Here in America, we have the example of another children's author, the man who wrote The Wizard of Oz. Daniel Defoe is the standard example of a hack whose best work is still read. Robert Greene, the Elizabethan playwright, might be considered a hack, but he is still read, and some of his plays are very good. Probably I do not need to say that some hacks write well on occasion. But the interesting thing to me is that the best of Gruelle is very good indeed, and unique, as far as I know, in children's literature. And generally speaking, much of Gruelle's writing isn't good. His writing couldn't be very good if there's that much of it. Now if a man is that prolific, if he writes so many books in a series, and other material as well, one is apt to view his work with suspicion. He even illustrated an ambitious edition of the Grimm Brothers, very handsome stuff considering it was done by a self-taught illustrator. He turned out a mound of children's stories, illustrated books, comic strips, drawings. Or, to put it more politely, he was a prolific author and illustrator. Yet, if you look in any standard reference volume, you will find no entry on her or her author, Johnny Gruelle, dead since 1938. There are some twenty books in print, from the original Raggedy Ann series. Raggedy Ann is found everywhere: in card shops, doll shops, dime stores, bookstores.
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