''You don't have to be just like everyone else to be beautiful and good, or at least that's the moral I remember,'' 
Hlina says.  

Children's books from the baby-boomer era of the 1950s and '60s are one of the fastest-growing segments of the online used-book market.

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Miss Twiggley's Tree book review
Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. March 9, 2003.

"A lot of small publishers have a very hard time making it, but I think Jill will succeed. She does the work herself, she works very hard at her craft, and she knows the market because she has been a dealer herself."

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A real page turner: It's no mystery -- nostalgia helping fuel Keller woman's childhood-book business 

By Bill W. Hornaday 
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Business Section - Page 1 
September 6, 2000

KELLER -- Jill Morgan's favorite childhood book, `Mr. Pine's Purple House,' cost 59 cents back in 1965. Four years ago, she found an "old beat-up library copy" in a Bedford book store -- and paid $1 for it.

So the former book dealer, former software engineer and mother of three was shocked to find the same out-of-print book recently had sold for $300 online. Another kiddie classic, `Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat,' commanded a whopping $881.

"I realized that if these books are selling for hundreds of dollars, they're going to die out in my generation," Morgan said. "Even those few who could afford them would be afraid to let their kids touch them."

So she founded Purple House Press, a home-based publishing company that revives the tall tales, colorful characters and ink-drawn illustrations that many baby boomers grew up with.

Morgan, an independent book dealer for four years, uses a home computer and negotiates new deals with the original authors.

Her venture comes as the children's book market enjoys its own revival. Riding the popularity of the Harry Potter series and spinoff books created by the Pokémon and Star Wars crazes, sales jumped 15.6 percent last year, far exceeding the 6.8 percent forecast, according to "Book Industry Trends 2000," an annual report produced by the Book Industry Study Group in New York City.

Harry Potter "brought parents and children into bookstores where they came away with more than just the latest Harry Potter," Karen Jenkins, a senior editor of `BP Report,' said in a recent industry newsletter.

Sales of $1.9 billion are projected this year and are expected to break $2 billion next year. Yet Jenkins found that high prices could be keeping buyers away from popular titles.

"There may be a limited number of people who will spend $25 on a book, no matter how hot the economy or how cool the celebrities promoting reading," she wrote.

So Morgan's niche is playing out.

For $15, customers can order `Mr. Bear' directly from Purple House, through distributors, online from Amazon.com or through retail outlets like Barnes & Noble. `Mr. Pine' costs $17.95, with Purple House's third title, `David & the Phoenix,' going for $23.95. The books are on their way or have only just arrived at the retail outlets.

The copyrights had reverted to the authors when the original publishers took the books out of print. So Purple House pays the authors royalties of 5-10 percent.

Purple House has shipped about 1,000 books directly. One of the largest orders was placed by a Keller woman whose family shares Morgan's affinity for `Mr. Pine.'

"I'm one of the youngest of 10 children, and we grew up with `Mr. Pine.' So when all of the nieces and nephews would come over, it was the first book picked up and the last one put down," Janet Wegert said.

Eventually it fell apart and Wegert kept the pages in a bag. When she heard about Purple House, she ordered 20 copies.

"I plan to give them out at Christmas," she said.

For children's authors such as Morrell Gipson of New York City and Edward Ormondroyd of Ithaca, N.Y., Purple House offers a way around the frustrations of dealing with large publishers.

Gipson, who saw only $100 in royalties from `Mr. Bear's' 1950 run, tried to republish it this year, only to get a last-minute rejection.

"It later sat on the desk of the man who handled Harry Potter for months, so I said to hell with it," she said. "But everything that Jill did was right. For most of my career I've been in charge of editing children's books, and she is one of the brightest people I've ever met."

Ormondroyd's bid to republish `David & the Phoenix' went nowhere, as his former publisher "sat on it" for three years, he said. After Morgan and a neighbor, Cynthia White, repainted the original cover illustration of the 1957 book, Ormondroyd was convinced that Purple House was right for the project.

The young boy seated on the back of the mythical bird bears a strong resemblance to Morgan's 5-year-old son, Grant Morgan-Sanders.

"The bird is finally going to fly again," Ormondroyd said. "A lot of small publishers have a very hard time making it, but I think Jill will succeed. She does the work herself, she works very hard at her craft, and she knows the market because she has been a dealer herself."

The connection with Purple House Press is somewhat stronger for Leonard Kessler of Sarasota, Fla. Not only did his book inspire the name for Morgan's business, but Kessler also designed its logo -- a purple turtle.

"The turtle's shell is a house that keeps on moving," he explained.

Only during the past five to six years has Kessler learned that `Mr. Pine' influenced so many readers like Morgan and Wegert. That's how long he has been getting letters from readers trying to locate old copies.

Morgan, who knows that nostalgia is a part of the appeal, understands the sentiment.

"When I look at books like these, they become a part of who I was when I was 3," she said.

Whenever interviewers asked Gary Larson, creator of the twisted and ironic "The Far Side," about the books that inspired him, he inevitably cited one book: "Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat."

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Reborn books. Children's treasures have a history 

By Claire Martin 
The Denver Post Staff Writer.

October 23, 2000.
The Scene. Section G, Page 1.

Various anniversaries and the millennium itself prompted publishing houses to reissue dozens of beloved children's books this year, from C.S. Lewis' "Narnia Chronicles" and Lloyd Alexander's "Chronicles of Prydain" to Shel Silverstein's "Where The Sidewalk Ends" and E.B. White's "Trumpet of the Swan."

Nearly lost in the shuffle are two small books, one brought back by a small publisher in Texas and the other discovered after more than 60 years of obscurity. The first, "Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat," was an inexpensively produced mass-market story that spent more time in readers' hearts than on store shelves. The other, "Whiteblack the Penguin Sees the World," was literally smuggled out of Paris when author-illustrators H.A. and Margret Rey escaped the Nazis.

Here are the stories behind these stories.

"Bear" inspired "Far Side"

MR. BEAR SQUASH-YOU-ALL-FLAT (Purple House Press, $15)
Whenever interviewers asked Gary Larson, creator of the twisted and ironic "The Far Side," about the books that inspired him, he inevitably cited one book:

"Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat." Larson described it as a children's book about a bear that, in fits of temper, went around the forest, sitting on other animals' homes and squashing them flat.

Not everyone believed there really was such a book, with a title and concept that seemed so improbable for small children. "Mr. Bear SquashYou-All-Flat" sounded exactly like the sort of joke Larson would have put into one of those wry single-box cartoons that propelled him to cult status in the 1980s and early '90s.

But there was such a book - and in fact, there's also a musical score with the same title, composed by Constant Lambert and based on an old Russian story.

The book that Larson meant, though, was written by Morrel Gipson, published as a Wonder book in 1950 and out of print not long afterward. It was the sort of inexpensive cardboard-backed children's book displayed in grocery stores 25 to 50 years ago on tall, revolving racks, commanding 25 cents per copy.

Fast-forward to the present. "Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat" is now a collectible and highly sought-after book, typically going for $150 to $300 per copy. One eBay vendor wants nearly $900. Jill Morgan, a rarebooks dealer in Keller, Texas, got so many requests for "Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat" that she finally contacted Gipson for publishing rights.

"I'd sold my copies of "Mr. Bear' for around $150, because I didn't believe in charging so much for favorite books that children literally read to pieces," she said. As a parent of three children, ages 3, 6, and 9, Morgan believes that books should be both read and treasured.

So she decided to form her own company, Purple House Press (named after a book she'd loved since toddlerhood) and republish the Gipson book, along with two other out-of-print children's books in great demand.

The first, Leonard Kessler's "Mr. Pine's Purple House" and her company's namesake, appeared in August. Edward Ormondroyd's 1957 book, "David and the Phoenix," was published last month. "Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat" will be available in November.

The new edition of "Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat" includes a foreword by Gary Larson, as well as a comment from the original author. Larson and Gipson became friends after he'd mentioned, on a 1986 television show, his affection for "Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat." When Morgan got in touch with Gipson about reprinting the book, Gipson became an intermediary between Larson and Morgan.

Morgan vividly remembers the night that her fax machine woke her about midnight, bearing a handwritten note from Larson in which he agreed to write something about his favorite childhood book. She couldn't sleep the rest of the night.

"Imagine!" she says, still excited. "A fax from Gary Larson!"

"Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat" can be ordered through bookstores or ordered from the publisher at www.purplehousepress.com.

The theme, of innocents banding together and prevailing over abuse of power, without resorting to power themselves, is compelling.

An adult's search completes a childhood journey .

By Sharon Larsen 
The Daily News. Batavia, NY.
Daily News Editorial Page Editor.

December 2, 2000.
Lifestyles / Extra Section B, Page 1.

I just wanted to read the story again. It was the only story I remembered from childhood, and I figured, as I entered a period of middle age angst, that there must be something significant, personally about it.

And so, a few years ago I started looking for my childhood favorite storybook, Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat. It seemed a simple task - I'd seen old copies of children's books in garage sales and at flea markets. And I had the Internet to help, after all.

I needed the name of the author and publisher to do any kind of book search. My inquiries to several online rare book dealers failed to turn up Mr. Bear at first. I did find a copy on eBay, and eagerly bid the minimum $20. When the bidding hit $50, I dropped out. I couldn't justify spending more than $50 on a book that had probably cost my parents a quarter way back when.

I was beginning to understand, however, that the book I was looking for was one many of my fellow baby boomers were looking for, too. Aha!, I thought. There must be something significant about the book.

Indeed, Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat had a following, almost a cult, including the Far Side cartoonist Gary Larson, who told interviewers Mr. Bear was the most influential book of his childhood.

I didn't want a mint copy for a collection - I just wanted to read the story again - so I kept looking for a copy I could afford. My husband would groan when he saw me head for the children's sections of bookstores selling old and rare books. ("Those old Wonder Books are a little too pricey for me to handle," one flea market vendor finally told me.)

In late October I checked the Internet again to see what Mr. Bear was selling for. Alibris, Books You Thought You'd Never Find, had three copies listed. Prices? Eight hundred and eighty one bucks for a copy in "good" shape. The other two were set at $364 and $464.

The Internet search also turned up another site. Purple House Press was publishing a 50th anniversary edition of Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat on Nov. 1. Price: $15, plus $4 shipping. I couldn't get the check in the mail fast enough.

***

The book Jill Morgan of Keller, Texas, couldn't find was Mr. Pine's Purple House. As a book dealer, she knew there was great demand for the books baby boomers had grown up with and now wanted to read to their own children and grandchildren.

But who could afford them? The demand for copies had pushed prices into the hundreds of dollars. And if you could afford them, how could you let children, with messy fingers handle them and tear the pages?

Morgan, 38 and the mother of children ages 3, 5 and 8, decided to see if she could reprint the books she and so many others wanted but couldn't afford.

"The main reason was I wanted to save these books," she said in a recent telephone interview. "I was afraid they were going to die out, and they deserved to be read."

Morgan bought the rights to Mr. Pine's Purple House, founded Purple House Press and went on the Web. The response was strong, so she went on to reprint two other old favorites - Edward Ormondroyd's David and the Phoenix and then, last month, Mr. Bear. Purple House Press has shipped more than 2,000 books since it began shipping two months ago. "Response has been overwhelming," Morgan said.

Most are individual orders, but some dealers and bookstores have been ordering copies.

Some of the success, she suspects, may come from a recent surge of interest in children's books. The phenomenon of Harry Potter books drew kids and their parents into bookstores, and reminded many parents and grandparents of their own childhood favorites.

Five more books are in the works, but Morgan couldn't divulge which ones because she is waiting on contracts.

Sandra Gillard, children's librarian at Richmond Memorial Library, says sometimes movie and video releases based on old stories bring youngsters into the library looking for the book. Parents are also looking to share what they remember so fondly themselves, she said.

"Hardly a family comes in the library that doesn't say. 'I remember this story from my childhood and I want to read it to my own children.' " she says.

Even newer books go out of print sooner these days, Gillard says. "Within a year, many of these books will be out of print. If you don't snap it up, you may not get it."

Fortunately, she notes, people can find many of these books in the library.

***

What's so special about Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat? It's a simple story about a big, mean bear who roams the forest getting his kicks out of squashing the homes of all the small forest creatures. A little mouse finds an old tire and adopts it as a home. He is soon joined by others who have lost their homes to Mr. Bear. They're living together happily when Mr. Bear finds their new home. But when he tries to squash it, he bounces off, time after time, and finally gives up and goes away, leaving the animals in peace.

The illustrations help make the story special. The anniversary edition reprints the watercolor illustrations by Angela - a rather mysterious artist who didn't use her last name. She was, remembers author Morrell Gipson, a "very nice" young woman who embraced the author, told her how much she liked the book, and then disappeared.

The expressions on Mr. Bear's face make him mean and comical at the same time. Picture a big fuzzy brown bear kerplunk on sticks that had once been a home, while the little forest animals look on plaintively from their hiding places. Chuckle at Mr. Bear's frustration when he can't squash the tire, rejoice with the little animals when the bear gives up and ambles grumpily away.

The theme, of innocents banding together and prevailing over abuse of power, without resorting to power themselves, is compelling.

***

The author of Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat, Morrell Gipson, still lives in New York City and is delighted at the strong response to the reprinting.

"I am so touched at the total affection for Mr. Bear," she said during a telephone interview Thursday. "Total strangers come up to me and thank me."

The book did not get a particularly good response when it was first published in the United States in 1950, Gipson recalls.

Wonder Books had been hoping for another hit from Gipson; her previous picture book, The Surprise Doll, sold more than a million copies. As for Mr. Bear - "The publisher said the title killed it," she said.

The inspiration for Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat was a three- or four-line entry in a classic Russian anthology. Gipson expanded on the story, creating a bear who was mean, but who was pathetic and lovable as he gets taught an important lesson.

"I think children cleave to it (the story) because Mr. Bear is handled with gentleness," says Gipson. "It's not terrifying."

More boys than girls liked Mr. Bear, apparently, Gipson says, judging from fans she's heard from.

Gipson wrote maybe a half dozen books, including City Country ABC and Hello, Peter, and ghost wrote another half dozen. She edited children's books for many years for Doubleday and other publishing companies, and helped establish children's book departments all through the 1960s, '70s and '80s. A 3-year old granddaughter has rekindled her interest in writing more children's story books.

***

And now that I've held the anniversary edition in my hand, read the story again and refreshed my memory of the pictures, did Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat indeed have any significant influence?

Yes.

I just love the idea that the little forest protect themselves and conquer Mr. Bear without becoming "bears" themselves.

On the Net:
Purple House Press Web site:
www.purplehousepress.com

"I've always said it's good to be unique, and maybe that started when I was 3 and was hearing about how Mr. Pine wants everybody to be who they are and not a copy of everyone else," Morgan says. "It got to me and a lot of other people, too."

Beloved books reborn .

By Nancy Churnin
The Dallas Morning News.
February 24, 2001.
Texas Living Section.

Maybe it was the story.

Maybe it was the warm way she remembers feeling when she was 3, sitting in her father's lap, listening to him read the story.

Maybe it was the message about how it's OK to be different – a message that inspired her to leave her job as a software engineer and do something closer to her heart.

For all these reasons, Jill Morgan, 38, of Keller, was determined to get a copy of Mr. Pine's Purple House, a charming, easy-to-read children's story by Leonard Kessler about a man who paints his house purple so he can spot it among the 50 lookalike houses on Vine Street.

And when prices started climbing to hundreds of dollars for this 1965 out-of-print book, she wondered: What's wrong with this picture?

So she launched a publishing house last year to reprint beloved out-of-print books like Mr. Pine's. And, with the blessing of Mr. Kessler, who designed her logo, she named the company Purple House Press for the book that inspired it all.

"I've always said it's good to be unique, and maybe that started when I was 3 and was hearing about how Mr. Pine wants everybody to be who they are and not a copy of everyone else," she says. "It got to me and a lot of other people, too."

In between her old job as a software engineer and her current one as an independent publisher, she bought and sold used children's books as a way to feed her own passion for them. Her customers kept asking for the same ones and, as the books become rarer, the prices rose out of reach.

Ms. Morgan published two other books in high demand: Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat, a 1950 story by Morrell Gipson about a bear who learns a lesson after trying to squash the houses of his fellow animals, and David and the Phoenix, a 1957 fantasy novel by Edward Ormondroyd that fans compare to Harry Potter.

Her customers, are delighted with the new, beautifully bound books with the new, beautifully modest prices: $17.95 and $15 for hardbacks of Mr. Pine's and Bear, respectively; $8 for a softcover edition of David and the Phoenix.

It brings back memories for Jennifer Anglin, owner of The Enchanted Forest Books for Children in Dallas, which carries the books. She remembers her grandmother reading her Mr. Bear and discovering Mr. Pine's in elementary school.

"I'm so delighted these treasures are coming back," Ms. Anglin says. "I even gave her [Ms. Morgan] a list of other wonderful books for cuddling up and sharing that I would love to see back in print."

After repaying her initial investment (family loans plus savings) by selling thousands of books, Ms. Morgan is ready to start reprints of Mr. Bear and Mr. Pine's, while readying this year's books: Elizabeth Orton Jones' Twig and Big Susan, Frederick Winsor & Marion Perry's The Space Child's Mother Goose and Mr. Kessler's Mr. Pine's Mixed Up Signs.

The hard work is locating the authors or their heirs to ask permission for reprinting, she says. But Mr. Kessler, Ms. Gipson and Mr. Ormondroyd were delighted to see their books in print and have become friends with Ms. Morgan. She even attended Mr. Kessler's 80th birthday party in Florida in October. Mr. Kessler and Mr. Ormondroyd each wrote new forwards for their books (in which Mr. Kessler reveals that his very first house in Rockland County, New York was purple). And cartoonist Gary Larson wrote the forward for Mr. Bear, writing about making his mother read the book to him every morning when he was 3.

The easy part of her job is getting her family involved, she says. Her husband and children help her uncrate the boxes of printed books and sort them for daily shipping to customers. She decided to start the business as one way to spend more time with her family.

"My son was 1 and I felt as if I was missing too much of his life," Ms. Morgan says. "Also, I wanted this business to grow so I could pass it on to my children. It's worked out well. And I never realized I would be getting so many thank you's from people who missed the books they'd grown up with."

Ms. Morgan's special joy, she says, "is to see my kids enjoy the books as much as I did when I was a kid."

Nine-year-old Hayley favors David and the Phoenix. Six-year-old Grant was so excited to get his copy of Mr. Pine's, he slept with it for a week. Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat is so real to 3-year-old Claire that as much as she loves the book, she will not leave it on her bed for fear Mr. Bear will squash her beloved dolls.

While Ms. Morgan has a mission to reprint the books as they first appeared, she commissioned fresh book cover art for David and the Phoenix at the request of the author, who felt the original was too old-fashioned. The artist, a friend of hers, used Ms. Morgan's son as a model for the boy who rides the phoenix.

That's no big deal to Grant, she says.

"He thinks every boy has his face on a cover of a book."

...Kessler has jokingly called us the "savior of senior citizen authors."

Power to the Publisher. The story of Purple House Press .

By Jill Morgan
ForeWord Magazine
December 2000 / January 2001.

Have you ever wondered what happened to that 29 cent book your mom read to you when you were little, the one that was your very favorite? Wouldn't it be nice to have it to read to your own children or grandchildren? Well, today a copy of that book probably sells for $500 or more if it's long out of print and considered rare.

That's where Purple House Press steps in (www.PurpleHousePress.com. As a mother of three and former software engineer turned bookseller, I'm the publisher. For the past four years I've sold collectible children's books on the Internet. A year ago I founded the press to republish children's books that had all but disappeared from the market except as high priced rarities.

Purple House has published new editions of David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd, Mr. Pine's Purple House by Leonard Kessler (the namesake of our press) and Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat by Morrell Gipson. All three were first published between 1950 and 1965; the new editions contain the exact text and pictures from the original books with new forewords. To give you an idea of how precious these out-of-print books were to many people, The Far Side's Gary Larson wrote a new introduction to his favorite childhood book, Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat.

Many children's books published more than fifty years ago were "message" books, though the best of them aren't heavyhanded and instead make the story, and not the lesson, the primary focus. For example, David and the Phoenix is about a small boy who befriends The Phoenix, and finds out his education is sadly deficient -- he doesn't know anything about unicorns or griffins. The Phoenix undertakes the task of improving David's education and together they share adventures with, among other characters, a witch, leprechaun, faun and sea monster.

