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Ruth Krauss (1901-1993), a member of the experimental Writer's Laboratory at the Bank Street School in New York City in the 1940s, imaginatively used humor and invented words to create some of the very first books for children that highlighted a child's inner life. She collaborated with some of the greatest illustrators in children's literature, including Maurice Sendak and her husband, Crockett Johnson. Marc Simont (1915-2013) illustrated nearly one hundred books, working with authors such as Margaret Wise Brown, James Thurber, and Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (on the Nate the Great series). Simont received the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations to A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry. He collaborated with Ruth Krauss on The Backward Day and The Happy Day, a Caldecott Honor Book.
“For some reason, young children get an absurd kick out of doing things backward, or spelling words backward, or otherwise behaving contrariwise for comic effect…. Ruth Krauss’s 1950 picture book, The Backward Day … speaks directly to this anarchic impulse…. Marc Simont’s appealing drawings reflect … the timeless sweetness of a family joke shared.” —The Wall Street Journal “The Backward Day by Ruth Krauss, illus. by Marc Simont, celebrates one boy's revelry as he tries to experience his day backward. With a bold palette, Simont's inky illustrations enchant, as do the youngster's family, whose 1950s primness gives way as they gamely play along with the boy's antics.” —Publishers Weekly “She keeps on listening to the talk of small children, and as she transfers it to the page, her own imaginative use of their words is unlike that of anyone else writing for those ‘before six.’” —New York Herald Tribune “The season for giving books to children comes again, and this column will be directed to parents, aunts, uncles who wish children to ‘make friends with books’…. [F]or youngsters under 7 we call attention to … The Backward Day, by Ruth Krauss.” —Los Angeles Times “She always manages to find a focal point which comes right out of the real life of a young child.” —Junior Reviewers “[Adults reading Krauss's books are] catapulted into the world of children.” —The Atlantic Monthly
