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Hall's EPK
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PATTY'S PRODUCTS
JOHNNY GRUELLE, CREATOR OF RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY
Written by Patricia Hall
Forewords by Kim Gruelle and Joni Gruelle Keating
Pelican Publishing Company, 1993 / 2nd printing 1998
Hardcover w/dust jacket / 224 pages / 8½" x 11"
85 pages of color & b&w photos & illustrations
Appendices / Bibliography / Index / Sidebars
Audience: Young adult-adult
ISBN: 0-88289-908-2
$45.00
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Raggedy Ann and Andy are familiar names to almost everyone, but few would recognize their creator, Johnny Gruelle. A talented and prolific artist, Gruelle illustrated dozens of books, wrote hundreds of stories, drew thousands of cartoons and comics, and developed dozens of fanciful dolls and storybook characters.
Johnny Gruelle, Creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy tells the story of Gruelle's life through his imaginative world of toys, dolls, books and merchandise. A prolific newspaper cartoonist, Gruelle began expanding his craft to writing and illustrating books and designing toys—always with a keen artist's eye for the warmth and comfort of childhood. Among the first characters that Gruelle created was Mr. Twee Deedle. He then moved to illustrating children's books such as Grimm's Fairy Tales, and finally, to Raggedy Ann and Andy.
This companion volume to Raggedy Ann and More: Johnny Gruelle's Dolls and Merchandise and Raggedy Ann and Johnny Gruelle: A Bibliography of Published Works links Gruelle's life story and the evolution of his famed rag dolls to 20th Century American events. Through text, illustrations, and topical sidebars, the book also explores the many prevailing myths about Raggedy Ann, and portrays Johnny Gruelle as a man deeply attuned to the magic and whimsy found in his writings and illustrations.
The author's years-long research for Johnny Gruelle was based on primary documents, among them company business records, microfilmed documents, public records, previously unpublished family photographs, and verbal accounts from Gruelle's family and friends who actually knew Johnny—some in their eighties and nineties.
REVIEWS:
"Patricia Hall's Johnny Gruelle is a splendid consideration of this neglected cartoonist's career. She provides valuable insight into Gruelle's art and inspirations and offers contextual settings as she describes Gruelle's times and the markets for which he worked...Miss Hall's book provides a new standard for all future biographies of similarly neglected masters"
-Hogan's Alley
"Johnny Gruelle can be read on several levels. It functions as a detailed reference work and guide to those who collect his original art, books, and toys...the dramatic story of a successful yet pressured man who died too young, and a social history of a turbulent era..."
-A/B Bookman
"Hall's book will satisfy even the most avid Raggedy fan."
-Cleveland Plain Dealer
"The use of sidebars and faithful color reproductions... fascinate, attract and tease both the eye and the imagination."
-Nashville Banner
"An absolute treasure of nostalgia and warmth."
-Indianapolis Star
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