Customer Reviews

Rose O'Neill: The Girl Who Loved to Draw

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Rose O'Neill is a woman that girls today should get to know! Strong and opinionated, a leader in a time when women didn't lead.

For those who remember and love Kewpies, there are loads of original illustrations of Rose's own work. The author, Linda Brewster, has also added her own wonderful drawings to bring Rose's childhood alive.

If you, or someone you love is interested in art, art history, cartooning, Kewpies, or strong women in American history, this is a great book for you. I can particularly see this as a terrific resource for school reports as it is extremely well researched.

This is a wonderful book on one of America's treasures that needs to be rediscovered by children and adults alike. The children's biography is extremely well-researched and told in an engaging, well-written manner. The author, Linda Brewster, not only provides her own lovely, whimsical illustrations to depict O'Neill's childhood, but also includes an abundance of Rose O'Neill's illustrations and family photographs that makes this story come alive. For anyone interested in art, cartooning, Kewpies, and the monumental achievements of women in American and world history.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BOOK! Artist and Author Linda Brewster tells us about the unique childhood of Rose O'Neill, creator of the Kewpie character. Before Mickey Mouse, Kewpie was the first and only comic character for young children
in the early 1900s. Kewpie comics were published in women's magazines
so young children would have easy access to the fun stories of Kewpieville. This once famous woman also created the Kewpie Doll, which became an enormous business. Before women had the right to vote, Rose O'Neill broke the barriers that kept women from creating and owning businesses and having control over their lives.

Brewster's love of the subject is clear in this oversized book. With over a hundred Rose O'Neill Illustrations in color and many of which have never been seen published, makes it a delight for collectors, fans and for the children for which it was written. Adults and children will enjoy this fascinating story of a poor child that made it to the top of her profession when she couldn't even work in an office with men, but worked from her room in a convent.

Rose O'Neill's grandnephew David O'Neill contributed photo's and other documents from the family collection. Numerous other Rose O'Neill fans provided many illustrations from their collection to complete this lovely book.

As most pioneers, Rose O'Neill's work was minimized and belittled by people that did not want to give her the credit she fully deserved. Yet today, she still has a fan base that circles the globe. This anniversary edition of the book is one that all Kewpie and Rose O'Neill fans will want to have. All libraries should have this book in their collection.

Buy copies as gifts for your LIBRARY! Children need to know the people that paved the way for them to succeed on what ever path they choose. Rose O'Neill needs to be remembered by all and having this book in the libraries is a good start.

I had never heard of Rose O'Neill before picking up this book, although I was familiar with kewpies, her most famous creation.

Rose O'Neill was a commercial illustrator and comic artist in the early 1900s, at a time when most commercial illustrators were men. This children's biography of Rose O'Neill concentrates on her childhood.

The 68-page biography is in an oversized 10 x 12 format. It is lavishly illustrated with over 100 drawings and photographs. The author, Linda Brewster, skillfully pairs Rose's adult drawings with the childhood events that may have inspired them. The book is based on Rose's unpublished memoirs, so the writing comes alive with dialogue and Rose's memories.

I have included this book in my online Gender Equality Bookstore.

Rose O'Neill, the first woman comic artist in the United States, enjoyed tremendous success during her professional career and became one of the most highly paid artists of the early 1900s. This success, however, came on the back of considerable economic hardship and personal challenges during her childhood. Her parents loved the arts and had an enormous collection of artwork and books, but her father had trouble with financial planning, and on multiple occasions during Rose's childhood his inability to pay the bills led to the loss of his business and the family home.

Rose's first family move was probably the most severe, entailing a three-month long wagon ride from their comfortable home in Pennsylvania to a one-room sod house with an earth floor and a tarpaper roof in Nebraska. The family used stacked books and wooden boards to make furniture and, until they could afford a pot-bellied stove several weeks later, had to cook their food outside on an open fire. Rose's father traded books and some livestock for supplies, and ultimately Rose's mother took on a job teaching in the next town to help support the growing family. Despite the constant lack of money, threadbare clothes, frequent moves, and a late start with formal schooling, Rose had a happy childhood, and her natural talents in the arts thrived under the tutelage of both her parents.

Access to reams of books with art and literature led to plentiful opportunities for learning by doing, as did the succession of younger siblings who served as models for her drawings of babies. This self-training ultimately led Rose as an adult to create the cupid-like Kewpie cartoon characters and porcelain dolls for which she became most famous. This impressive book, as rich in artistic content as it is in historical narrative, provides a valuable opportunity to see how economic challenges helped to shape the career progression of a talented artist and entrepreneur.

Rose O'Neill, a genius of the arts, is deservingly being re-discovered and admired with this new book by Linda Brewster. "The Girl Who Loved to Draw" has absolutely gorgeous illustrations that highlight the marvelous career of Rose O'Neill. The clever choice of illustrations to tell the story of the early years of Rose's life is very inspiring to young and old. Art students, accomplished artists, biographers, libraries and programs for women's history studies will benefit from this amazing and well written book. In spite of her family's extreme poverty, Rose achieved the nearly impossible in the various fields of art. This book shows her personal struggles along with the diversity of Rose's artistic talent that spanned the spectrum of subjects from cowboys to whimsical fairies to school children to beautiful women in ball gowns to sensitive emotional social issues.

Special thanks to Linda Brewster for understanding the importance of documenting the life of Rose. Linda lovingly spent years doing extensive research which is obvious to the reader with the amount of accurate historic details she included in this book! She worked diligently with the O'Neill family and libraries to authenticate the historical facts about Rose. As an accomplished artist, Linda provides the unique insight into the importance of Rose's family life and culture. Linda's wonderful book identifies how Irish folklore, life experiences, and a loving family that understood the importance of books and literacy all influenced the insightful art of Rose O'Neill.

In the preface to this book, Linda expertly describes the unique artistic talent of Rose, "Her mind was filled with elves and fairies at an early age, and these sources helped her find humor in the real world. Like all artists, Rose was highly sensitive to all that happened around her. What may have gone unnoticed by the casual observer often became the subject for one of Rose's illustrations."

I definitely recommend this inspiring book, "Rose O'Neill The Girl Who Loved to Draw" written by Linda Brewster and published by Boxing Day Books!

Susan Scott
President - Bonniebrook Historical Society

This book introduces Rose O'Neill, the illustrator whose drawings of kewpies led to the creation of the kewpie doll. It's the fascinating story of Rose's early life and her intense interest in art and illustration. It's an excellent biography and a beautiful art book, filled with a marvelous array of Rose's own illustrations, plus illustrations done by the author/illustrator and an impressive selection of photographs of people and places important in Rose's life. The book is written a style understandable for a child, but also of interest to an adult. This book would be a wonderful gift for art lovers and aspiring artists of any age!