As I have been surfing the web today, I came across two news articles that, in my mind, should have been linked.

Much has been made of the passing of Maurice Sendak (as it should–he was one of my favorite author/illustrators), but  I have seen nothing until today about the death on July 13 of Elsie Holmelund Minarik, who wrote the Little Bear books that Sendak illustrated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/books/else-holmelund-minarik-childrens-writer-dies-at-91.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/books/maurice-sendak-childrens-author-dies-at-83.html?pagewanted=all

I taught myself to read with these books 50 years ago and still frequently gift them to new parents.  It is certainly noteworthy to me that they died within two months of each other.  Another fallen hero for this writer.