Big Fat Little Lit

Big Fat Little Lit

Many of the stories from the previous three Little Lit hardcover volumes have been reprinted in this new paperback edition.

It’s a wonderful anthology with contributions from a wide range of very talented artists, all edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly and now available at a bargain price. It’s a great sampler to expose kids to a variety of approaches to art, too; styles range from colorfully cartoony to classically illustrative.

Big Fat Little Lit

Like their classic forebears, the modern fairy tales in this book don’t shy away from the physical or seamy sides of life. There’s a rough sense of justice and warnings that appearances might be deceiving. The lack of sugar-coating keeps the stories interesting for all ages, and parents will get as much out of reading as the younger set, although in different ways.

Some of my favorites include Barbara McClintock’s lovely anthropomorphic “Princess and the Pea”; Neil Gaiman & Gahan Wilson’s twisted graveyard party tale; and the sparsely attractive linework of David Mazzucchelli’s “Fisherman and the Sea Princess”; but those are only a few of the many creative contents. I was also glad to see some small bit of Crockett Johnson’s “Barnaby”, about a boy and his Irish Fairy Godfather, Mr. O’Malley.

Find out more at the series website.



One comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *