Little Fur Family

Little Fur Family
	First edition
Author	Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator	Garth Williams
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Children's literature
Publisher	Harper & Brothers
Publication date	1946
Media type	Print
Pages	32
ISBN	978-0-06-051898-1
OCLC	10872645

Last updated May 06, 2022

Little Fur Family is a 1946 picture book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Garth Williams. It tells the story of a little fur child's day in the woods. The day ends when his big fur parents tuck him in bed "all soft and warm," and sing him to sleep with a bedtime song.

Publication history

This book is the first Brown and Williams collaboration; Harper's answer to Simon & Schuster's hugely popular Pat the Bunny . Other books Brown and Williams worked on together include Wait till the Moon is Full (1948), Fox Eyes (1951), Mister Dog: The Dog Who Belonged to Himself (1952), Scuppers The Sailor Dog (1953), Three Little Animals (1956), and Home for a Bunny (1956).

Little Fur Family is notable for its front cover, which features a patch of "fur" on the fur child's body that the reader can touch. The original edition of the book was entirely wrapped in real rabbit fur. At 50,000 copies printed, it has been estimated that 15,000 rabbits were killed and skinned to provide enough fur.^[1] The fur-covered original edition also—perhaps unintentionally—references Méret Oppenheim's well-known Surrealist art piece Breakfast in Fur (Object Le Déjeuner en fourrure), a fur-covered teacup, saucer and spoon.^[1]

Editor Ursula Nordstrom knew the book would be a success when a mother wrote to tell her that her little boy had held open his copy at the dinner table and tried to feed it his supper.^[2]

Plot summary

A little fur family (mother, father, and a child) live in a cozy house in a tree trunk. Secure in his cozy home, the fur child goes out to explore his world. He finds some creatures that are like him and others that are very different, including fish, a flying bug, and in one of the book's most memorable sequences, a tiny version of himself (which he kisses and sends it on its way). Even in the fur child's comfortable, familiar surroundings, there are just enough unfamiliar things to make his day interesting. At the end of the day, the child's parents and his dinner are waiting for him at home.

Themes

The fur family are unidentifiable mammals. The book examines themes of exploration and discovery, the familiar and unfamiliar, and the simultaneous excitement and fear of the unknown. It has also been suggested that the book is a story of life and death, and "... the power struggles implicit in growing up.... By sparing the lives of the fish, the bug, and his miniature counterpart, the fur child shows that he knows how to use his new-found power benignly and well. In the poignant logic of the tale, acquiring that knowledge is recognizing the power of love."^[3]

Brown's text, always lyrical, alternates between rhyme and straight prose; as well as making much use of onomatopoeia.

Related Research Articles

Encyclopedia Brown is a series of books featuring the adventures of boy detective Leroy Brown, nicknamed "Encyclopedia" for his intelligence and range of knowledge. The series of 29 children's novels was written by Donald J. Sobol, with the first book published in 1963 and the last published posthumously in 2012. In addition to the main books, the Encyclopedia Brown series has spawned a comic strip, a TV series, and compilation books of puzzles and games.

<i>Goodnight Moon</i> 1947 American childrens picture book

Goodnight Moon is an American children's book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. It was published on 3 September 1947, and is a highly acclaimed bedtime story.

Yosemite Sam is a cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bugs Bunny. He is commonly depicted as an extremely aggressive, gunslinging outlaw, pirate, or cowboy with a hair-trigger temper and an intense hatred of rabbits, Bugs in particular. In cartoons with non-Western themes, he uses various aliases, including "Chilkoot Sam" and "Square-deal Sam" in 14 Carrot Rabbit, "Riff Raff Sam" in Sahara Hare, "Sam Schultz" in Big House Bunny, "Seagoin' Sam" in Buccaneer Bunny, "Shanghai Sam" in Mutiny on the Bunny, "Von Schamm the Hessian" in Bunker Hill Bunny, "Baron Sam von Schpamm" in Dumb Patrol, and many others. During the golden age of American animation, Yosemite Sam appeared in 33 shorts made between 1945 and 1964.

Margaret Wise Brown was an American writer of children's books, including Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, both illustrated by Clement Hurd. She has been called "the laureate of the nursery" for her achievements.

