio. Several art directors suggested that my drawings seemed suited for children's books. At that time I was having read-aloud sessions with my three children. I am afraid my enthusiasm for "their" books began, in fact, to cause them occasional discomfort. "Daddy, why don't you look at the grownups' books?" they once chided as I trailed after them into the children's room of our local library. Before long I was mailing out stories and ideas to publishers. Rejections followed, but after a time a cheery encouragement arrived from Houghton Mifflin Company, and' to my delight, a contract was offered for Lorenzo.

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In one way or another, I find myself thinking of children's books most of the time. I even enjoy the period when I am between books, for then I am (I hope) susceptible to all manner of adventurous thoughts. I've never been very good at thinking at the typewriter. I seem to write best when in motion. Trains, subways, even elevators, seem to shake ideas loose from my head. Although I write and illustrate, I believe that if forced to choose between the two, I would choose writing. There is a freedom about writing that appeals to me. You can do it almost anywhere — and I have.

Other books by Bernard Waber

Happy Birthday, Lyle! Celebrating 40 Years of Lyle the Crocodile

"Ordinarily I don't like crocodiles. They're reptilian and slithery and bumpety all over. But I like Lyle. He's a different stripe—urbane, cosmopolitan, one of the family, a charmer." — New York Times

"Every home should have a crocodile." It's been forty years since Mrs. Primm first uttered those words in The House on East 88th Street, the first book about everyone's favorite reptile, Lyle the Crocodile. Since then, author/illustrator Bernard Waber has created seven additional books featuring Lyle: Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (1965), Lyle at the Birthday Party (1966), Lovable Lyle (1969), Lyle Finds His Mother (1974), Funny, Funny Lyle (1987), Lyle at the Office (1994), and Lyle at Christmas (1998), as well as many other books for young readers. Lyle's adventures have been translated into German, Dutch, Danish, Spanish, Afrikaans, Swedish, and Japanese, and sales total more than 1.7 million.

Mr. Waber developed the idea for The House on East 88th Street during his lunch hours when he was working in the art department at Life magazine and on his commute on the Long Island Railroad. Of the Lyle books he says, "I don't know where the idea came from, but I have always loved drawing animals, especially crocodiles. When I lived in Philadelphia, I used to subscribe to The New Yorker, and I always loved the brownstone houses that were featured on their covers. I can't explain how it happened, but two things that I like, brownstones and crocodiles, seemed to merge. I never planned on doing a second Lyle book . . . but I'd be showering or shaving and Lyle would pop into my head in a new situation. Now I don't think of my books as sequels but as revisits to a family that I drop in on every now and then when I feel like catching up."

The author of more than thirty books for children, Mr. Waber is often praised for his ability to speak directly to his young readers. In 1955 Mr. Waber and his wife, Ethel, moved from Philadelphia to New York living first in Manhattan and then Long Island. Their home have a very large collection of crocodile memorabilia that has been sent to them by friends and family throughout the years, including a large stuffed Lyle in a claw-footed tub. The Wabers have three children and four grandchildren and have just celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary.

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This fall marks the publication of Mr. Waber's newest book, Courage, a powerful and timely book that celebrates the moments, big and small, that bring out the hero in each of us.

Questions and answers

Q) What were your inspirations for Courage?

A) Jotting down thoughts and observations about courage has absorbed me for years. Not just the kinds of courage featured in headlines, but also life's general challenges from infancy on, such as beginning to walk, tying one's shoes, starting school, and so on. Although I had begun writing Courage long before September 11, that tragic day was so deeply affecting, and so defining of courage for us all, that it influenced the book's inclusion of firefighters and a police officer. Also, it was personally significant because of my long friendship with a now retired New York City firefighter, and the concerns my family shared with his family about the well-being of their two firefighter sons, who were engaged in rescue missions at the twin towers.

Q) What does "courage" mean to you?

A) It's the summoning of core strengths, faith, and idealism in confrontation with life's challenges. My parents' bracing themselves against all odds during the Great Depression taught me valuable lessons in this regard. However, because we are humans with frailties, courage can also mean asking for help and support in the face of overwhelming circumstances.

Q) What do you hope children and adults will take away with them from reading Courage?

A) Although the book is purposely light in approach, I hope it can serve as a springboard for open discussion of all kinds of troubling and challenging circumstances.

Q) What books did you turn to as a child for comfort or hope and joy?

A) Frequent family moves made me the perennial new kid on the block with no prospect of immediate friends, so books became my friends. I borrowed insatiably from various neighborhood branches of the Philadelphia Library. I liked fairy tales—especially the dark ones by the Brothers Grimm-and page-turning adventure stories like The Call of the Wild. I treasured Heidi and Pinocchio because they were my first gift books, and I took pride in owning them.

Q) What books do you turn to now?

A) I'm drawn to biographies of people in the arts: composers, painters, dancers. I want to know about their struggles as well as their achievements. In fiction, I enjoy unique voices like Toni

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Morrison's, and I like discovering new writers such as Jonathan Safran Foer. I also enjoy reading young adult novels like Holes and The Giver. And I sure love picture books.

Q) Describe your creative process from idea or inspiration to finished work.

A) I enjoy it all—researching, writing, rewriting, sketching, illustrating, and designing. Humorous notions and whimsical thinking usually trigger ideas. In the process of writing I like discovering the serious underside of whatever I initially thought was funny. Writing and illustrating are all of a piece. When I am in the illustrating phase, I often fine-tune the writing. Sometimes it's a bit scary because I want so much to produce a book worthy of my readers.

Q) Having created so many books and such memorable characters, such as Lyle the Crocodile and Ira, do you have a favorite memory of working on a particular book?

A) I have a special fondness for my first Lyle book, The House on East 88th Street. I was fairly new to New York City at that time, so writing and illustrating a book offered an opportunity to express the joy and excitement I felt living and working in this city. It was extremely satisfying.

Q) What do you feel is your greatest contribution to children's literature?

A) I hope I have nourished children's appetites for reading.

Q) Your books relate perfectly to the childhood experience. Do you remember your own childhood well?

A) I have vivid memories growing up in Philadelphia that still serve my writing. I was considerably younger than my three siblings. My sister and two brothers were very creative, and their love for art and music molded me for life.

Q) What are some of the most memorable fan letters you have received?

A) Children have always been generous in their comments. They always ask insightful questions about various aspects of my books and about my intentions. One letter I recall with relish was a serious one from a boy who asked for tips on writing, requesting that I rush my reply because he had an early deadline. I was happy to oblige him.

Q) What is your favorite part of being a children's author and illustrator?

A) My favorite part is the excitement of fresh inspiration and thinking an idea is the most wonderful idea I have ever had. This feeling is soon tempered by the annoying critic in my head, who moves in with doubting questions—but the excitement is fun while it lasts.

Q) You have quite a collection of Lyle memorabilia. Can you describe some of the more unusual pieces?

A) I have acquired many through the years. There are three favorites. One is a small antique

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bathtub with a custom-designed stuffed Lyle reclining in it. Another stuffed Lyle, six feet long, was handmade by a creative and devoted friend. The third is a fantastic quilt assembled by schoolchildren depicting Lyle as well as some of other my book characters.

Q) What are some of your hobbies?

A) I can't really call them hobbies, but I like cooking, playing piano — although I'm not very good at it — and going to movies and the Broadway theater.

Q) What is the next project you will be working on?

A) I have two stories in the very early stages of development. One is a story about two best friends and how competing for the same part in a school play affects their friendship. The other is a new story with my old friend Lyle.

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