Janice May Udry is an American author. She was born in Jacksonville, Illinois and graduated from Northwestern University in 1950. Her first book, A Tree is Nice, was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1957 for Marc Simont's illustrations. Her papers are held at the University of Southern Mississippi.
This book is from 1971 and I bought it at a used book store. I bought it because I remembered the cover from my 5th grade classroom. I spent many long hours trying to recreate Hilary Knights awesome cover illustration on the book. Even though I recalled the cover, I didn't recall the book or title.
After reading it, I knew why. This was a book for its time. Character driven with chapters that didn't relate to eachother and a main character who was quirky, but not in the same endearing, lovable way that Ramona or Junie B. Jones is quirky. Except for the wonderful illustrations throughout the book, Angie is fairly forgettable.
But I was blown away at how times have changed. There were scenes in the book that would never appear in a children's book today and I plan to use these in a future talk for adults. It should be a hoot.