Jesse Doogan

September was the month that wasn’t, in good ways (a little vacation!) and bad (a couple of weeks sick in bed). (I’m fine! Wash your hands! Get your flu shot!) To be honest, this has felt like the summer that didn’t exist. I was chased inside, first by cicadas, then by cicada mites, so turning the calendar over from September to October has caused more a feeling of panic (I have hardly eaten a tomato!) instead of a welcoming of cozy, baked apple times.

Hello! It’s me, Jesse Doogan, and I am (finally? inevitably?) launching a newsletter. You’re getting this because you signed up for one of my long-gone bloggy attempts from years past, or because you told me that you wouldn’t mind being added to my email list. Thanks for joining me over here. I agonized over a name for this newsletter, as I have agonized over every title I’ve ever been responsible for.

A few weeks ago, I read Annika Barranti Klein’s article, Did Maurice Sendak Hate Children? It was funny timing, because I had just picked up my phone to scroll after reading all about Maurice Sendak in children’s book historian Leonard Marcus’s book Minders of Make-Believe. While I don’t necessarily disagree with the points Annika makes, I do wonder if there are other reasons that people might think he doesn’t like children.