There’s a Rainbow in My Closet by Patti Stren
I have a habit of saving special things for later. I’d make my Halloween candy last months, torturing my siblings by only eating one piece a day. I don’t binge TV shows, I’ve actually made a season of Great British Bake-Off last a whole year. This tendency is problematic in my creative life. I have paints and inks I’ve moved from house to house until they dried up and were useless; yes, that works as a metaphor. I’ve hung on to ideas, worried that it wasn’t quite the right time to use them, only to see lose the notebook or watch someone else use the idea first; again, there’s a metaphor here. So I’m surprised that I am writing about There’s a Rainbow in My Closet by Patti Stren today, one of my most special/ Top Ten/would go back in to pull it out of a fire children’s books as only my third VQC Appreciation post - shouldn’t I be saving it for a special occasion?
But it was my birthday last week and my very special copy of TARIMC was given to me on my 30th birthday by my husband. I think he paid $100 dollars for it 19 years ago because it is long out of print, which was SUCH a big deal to me at the time. [ It looks like it’s up to $500 for a copy now.] So in honor of one of the best birthday presents I ever received, let’s talk about one of my favorite books of all time.
Why is TARIMC so special?
Style
Is it a graphic novel before there were really graphic novels? An illustrated MG, anyway. I adore the trembly quivery delicate pen line, it had to be a Pigma Pen right, a 0.1 nib maybe? I loved the hand-drawn and hand-lettered quality, even of the title page [ it was the 1970s and hand lettering was esteemed, including in Molly Katz’s classic vegetarian cookbook “Moosewood Cookbook” which, can you even imagine doing that now without a computer? WOW.]
They are almost New Yorker-style cartoons, a Roz Chast for kids? After all, she was labelled The Fran Lebowitz of the Kid Set.
The only colors in the book are highlights and watercolor washes of purple ink, Emma’s favorite color. I love the way that constraints bred creativity when illustrators only had access to one or two color printing.
The theme of creativity that not everyone understands
Emma is always drawing and doodling and thinking in different ways that not everyone understands or values. Her Mom (who pins a work paper over a special drawing Emma gave her) and her teacher (who circles “mistakes” in her drawings with a red pencil) wound sensitive Emma to the core. But that makes it even more special when her Grandma arrives and instantly takes her seriously - and also gets silly with her.
Making Magic Out of Everyday
It’s not like Emma and her Grandma are out in the jungle or hot air balloons. Their adventures are getting up early to fish, having a walking race to the kitchen, and the last one there has to tell 14 elephant jokes in a row. Conducting classical music in the kitchen and going to see monster movies and blowing the kazoo on empty Cherry Chiclet boxes on their way home. And of course, the titular rainbow in the closet.
Dec. 3, 1982, Jeff Goode photo of Patti Stren from the Toronto Star captioned:
Patti Stren: Canadian expatriate is successful New York-based author of children's books
Canadian Moments
Emma and her classmates are studying the Northwest Territories and the Prairies and living in Toronto. Canadian life just wasn’t reflected in books of the 70s/80s, so I remember how special even the tiniest mention of Canada was, maybe the way a kid might feel about Turning Red now?
Patti Stren grew up in Brantford, Ontario and her immediate family remained in Ontario. Her Mother, Sadie Stren nee Goldberg earned a headline photo announcement in the Jewish Detroit Times announcing her Candlelight Wedding to a Canadian boy who attended the University of Windsor and relocated to Canada after her marriage. Patti did the opposite, going down to New York for art school and staying, marrying an oncologist, and making a life in NYC. But she was a Canadian kid who did good South of the Border and Canada has always been a little more impressed with those who leave and do well in the States, than those who build their career within its borders.
Rarity
Honestly, a small part of the thrill of owning this book is how few copies there are in the world. It never went into a second printing and it’s never been reissued even though the theme of all the Goodreads/Amazon books reviews are “My Favorite Book Ever”, “Put It Back in Print” and begging for a copy. If Lizzie Skurnick came back with her reissue imprint [RIP] I would make the case for this one. In the meantime, some very lucky Public library users apparently have rarely weeded kids collections and you can go borrow a copy right off their shelves: Dallas, Los Angeles,Richland WA, or Cleveland. Lucky you!
No matter how you get your hands on it, I hope you find some way to read this quiet, creative ode to living life to the fullest and as your own self.
When I ordered a used copy of “I Was a 15-year-old-Blimp”, I discovered it was signed! Could the David it’s inscribed to be her brother with whom she had a very close relationship? Maybe!
Bibliography
Patti Stren wrote and illustrated some other wonderfully winsome books (including a YA book about eating disorders that we’re going to have to table to talk about later…)
Even her own website doesn’t have her full list of books and there is no Wikipedia entry for her, so as far as I know, here are all the books Stren both wrote and illustrated:
Hug Me (1978)
Bo, The Constrictor Who Couldn’t (1978)
There's a Rainbow in my Closet (1979)
Sloan & Philamina: or, How To Make Friends With Your Lunch (1979)
I’m Only Afraid of the Dark (at Night!) (1982)
Mountain Rose (1982)
I Was a 15-Year-Old Blimp (1985)
For Sale: One Brother (1993)
June 4, 1979 photo of Patti Stren by Ron Bull for The Toronto Star captioned:
Patti Stren at work on squiggly figure, lettering