In Mr. Pine's Purple House children learn to distinguish themselves from the crowd. Mr. Pine lives on Vine Street and cannot identify his house from the fifty other identical houses, so he plants bushes and trees. His neighbors copy his every move, so he paints his house purple. His neighbors choose different colors of paint and the neighborhood is beautifully made up of many different colored houses. Mr. Pine's Purple House was my favorite book as a child, and my young son now enjoys it in its' new edition.

Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat is a 50th Anniversary Edition. The childhood favorite of cartoonist Gary Larson, who calls it "the greatest little story in the world." Mr. Bear roams the forest squashing the other animals' houses after a full moon. He gets his own smashing comeuppance in the end and the animals all celebrate with a party.

Working with all three authors has been rewarding and the books each have an interesting story. "The Phoenix will fly again!" Edward Ormondroyd told me. He was a young man in the early 1940s when he wrote the book. He submitted it to an annual contest of Follett's to find a new children's story written by an unpublished author. He lost the contest, but one of the judges liked his story so much that she encouraged him to edit it and try again. He reworked the material and several years later it was published by Follet after all.

Mr. Pine is the alter-ego of Leoanrd Kessler. Both were sign painters, both lived in purple houses and Kessler even put his phone number in an illustration in the book on the side of Mr. Pine's truck. He is creating a new poster for the book, about the intrepid Mr. Pine back with his brushes, ladders, and lots of purple paint.

The real rewards in my job as a publisher come from satisying thousands of readers, happy to find their childhood favorites again and eager to share these stories with their own children and grandchildren. If so many people remember these books, they must be special. They deserve a chance to be read again by youngsters without worrying that a priceless rare book will be destroyed by dirty fingers or crayons.

Purple House Press is publishing five issues this year including TWIG and Big Susan by Elizabeth Orton Jones, which were first published in the 1940s. Jones, who celebrated her 90th birthday last year, told me she is thrilled "her girls" will be back in print. She is busily writing the history of each book, which will be included in their new forewords. Jone's is nicknamed "Twig" and her own dolls and dollhouse, which the story of Big Susan is based on, are now in the Highland Park, Illinois Historical Society.

We have a long list of books to bring back and Kessler has jokingly called us the "savior of senior citizen authors."

...the Phoenix seems to be more an eccentric, beloved uncle than simply a character in a book.

Fantasy book still an inspiration .

By Daniel Kobil
The Columbus Dispatch
January 11, 2001.

'David and the Phoenix' first appeared in 1957. Now, a new version is available.

When it first appeared in 1957, Edward Ormondroyd's David and the Phoenix inspired a generation of fans.

Out of print for decades, the fantasy has been republished this year and is available via the Internet. David and the Phoenix (Purple House, $23.95, ages 9-12), with ink drawings by Joan Raysor, blends adventure, magic and a whimsical sense of humor.

The beautifully written tale of friendship and personal growth is one that can't be forgotten by readers. Many, like me, went to great lengths to seek out tattered reprints in secondhand -book shops. On the Web, first editions have brought as much as $100.

I finally found a used copy in Florida and read it to my kids. The story captured their imaginations as surely as it captured my own years before. Like the Harry Potter novels, it has an imaginative bent as appealing to adults as to children.

Ormondroyd's Phoenix is a marvelous character, by turns pompus, funny, caring and wise. He awakens a powerful sense of wonder as he educates David by introducing him to urbane withces, cranky griffons and wayward sea monsters.

Indeed, the Phoenix seems to be more an eccentric, beloved uncle than simply a character in a book.

When my children and I finished the last chapter, in which David learns a poignant lesson about the nature of love and friendship, we were moved to tears. The Phoenix had lived up to his mythological pedigree, reborn for another generation.

"There's something fascinating about doing books for kids," said Kessler. "It's almost like music; frame by frame, like a movie."

A literary comeback .

By Susan L. Rife
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, BOOKS EDITOR
April 22, 2001.

Mr. Kessler's house, alas, is not purple.

It's a treehouse condominium in Sarasota's Pelican Cove, and it has a lovely light-filled quality, but it's not purple.

Mr. Kessler's art studio is not purple either. But it is filled with bits of purple -- a purple desk lamp, purple crates to hold art supplies, purple fountain pens, a blueberry (OK, not quite purple) iMac.