Garth Williams American childrens book illustrator (1912–1996)

Garth Montgomery Williams was an American artist who came to prominence in the American postwar era as an illustrator of children's books. Many of the books he illustrated have become classics of American children's literature.

In Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and in the Little House series of books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Williams['s] drawings have become inseparable from how we think of those stories. In that respect ... Williams['s] work belongs in the same class as Sir John Tenniel's drawings for Alice in Wonderland, or Ernest Shepard's illustrations for Winnie the Pooh.

All This and Rabbit Stew is a 1941 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The cartoon was released on September 13, 1941, and features Bugs Bunny.

Clement Hurd American artist (1908-1988)

Clement Gazzam Hurd was an American artist. He is known for illustrations of children's picture books, especially collaborations with writer Margaret Wise Brown including Goodnight Moon (1947) and The Runaway Bunny (1942).

John Thacher Hurd is an American artist and the creator of children's picture books including Mama Don't Allow and Art Dog.

Rabbit's Kin is a 1952 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short directed by Robert McKimson and written by Tedd Pierce. The cartoon was released on November 15, 1952, and stars Bugs Bunny. The cartoon was animated by Charles McKimson, Herman Cohen, Rod Scribner, Phil DeLara and Keith Darling. The music was scored by Carl Stalling while the layouts and backgrounds were done by Robert Givens and Richard H. Thomas, respectively.

A Hare Grows In Manhattan is a Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series, released on March 22, 1947. It was produced by Edward Selzer and directed by I. Freleng. The short features Bugs Bunny.

<i>The Runaway Bunny</i> Childrens picture book (1942)

The Runaway Bunny is a 1942 picture book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. The plot deals with a small rabbit, who wants to run away. His mother, however, tells him that "if you run away, I will run after you."

Lillian Hoban was an American illustrator and children's writer best known for picture books created with her husband Russell Hoban. According to OCLC, she has published 326 works in 1,401 publications in 11 languages.

People Are Bunny is a 1959 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Robert McKimson The short was released on December 19, 1959, and stars Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

Foghorn Leghorn Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Foghorn Leghorn is a cartoon rooster who appears in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and films from Warner Bros. Animation. He was created by Robert McKimson, and starred in 29 cartoons from 1946 to 1964 in the golden age of American animation. All 29 of these cartoons were directed by McKimson.

Elmer Fudd Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon. His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antagonizing characters. He speaks in an unusual way, replacing his Rs and Ls with Ws, so he often refers to Bugs Bunny as a "scwewy" or "wascawwy (rascally) wabbit". Elmer's signature catchphrase is, "Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits", as well as his trademark laughter.

The character that would evolve into Bugs Bunny appeared in four cartoon shorts before his first official appearance in Tex Avery's A Wild Hare. While this early version is commonly referred to as "Happy Rabbit", animation historian David Gerstein disputes this, saying that the only usage of the term was from Mel Blanc himself; the name "Bugs Bunny" was used as early as April 1938, from a model sheet made by Charles Thorson which was used for the short Hare-um Scare-um. Bugs was also mentioned by name from an August 1939 review of the short in the Motion Picture Herald.

Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales is a 1982 animated anthology comedy film directed by Friz Freleng with a compilation of Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences, hosted by Bugs Bunny.

My World is an American children's picture book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. The third book in Brown and Hurd's "classic series", it is the "companion" to Brown & Hurd's Goodnight Moon. My World was published in December 1949.

W. R. Scott was a children's literature publisher based in New York City that specialized in visually striking books with a contemporary educational philosophy. W. R. Scott's first editor was Margaret Wise Brown; the company also published a number of her books.

References

1 2 Mavor, Carol (2007). Reading Boyishly: Roland Barthes, J.M. Barrie, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Marcel Proust, and D.W. Winnicott. Duke University Press. p. 111.
↑ Marcus, Leonard S. (2008). Minders of Make-Believe. New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-67407-7.
↑ Marcus, Leonard S. (1999). Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon. HarperCollins. p. 18.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Mavor-1] 1 2 Mavor, Carol (2007). Reading Boyishly: Roland Barthes, J.M. Barrie, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Marcel Proust, and D.W. Winnicott. Duke University Press. p. 111.

[marcus-2] Marcus, Leonard S. (2008). Minders of Make-Believe. New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-67407-7.

[3] Marcus, Leonard S. (1999). Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon. HarperCollins. p. 18.

[1]

[2]

[3]