Wave goodnight, Blackboard Bear

By Jolie Jean Cotton
Special to The Advertiser

Hawai'i children's book author and illustrator Martha Alexander's latest book, "I'll Never Share You, Blackboard Bear," is the sixth and probably the final book in a series that has become a worldwide classic.

It was 1969 when Dial published Alexander's first "Blackboard Bear" picture book, which was chosen by the New York Times as an Outstanding Book of the Year.

Her career since then has been legend. Said veteran editor Arthur Levine of Scholastic Publishing: "Martha's one of a kind. She has a real gift for creating books for young children that are affecting without being overly sentimental."

A visit with her sister led to the creation of Alexander's first story about a boy named Anthony and the bear that comes to life from a drawing on a blackboard. Alexander's sister lived in the country, and the woman's grandson, Christopher, was 4 at the time. Alexander said Christopher had no one to play with and spent his days racing around the yard as though playing the parts of all the actors in a play — first a cowboy, then an Indian, a cop, a robber.

"When I returned home, I couldn't get him off my mind," Alexander explained in a mid-1980s interview with author Jim Roginski. "One night I couldn't sleep for thinking of him and got up and made a dummy, and that story just seemed to happen to me. It just came out page after page without my having any idea what was coming. All I know is that it was inspired by a little boy named Christopher who had a wild imagination."

Since then, Alexander's books have been translated into nearly a dozen languages. French publishers have released 15 Alexander titles. Publishers in China seem particularly keen on her work of late, releasing "You're a Genius, Blackboard Bear" in 2001.

In "I'll Never Share You, Blackboard Bear," neighborhood friends Gloria and Stewart want their own Blackboard Bears, but Anthony will not give, share or trade his friend. The children do finally discover where the bear comes from, but it is the clever bear that devises a solution that pleases everyone.

"I tried to do other Blackboard Bear books," Alexander said. "This one seemed like the mystery was over now; it seemed like a good way to end."

Right now, Alexander is illustrating a picture book for Charlesbridge children's books called "The Little Green Witch."

"She lives in a hollow tree with a ghost, a gremlin and a bat," Alexander said. "The story is a take-off on 'The Little Red Hen.' The witch finds a pumpkin seed and asks, 'Who will help me water it?' Her wording is wonderful, just so adorable," Alexander said.

"The Little Green Witch" is written by author Barbara Barbieri McGrath, who also wrote several best-selling M&M Counting and ABC Books with Charlesbridge.

More books by Martha Alexander

(* means still in print)

• "Maybe a Monster," Dial, 1968
• "Out! Out! Out! Dial Press," 1968
• "The Story Grandmother Told," Dial, 1969
• "Blackboard Bear," Dial, 1969
• "Bobo's Dream," Dial,1970
• "We Never Get To Do Anything," Dial, 1970
• "Sabrina," Dial, 1970
• "Nobody Asked Me If I Wanted a Baby Sister," Dial, 1971
• "And My Mean Old Mother Will Be Sorry, Blackboard Bear," Dial, 1973 *
• "No Ducks in Our Bathtub," Dial, 1973
• "I'll Protect You From the Jungle Beasts," Dial, 1973
• "Poems & Prayers for the Very Young," Random House, 1973 *
• "I'll Be the Horse If You'll Play With Me," Dial, 1973
• "I Sure Am Glad to See You, Blackboard Bear," Dial, 1976 *
• "Pigs Say Oink, a First Book of Sounds," Random House, 1978
• "When The New Baby Comes, I'm Moving Out," Dial, 1979
• "Four Bears in a Box," Dial, 1980
• "We're in Big Trouble, Blackboard Bear," Dial, 1980 *
• "Marty McGee's Space Lab No Girls Allowed," Dial, 1981
• "Four Bears in a Box," Dial, 1981
• "Move Over, Twerp," Dial Press, 1981
• "Maggie's Moon," Dial, 1982
• "How My Library Grew: By
• Dinah," H.W. Wilson, 1983
• "The Magic Box," "The Magic Hat" and "The Magic Picture", Dial, 1984
• "Even That Moose Won't Listen to Me!," Dial, 1988
• "My Outrageous Friend Charlie," Dial, 1989.
• "Where Does the Sky End, Grandpa?," Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992
• "Where's Willy?," Candlewick Press, 1993
• "Willy's Boot," Candlewick Press, 1993
• "Goodnight, Lily," Candlewick Press, 1993
• "Lily and Willy," Candlewick Press, 1993
• "A You're Adorable," (lyrics and music by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise, Sidney Lippman) Candlewick Press, 1994
• "You're a Genius, Blackboard Bear," Candlewick Press, 1995 *
• "The Candlewick Book of Bedtime Stories," (with Camila Ashforth) Candlewick Press, 1995
• "I'll Never Share You, Blackboard Bear," Candlewick Press, 2003

Alexander also has illustrated more than 20 books for other authors.