Leonard Kessler is the author of "Mr. Pine's Purple House," published in 1965 and out of print for many, many years -- until a Texas housewife and mother began buying children's books on the Internet and decided it was time for "Mr. Pine's Purple House" to reach a new generation of children.

"Mr. Pine's Purple House" is one of a couple of hundred children's books Kessler wrote and illustrated during his career. It was originally published in hardback, but on a low-quality paper stock, for 59 cents a copy in 1965; Kessler got a penny a copy in royalties. Subsequent editions cost 69 cents, 79 cents, a dollar. The book went out of print in the 1970s and Kessler gave away all his copies.

"In the early '80s I started getting calls from people wanting the book," said Kessler, sitting at a small glass-topped table in the art-filled condominium where he has lived for six years. His wife, Ethel, suffers from Alzheimer's disease and now lives in a care facility nearby.

To Kessler's amazement, copies of "Mr. Pine's Purple House" were selling for as much as $300 on eBay, the popular online auction site.

"Out of the blue I got a letter from this girl," said Kessler.

"This girl" was Jill Morgan, wanting not only to put "Mr. Pine's Purple House" back in print, but to name her new publishing venture Purple House Press.

Morgan was a former software engineer living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and raising her three young children. "Mr. Pine's Purple House" had been her favorite book when she was 3 years old.

"It's such a special book," Morgan said. When she began looking for a copy to read to her own children, she was unhappy that the book was out of print, and unhappier still that vintage copies were selling for hundreds of dollars on the Internet.

"I just thought it was ridiculous," she said. "You pay $300 for a book, it's going to be in a plastic bag up on a shelf and kids are never going to be able to touch it."

One thing led to another, and Morgan found herself starting a publishing company dedicated to bringing out-of-print children's books back into circulation.

"I knew absolutely nothing [about publishing]. I felt like I had to save these books. I wanted to get them out to a wider audience," she said.

Because "Mr. Pine's Purple House" had been Morgan's favorite childhood book, she wanted to begin her publishing career with that book.

"I sent him a letter through his publisher, and through a writer's organization, and searched on the Internet and found him," she said.

Kessler was surprised but not at all unhappy to hear from a potential publisher.

"She was so sincere," said Kessler. "I said, you know something, you can have the book.

"Now she wants to do 'Mr. Pine's Mixed-Up Signs.' So I'm back in business again after 50 years!"

Kessler's career as a children's book author and illustrator began after he graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1949 (where his friends and classmates included Andy Warhol). He had worked on a couple of scripts for educational television programs when he met a man named George Hornby who asked if he'd ever considered children's books.

"On Aug. 11, 1950, I got this letter saying we want to publish your book, with some editorial changes," Kessler said.

The book became "What's in a Line? A first book of graphic expression."

"There's something fascinating about doing books for kids," said Kessler. "It's almost like music; frame by frame, like a movie."

Kessler is considering continuing the Mr. Pine stories with an updated version.

"Kids are, first of all, different, with the advent of television, advent of the Internet. Maybe the advent of Harry Potter has brought them back."

He keeps an "idea drawer" in his studio.

"I have at least 400 ideas from over the years -- and they're all good ones," he said. "Now, since I'm alone, I'll probably start writing again. There are a couple of books I know I want to do."

At the age of 80, Kessler doesn't think it would be too tough to write another book for children.

"I keep searching every morning for that 6-year-old kid I used to be," he said.

With every written word, every pen stroke, every brush stroke, and with every breath, Elizabeth Orton Jones tells a story that paints a living picture...

Elizabeth Orton Jones: Drawing Upon The Past .

By Andrea Rose
New Hampshire Magazine
May 2001.

Clio, muse of history

Elizabeth Orton Jones’ memory is every bit as vivid as her writing and Caldecott Award winning illustrations. She has lived in the small town of Mason, in a home she bought with her first royalty check from TWIG, for more than 50 years and, at 90 years of age, is regarded as the town’s official historian. Full of interesting details, precious moments and rich color, Jones’ stories have captured the imagination of one small town, a state and a generation.

