1987 onward
“We got some more books in the back,” said the cranky old guy in the dusty book shop.
For the completeist. Here are some harder-to-find books.
—Lane
1987
The first book I illustrated. Banned in many libraries for its spooky content, it was later re-released as Spooky ABC.
2002
The retitled Spooky ABC did not do much better.
1988
A wordless book about a flying boy named Jake.
1991
Glasses, who Needs ‘Em? features Molly’s usual excellent design. The clever first page resembles an eye chart with receding type.
1998
More of Molly’s amazing designs.
2001
My dad worked at Rockwell International during the Apollo space program. I grew up loving anything about astronauts and outer space. This book was a chance to paint retro-NASA-looking space stuff.
2002
This one has some nice Mary Blair-ish cityscapes.
2005
Jon and I did this one for the Museum of Modern Art.
2007
More wonderful Molly designs.
2009
My dream job. Sometimes you get to meet your idols. Florence Parry Heide was everything I hoped she would be. I loved working with her on this book.
2009
The “elephant in the room” no one is discussing is that this book is not very good. I tried really hard. I used brushy calligraphic outlines and gave the characters snappy dialogue. I don’t think it worked. But kids, it’s okay to swing for the fences and miss. I learned a lot making this book which I used on my next one, It’s a Book. And that one became one of my most successful books. So, even your failures teach you things.