A menagerie of animals plays a prominent part in the classic children's stories of E.B. White, from Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web to The Trumpet of the Swan. Furthering this tradition is The Duck Can’t Sleep (Quill Tree, Sept. 1), based on one of White’s original poems about a solo mallard—now reimagined as a picture book, illustrated by Melissa Sweet. The posthumous publication includes a foreword written by White’s granddaughter, Martha, and marks her second collaboration with the Caldecott Honor artist, whose picture book biography Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White, was published 10 years ago by Clarion Books.

From Maine to Manhattan

The idea to develop a picture book based on White’s “Natura in Urbe,” first published in the New Yorker in 1928, was initiated several years ago when Sweet and Martha first connected. The two had known each other as neighbors in Maine and partnered up while Sweet was researching and illustrating her biography of White. “Martha shared this poem with me, and I loved it on the first reading,” she told PW.

Martha White’s agent, Amanda Urban at Creative Artists Agency, had approached Rosemary Brosnan, VP and publisher of Quill Tree and Heartdrum, with the concept for this book. Brosnan, who has worked with the E. B. White Estate over the years, also served as the editor for the project. Selecting Sweet as the artist was a no-brainer for Martha, not only because of their shared history, but because of Sweet’s previous work on Kwame Alexander’s poem-turned-picture book How to Read a Book (HarperCollins, 2019).

“Her intricate illustrations serve to slow down the reader and allow the young listener to savor the words and appreciate—and often memorize—the rhyme,” said Martha, who manages her grandfather’s literary estate. “When I came across ‘Natura de Urbe,’ it was a natural skip and a jump to imagine Melissa’s dreamy mallard duck under the night sky and her image of my grandfather perambulating the reservoir.”

While the exact location of the poem was never identified, Sweet conjured up Central Park as a likely setting. (Martha confirmed that her grandfather had indeed walked the park’s reservoir right around the time the poem had been written.) “I’d been there many times, but I needed to go again and see it through the eyes of the poem by walking the bridges, paths, geological outcrops of stone, and the waterways,” Sweet said. “At one of the ponds, I saw mallard ducks with their iridescent green heads, and I was convinced this was the right duck for the story.”

The book’s title is designed to make the story more accessible for young readers, although Martha jokingly referred to it early on as “Sleepless in New York.” For Sweet, revealing what lies beneath the pond’s surface and depicting the natural world within an urban environment was essential to her drawings. “My intent was for the duck and the narrator to reflect the poem’s infectious good mood during their shared midnight reverie,” she said. All of the featured animals are ones that White himself wrote about. As Sweet pointed out, observant readers may also notice familiar symbols, including a spider’s web, within the first few pages.

Sweet is heartened by the fact that every one of her books offers an opportunity to create a story that is true to its respective subject. “There’s always an exhilarating moment when all the decisions, words, and images click into place,” she said. “But best of all is working with a team of people who you can call your friends. That’s a life well-lived.”

Martha said of her grandfather, “I think he had that unique ability to keep his childlike sense of wonder and deep appreciation of the natural world, and he was able to translate that to his readers, both young and old. Melissa has it, too, which makes them such a perfect match.”