Friday, June 13, 2014

Where's Spot? Author Eric Hill Has Died

Eric Hill, whose effort to entertain his young son with a simple drawing of a dog named Spot blossomed into a popular series of children's books that have sold more than 60 million copies, has died. He was 86. The other great thing about this man was his use of something that is common now, but unheard of when he started. Flaps which you raised to see part of the photo. That of course is also the first thing that kids destroy when they read the book.

17 comments:

StuffandNonsense said...

Well geezus..that's just a bucket of sad. RIP.

OneEyeCharlie said...

I have a number of his books taped back together.

Violet said...

That brings back some happy memories. Ive read Spot books with every one of the V jrs. And hopefully one day with their children (not soon though God forbid). RIP.

Anonymous said...

That is too bad. Those books were kind of cute.

TalksTooMuch said...

Flaps hold interest better than almost anything. But it's all Lennny-time after that, wee hands rip flaps off faster than anything. But always with love!

auntliddy said...

Rest in peace. And send us back a book of spot looking for u in heaven:)

Anonymous said...

Is he under the angel's wing? No...
Is he behind Saint Chistopher? No.....

Beetlejuice said...

Bummer, the kids in my family love Spot tho the flaps last about an hour.

Procrastibator said...

Noooooo....another beloved part of my childhood dies

Procrastibator said...

Book clubs around the world this week will be featuring an indepth analysis of Spot goes to the Circus.

AJ said...

Now I'm sad.
Going to go hug my puppy.

Catherine said...

So sorry to hear this. My daughter and I just loved his books. RIP.

Pazazz said...

This is the first book I taught my son how to read with. Sad RIP

Kno Won said...

I had to pop back in because I can no longer resist typing
"Spot's dead, Jim"
(my children also loved the books, but for real...how can no one answer with that?)
(sorry/not sorry...reader's choice)

JoElla said...

@Kno! BAD, BAD BAD!! lolololol

I read the books to my babies, and when they were old enough to read, I had them also read them to the younger siblings as well. (great trick for little ones needing reading practice)

Anyone else remember the videos? My kids would get excited seeing them, after reading, or learning how to read the stories.

RowdyRodimus said...

@Violet the book series I loved as a kid was the Ramona Quimby books even though they were "for girls". I've also been lucky enough to, while not having kids of my own, have two nieces that loved hearing Uncle Chris read about Ramona, Beezus and all the things that troublemaker of a little girl gets into.

I also was honored to be able to have a few Email conversations with Beverly Cleary a few years back. I was able to thank her for being partially responsible for instilling my love of reading as a child and for providing works that I was able to bond with my nieces over. She told me she was blessed to have so many fans who have told her similar things and how she loves to hear every single one of them, that it meant her life had meaning. I then told her that we were the ones who were blessed by her using her gifts to give us such wonderful, timeless books.

TalksTooMuch said...

Rowdy, I LOVED the Beezus and Ramona series too. I collected them all but was thinking I was going to have to give them to my neighbour due to having all boys, you've inspired me to keep them for my own kidlets. I forget that girls and boys don't typically care about gender separation at that age

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