An Introduction
This website will discuss the history of Margaret Wise Brown's The Dead Bird, illustrated by Remy Charlip. Brown, most well known for her picture book classics Runaway Bunny (1942) and Goodnight, Moon (1947), wrote many books beyond these two, and while many are still known and appreciated today, The Dead Bird is practically unknown to today's picture book readers. This work from Brown and Charlip presents a realistic study on a group of children's first brush with death and has been all but forgotten. The research behind this website has been extensive yet not always easily found. In this website, I have done my best to paint a historical picture of this seminal (in my opinion) children's picture book about death. Even though at times hard to come by, the information collected and presented here gives background on one of the first picture books that gave parents a way to speak with their children about death in a realistic, no-frills way. Brown's words coupled with Charlip's illustrations present a simple story about death written with children in mind and with their need to comprehend this mystery on their level.
References Note
On each page provided for you, I have given a list of references specific to the topic of that page. I have also compiled a complete list of references for you if you would like to peruse from whence my information came. For this Introduction Section, the only reference provided will be that of the image that is the header for each of this website's subsequent pages (see below). This book cover image I have decided to use is an alternate to the original 1958 cover. The main reason it was chosen was because it highlights the illustrator's darker color palette. The original cover (seen on the Bibliographic Description Section, is much lighter and looks washed out. I believe the header for each section should be bold, so the choice to use the alternate cover is one of this researcher's preference, and I hope you will allow me the leeway to do so.
Amazon.com (1996-2013). The dead bird (paperback). Retrieved October 24, 2013 from http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61DQGCX6R0L.jpg.
Amazon.com (1996-2013). The dead bird (paperback). Retrieved October 24, 2013 from http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61DQGCX6R0L.jpg.
Amanda McFarlane December 2013 LIS 514: History of Children's Literature