Calico the Wonder Horse
Calico the Wonder Horse, or, The Saga of Stewy Slinker
Written by Virginia Lee Burton
Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1941
8.75" x 5.7"
Kerlan Collection, Children's Literature and Research Collections
University of Minnesota Libraries
Appearing together with Curious George on Houghton Mifflin's fall 1941 list was this forthright attempt at a high-quality alternative to the comics. Virginia Lee Burton, much admired by librarians for Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, had spent a year of intensive experimentation before creating this "symphony in comics [set] way out West in Cactus County." By then, the comic-book craze had invaded Burton's own home, prompting the artist to consider why such "lurid tales" so enthralled children like her nine-year-old. Burton's findings had all but made a convert of her: "These books...satisfy a natural craving for excitement...action...drama," she had found. They offered a "hero to worship and an escape to thrilling adventure that is wanted by any normal child."
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Calico the Wonder Horse, or, The Saga of Stewy Stinker
Written by Virginia Lee Burton
Cambridge, Mass., Riverside Press, 1950
8.75" x 5.7"
Kerlan Collection, Children's Literature Research Collections
University of Minnesota Libraries
