The artistic reputation of William Steig would have been remarkable even if he had never turned to writing and illustrating children's books. Indeed, he had two separate and successful careers, one beginning in 1930 at age twenty-three when his cartoons began to appear in the New Yorker, the second with the publication of his first major children's book in 1968, Roland, The Minstrel Pig. He was sixty-one, certainly past the age where he knew what modern children supposedly looked for, nor did he possess a pipeline into the specific and always shifting cultural climate, yet he has steadily produced books for the children's market which have been enthusiastically received by readers and critics.

Perhaps a life devoted to art in many forms was a natural route for William Steig, since he was born into a family where everyone participated in some form of the arts. His parents, Joseph and Laura...