Wanda Gag and Her Millions of Cats
Remarkable writer/illustrator of Children's Books
Wanda Gág is a pivotal figure in American literature and art, celebrated for her innovative contributions to children’s picture books and her unique artistic vision. She was born in 1893 in Minnesota to German immigrants. Her early life was one of hardship and pain, but her passion for art ultimately led her to transform children’s literature.
Children’s picture books were important to my life as a reader and thinker growing up. I still re-read McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings and Verna Aardema’s Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears. But it is Gag’s Millions of Cats that I return to most often.
Millions of Cats (1928) is widely recognized as the oldest American picture book still in print. This book not only earned her a Newbery Honor but also set a new standard for the blending of text and illustration. Unlike many contemporaries who separated words and images, Gág blended them seamlessly, using hand lettering and double-page spreads to create an immersive reading experience. Her style influenced generations of illustrators and established the modern picture book as a unique art form.
In 1935, Gág published the "proto-feminist" Gone is Gone; or, the Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework. She also translated and illustrated Tales from Grimm in 1936. Wanda loved life in the country and lived on a large farm with her siblings for most of her life. She created children’s books, created illustrations for magazines, and designed gorgeous prints using her unique style of illustration.
Wanda Gag died in 1946 of lung cancer, but her art and imagination live on for readers of all ages.
I urge you to go buy a paperback copy of Millions of Cats and journey into the imagination of the remarkable woman that is Wanda Gag
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Wanda Gag as Writer and illustrator:
Batiking at Home: a Handbook for Beginners, Coward McCann, 1926
Millions of Cats, Coward McCann, 1928
The Funny Thing, Coward McCann, 1929
Snippy and Snappy, Coward McCann, 1931
Wanda Gág’s Storybook (includes Millions of Cats, The Funny Thing, Snippy and Snappy), Coward McCann, 1932
The ABC Bunny, Coward McCann, 1933
Gone is Gone; or, the Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework, Coward McCann, 1935
Growing Pains: Diaries and Drawings for the Years 1908–1917, Coward McCann, 1940
Nothing At All, Coward McCann, 1941