It was no secret that I thought Tomie talked… maybe… possibly… just an itty bitty too much. He made fun of this in his illustration for Arnold L. Shapiro’s poem, “I Speak, I Say, I Talk,” in TOMIE DEPAOLA’S BOOK OF POEMS in 1988. I was fascinated that he could show the dog and cats agreeing with me by simple lines (dog) and placement of eyes (cats). Decades ago, I was working on the arrangements for a speaking engagement at some institution in some city, and my contact asked, “Could Tomie speak for twenty minutes?” I began to chuckle and said, “I don’t think he can.” She understood. One hour, two hours, yes. Twenty minutes, no… just getting warmed up. Another chatty memory was when Judith Rosen of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY was trying to interview Tomie about his newest book. No matter how hard she tried to get him to focus on the new book, he was only interested in talking about other things. Judith mentioned in her article the distraction of the bride and groom photo session, but didn’t mention the homeless man urinating several feet from us. Unfazed, Tomie talked. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/59792-250-children-s-books-and-counting-a-conversation-with-tomie-depaola.html (Bob)
