Paul

January 1, 1997

Dear Mr. Pinkwater

I just finished reading Hotel Larry and would like to compliment you and your wife on the excellent work. Mrs. Pinkwater’s illustrations are, as they say in Germany, “Der Schwelegant.” As a rule, when a Pinkwater book is illustrated by a Pinkwater, the drawings perfectly compliment the story. Its too bad that some of the paperback covers of your books have been saddled with unpinkwaterly attempts by artists who seem to lack that certain Pinkwater mojo. The paperback cover of Lizard Music (with those stupid looking lizards wearing cheesy sunglasses coming out of the TV) stands out as a stinker. It’s always a relief to open a Pinkwater with a bad cover to find the illustrations inside are 100% Pinkwater.

Thanks for the yum yums.

Paul -- Thanks for the kind words. I gave up trying to get the publishers to let me do paperback covers. ""We know paperbacks. We're publishers,"" they would tell me. I did get to do a couple of paperback covers. In one case they used mine, and then replaced it in the second printing with one that, ""would not stand out."" Clever, those publishers.
Anyway, I have no plans to do any drawing at all any more, now that Jill has started to illustrate. Isn't she great? She draws like I would draw if I could really draw.