A Crowning Achievement

This article originally appeared in PW’s Children’s Bookshelf.

By Shannon Maughan — Publishers Weekly, 8/27/2009 12:30:00 PM

Lane Smith and Florence Parry Heide, celebrating Heide’s birthday at ALA earlier this summer.

Florence Parry Heide published her first picture book in 1967. At the time, she was looking for a creative outlet as the youngest of her five children headed off to school. She teamed up with her friend Sylvia Van Clief for a number of projects including children’s songbooks, picture books and some short novels. To date, Heide has more than 80 titles for children to her credit. One of her best-known works, The Shrinking of Treehorn, illustrated by Edward Gorey (Holiday House, 1971), struck a chord with both readers and critics. But Treehorn also found a huge fan in one young illustrator, Lane Smith.

In the early 1990s following the start of his own very successful children’s book career (The True Story of the Three Little Pigs; Halloween ABC), Smith contacted Heide by sending her a fan letter, and the two soon formed a mutual admiration society. Though Heide says she and Smith “always knew in the backs of their minds they’d do a book together one day,” the opportunity arose for them just recently. The result is Princess Hyacinth: (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated) (Schwartz & Wade, Sept.). It’s about an isolated young princess who floats through the air unless she’s anchored down. In the tale, she finds adventure—and a friend—when she drifts over the local park.

Random House is releasing the title with the type of fanfare befitting its royal subject matter. On September 26, Heide’s hometown of Kenosha, Wis., is honoring her with Florence Parry Heide Day, featuring storytime read-alouds from her books, various window displays and live musical performances. (The day will be designated annually, too.) And pinkies will be raised, princess-style, on October 4 at a tea party event given by the Union League Club of Chicago, feting Heide, Smith and Molly Leach (the book’s designer and Smith’s wife).

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