Goodnight Moon Artist Posthumously Quits Smoking

It’s been a busy morning, so I’m only now seeing Edward Wyatt’s NYT dispatch on the airbrushing away of Clement Hurd’s cigarette from his photo on the book jacket of Goodnight Moon:

“HarperCollins said it made the change to avoid the appearance of encouraging smoking and did so with the permission of the illustrator’s estate,” reports Wyatt. “But Mr. Hurd’s son, also a children’s book illustrator and author, said he felt pressured to allow it.” And let’s face it: his hand does look pretty dumb just hanging in the air like that now.

Here’s the scary thing, though: according to the story, Goodnight Moon continues to sell 800,000 copies annually. How can there be that many kids left who haven’t had it read to them yet?

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