Echoing a style used by the subject himself, Lori Mortensen (Away with Words) and Chloe Bristol use "words and pictures. And pictures and words" to capture the essence of well-known, eccentric creator Edward Gorey (1925-2000).
Gorey was born in Chicago, a brilliant, self-taught child who "gobbled up adventures and mysteries. Comics and poetry." Young Edward skipped grades in school and moved many times with his family, but "scribbled and sketched, sketched and scribbled, wherever he went." As an adult, he took a job in the art department of a publishing company, where he began jotting down and illustrating "stories that mingled sweetness and innocence, danger and darkness, all mixed up with his own brand of silliness." Publishers weren't interested in his work so Gorey published it himself. The "strange stories with curious titles" featured "odd and unfortunate endings" that made some parents angry. But Gorey refused to explain himself, insisting his books should not be taken seriously.
Throughout Nonsense!, Mortensen's stylishly poetic prose calls attention to the element of fun in Gorey's work. Illustrator Bristol's (the Winterhouse Mysteries series) pencil and digital art evokes the sketchy black lines used by Gorey himself. Text and illustration together paint a satisfying picture of an eccentric who developed an endearing (and unusual) way of expressing himself--and garnered an enduring following in the process. As Mortensen's end notes point out, Lemony Snicket, Tim Burton and Neil Gaiman "must all tip their hats to Edward Gorey." As should anyone else lucky enough to happen upon this biography about Gorey's darkly "curious" work! --Lynn Becker, blogger and host of Book Talk, a monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI