Pandora

Like the classic original, with its portrayal of affectionate patience for pets by both children and their parents, this new edition of Newberry’s PANDORA has been lovingly reissued by her daughter, Felicia N. Trujíllo, and features three innovations for Newberry fans and students.

The story will ring true for anyone who has ever known and loved a cat. Newberry was pleased to admit that all her stories were “99 and 44/100% true.” 

This is the first edition to feature an extra full color reproduction of the cover art suitable for framing; a commentary about Newberry’s artistic process in creating PANDORA, which was the result of a quantum leap in the artist’s work; and a brief biography of the artist’s pioneer childhood.

PANDORA, published in 1944, was done in yet another new medium Newberry developed to make cats come so alive on paper that they seemed ready to walk off the page. She perfected using pastels on velour paper, and chose her own long-haired Persian kitty, Pandora, as her heroine. In a daring move, she also included free ink sketches usually only shared between artists, and rarely shared with the public.

Artists, cat fanciers, and children all loved the rich, three-dimensional drawings of Pandora portrayed with the personality of a real feline—both maddening and delightful. Newberry had already won three Caldecott Honors for BARKIS, APRIL'S KITTENS and MARSHMALLOW before she wrote and illustrated PANDORA. APRIL'S KITTENS and MARSHMALLOW are still available from HarperCollins.