Tomie dePaola and I always wanted to make a book together. Now, we have.
I loved Tomie dePaola the way I loved my own grandfather.
I even named my dog after him. Really! Tomie dePawla. 🐾
(Funny aside: my husband was concerned that Tomie-the-man might be offended by this, seeing as Tomie dePawla, is… you know… a dog. “Are you kidding?” our oldest daughter quipped. “Tomie would be delighted if you named every pet and renamed every one of your children after him.”)
😂 It’s true.
Anyway, when Tomie passed away a few years ago, we had been scheming about making a picture book together. We did a little more than scheming, actually.
He left this world for the next, and I lost one of my favorite people on the planet. I figured “our book” was dream that wasn’t meant to be.
I was wrong.
Ignatius Press decided to create a new book, featuring Tomie’s Art Mail illustrations of holidays and feast days. Then they asked me to write the foreword. 🥰
It’s called Through the Year with Tomie dePaola, it’s available now, and it. is. stunning.
As I said in the foreword, Tomie’s religious art and stories first baptized my own imagination, and then they went on to baptize the imagination of my kids.
Now, collected like beads on a string, his art is paired with excerpts about holy days to carry us all through the whole liturgical year.
Truly, it’s a work of beauty.
Highly, highly recommended for your homeschool’s Morning Basket, as decor on your coffee table, or just to ogle over.
It’s so, so beautiful. Peek at the inside in this flipbook.
I thought our chance had passed, but… we did it, Tomie! We make a book together, after all. 😭 ❤️ And what a beauty it is.
P.S. Yes, this book is Catholic, but I think any Christian who loves the liturgical year will enjoy it. Order it here.
