OUTSIDE IN AND THE INSIDE OUT

An ambitious encapsulation of the life of children’s book author Arnold Lobel.

“This story begins with a boy and a pair of wet socks.” Those socks, damp because their wearer was playing in the snow, resulted in a cold and then an ear infection that led to young Arnold missing a year of school. He drew during that time, honing a talent that didn’t always impress the other children. A bit of an outsider, “Arnold enjoyed being a quiet observer” and relied on that ability throughout his life. Opting to incorporate elements of Lobel’s books into the story visually rather than textually, Kastner makes sly allusions to her subject’s oeuvre throughout her biography; she renders Arnold’s time in the business world, for instance, in the colors of Lobel’s The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments (1968). Kastner handles the unenviable task of attempting to explain the dissolution of Lobel’s marriage with mixed success; in a somewhat vague moment, Lobel tells his family that “there [is] more love for him to find,” and an accompanying illustration shows him fishing with partner Howard Wiener. While the book doesn’t rise to the succinct brilliance of Jerrold Connor’s JIM! (2025)—a biography of Lobel’s friend Jim Marshall—it nonetheless places the creator’s works within the context of his life with admirable skill. Backmatter includes a three-page author’s note, a list of sources, and an impressive bibliography of Lobel’s works.

A deeply loving paean to a deeply loved book creator.