Sam and Emma

Sam and Emma.
Donald Nelsen ~ Edward Gorey ~ Parent's Magazine Press, 1971

Who didn't grow up loving the dark and whimsical drawings and stories of Edward Gorey, really? I have a few of his books, but they always seemed more suited to adults than children. However, under the Parent's Magazine Press imprint, this one is most definitely for the young 'uns. Having been a bookseller in New York at the old Doubleday Bookshop, and particularly one in the Fifth Avenue area during the 90s right before high rents and the changing landscape of the city ran them all out of business... I was always down the street at The Gotham Book Mart, browsing its vast Gorey collection and snapping up signed titles whenever I had an extra six bucks to spend. Gorey was truly a great American artist who created a world completely new to all those lucky enough to stumble across a copy of The Unstrung Harp or look on aghast at The Beastly Baby. Growing up in small town America, his books were like a window on a creative world I could only imagine. But anywho, without further yackity...

Sam and Emma lived quite content
in a house
with a garden
where they didn't pay rent.
Sam was a dog, very gentle and kind.
Emma, a cat, seldom troubled her mind
about much of anything -- except herself.

A day trip leads the two on an adventure where beavers share a meal, porcupines offer a good survival lesson, and the moral is you must understand others before you can hope to understand yourself. That and friendship rules! Ten thumbs way up. I couldn't find anything on the author, Mr. Nelsen, so if anyone has any details, let me know.

Also by:
Rumpelstiltskin
The Dwindling Party