A Few More Dedications ...
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Following last week's post on book dedications, a few readers and friends chimed in with their own favorites, which I thought I'd share ...
Scholar and blogger Kerry Mockler sent along a dedication from the late Diana Wynne Jones[1. For those unaware, Jones passed away this week -- you can read a tribute on Kerry's blog here, or a touching piece from Neil Gaiman here.] from Howl's Moving Castle:
“The idea for this book was suggested by a boy in a school I was visiting, who asked me to write a book called The Moving Castle. I wrote down his name, and put it in such a safe place, that I have been unable to find it ever since. I would like to thank him very much.”
Librarian Anne-Marie Gordon brought up Daniel Pinkwater's short-but-sweet dedication to Aunt Lulu:
"Aunt Lulu" is dedicated to "good librarians everywhere."
Scholar and friend Alexandra Valint described some scandal around the dedication in Jane Eyre -- I'll let Alex tell the story:
"Charlotte Bronte dedicated the second edition of Jane Eyre to W. M. Thackeray. She clearly did it out of great admiration for his writing (she had not met him at that point), but eventually, when her real identity got out, the dedication caused quite a bit of scandal. You see, Thackeray’s real wife was insane and suicidal and eventually had to be locked up (Bronte would not have known this). So, of course, rumors started to spread about the real relationship between Bronte and Thackeray. Add to that that there was a kind of a subdued literary rivalship between them, and we get, in general, a great dedication."
And finally, teacher Mike Lewis scanned and sent this charming dedication from Paul Feig:
That's it! Stay tuned later in the week when I'll be posting the rest of this semester's reading list for our children's literature course! Until then ...
