Description:
This book is for people who were made for each other. And though there aren't too many artists in the world you can trust to translate that peas-in-a-pod kind of phenomenon into words and pictures, you can trust William Steig, cartoonist for The New Yorker since 1930 and illustrator of the Caldecott Medal-winning Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. "I love the hay you walk on," begins this smallish, square book, with a simple, scribbly illustration of a fancy milkmaid walking by an admiring rake-wielding farmer. The next page confesses, "You make this blossom blush," as a gentleman caller offers a bloom to his beloved. You're the cat's meow.
In spite of everything, I love you.
It's bound to work out.
We're always in step.
If this sounds like a selection of mushy greeting cards bound in one volume, well, in a sense it is. But the wise and clownish Steig could never, and would never, create something so ordinary. Steig couples statements such as "Our love is eternal" with his unconventional drawings--in this case, a depiction of a strolling, formally dressed, huge-nosed, double-chinned pair who are somehow quaint and dignified in their eternal love and frumpiness. His comical, compassionate illustrations of regular folks add infinite nuance to the simple pronouncements of love. "The road is often bumpy" and "Till death do us part" conclude this endearing, quirky book that would make the perfect gift for the one who is made for you. Kids old enough to know love will understand this book, but Made for Each Other is meant for the young at heart more than the young. --Karin Snelson
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