“Drawing is very like a prayer,” commented Jones when she won the Caldecott Medal for illustrating Prayer for a Child in 1945. “Drawing is a reaching for something way beyond you. As you sit down to work in the morning, you feel as if you were on top of a hill. It is as if you were seeing it for the first time.... Every child in the world has a hill, with a top to it. Every child — black, white, rich, poor, handicapped, unhandicapped. And singing is what the top of each hill is for. Singing. Drawing. Thinking. Dreaming. Sitting in silence ... saying a prayer.”

Jones has written and illustrated more than 20 books for children. While some of her works are illustrated collections of prayers and verses, others are somewhat autobiographical in nature, telling stories that relate to her childhood and the places and people who have inspired her. Mason itself was Jones’ model for the woods in her Little Golden Book version of Little Red Riding Hood, and grandmother’s house looks suspiciously like Mason’s famous Pickity Place.

With every written word, every pen stroke, every brush stroke, and with every breath, Elizabeth Orton Jones tells a story that paints a living picture of the prayers, hopes and dreams of history’s children.

For more information, visit www.purplehousepress.com

Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek, The.
by Lampman, Evelyn Sibley

(Ages 8 - 12, Purple House Press, $17.95, 1930900090) "I loved this book as a child. Out of print for many years, it's now back! It's the story of two children who are befriended by the last living dinosaur while helping a paleontologist look for fossils. Lots of dinosaur lore in a lighthearted adventure."
- Donna Cressman, Maxwell Books, DeSoto, TX

Earlier editions have been available, but briefly, at Willis Monie Books on Main Street in Cooperstown. "We've had it in, but a book like that doesn't stay here long," said Willis Monie Jr.

Another Cooper's 'TAL' tale .

By Tom Grace
The Daily Star
Cooperstown News Bureau May 21, 2001.

COOPERSTOWN - The Cooper family's books continue to command worldwide attention as now a children's tale written by Paul Fenimore Cooper in 1929 will be reprinted by Purple House Press.

"It's had a steadfast following even though it's been out of print since 1957," said Publisher Jill Morgan of Fort Worth, Texas. "We've had inquiries from as far away as Australia. People love this book and that's why we're bringing it back."

Last month C-Span came to Cooperstown for a special production on the life and works of 19th century author James Fenimore Cooper, creator of the popular Leatherstocking Tales. Camera crews trod the paths and viewed the lake that nourished Cooper's genius.

Next month, Purple House Press will release "TAL, His Marvelous Adventures with Noom-Zor-Noom." by Paul Fenimore Cooper, who is the earlier author's great grandson, according to Wayne Wright, assistant director of the research library at the New York State Historical Association.

"TAL" is the story of a little orphan and adventures that occur on his amazing journey to the land of Troom, said Morgan. His companions are a wise old man, Noom-Zor-Noom, and Millitinkle, a talking donkey, whose caustic observations enliven the tale.

In the evening, when the day's excitement is waning, Noom-Zor-Noom tells TAL and Millitinkle wondrous tales of adventure, romance, miracles and magic, with an "Arabian Nights" flavor, said Morgan.

The story builds to a climax as the three travelers reach the court of King Tazzarin of Troom and Tal's real identity is revealed, she said.

"Children have loved this book for generations, but it's really quite hard to find a copy these days," said Morgan. The hardcover edition published by Purple House Press will cost $20. By contrast, Morgan paid $350 for her well-read copy, she said.

Those earlier editions have been available, but briefly, at Willis Monie Books on Main Street in Cooperstown.

"We've had it in, but a book like that doesn't stay here long," said Willis Monie Jr.

The new edition will be available at Augur's Corner Bookstore on Main Street in Cooperstown, according to co-owner Brian Nielsen.

Paul Fenimore Cooper, 1899-1970, published a number of books, including "Tricks of Women and Other Albanian Tales," a translation of folk tales, "and "Island of the Lost," said Morgan.

The Purple House Press specializes in out-of-print children's tales, such as "Mr. Pine's Purple House" and "Mr. Pine's Mixed-up Signs" by Leonard Kessler, and "David and the Phoenix" by Edward Ormondroyd, she said.

The press's web address is www.purplehousepress.com

Purple House Press
PO Box 787, Cynthiana, KY 41031
859-235-9970
9 AM - 7 PM, Eastern time!
jimorgan@earthlink.net