Children’s author Robert Munsch has sold more than 82m copies of his books and entertained generations of readers with his tender and sharp sense of humour.
His stories have been translated into 45 languages, including 20 Indigenous languages and dialects. He still receives about 10,000 fan letters a year, and has two public schools named after him.
On Saturday, a Canadian actor hopes to honour the writer’s towering legacy in a feat of endurance: reading all 75 books in a single day.
“The plan is to just go straight through, from book to book to book,” said M John Kennedy, who estimates his “Munsch-a-thon” for Toronto’s Nuit Blanche art festival will take at least 13 hours. “I’ve given myself a couple of breaks for food. But we’ll see.”
Munsch’s most famous work, Love You Forever, which tells the story of a mother’s love for her son over the years, has sold more than 30m copies since it was first published in 1986.
The Paper Bag Princess, which he wrote six year earlier, has sold more than 7m copies and been lauded as a feminist take on the gender archetypes of children’s stories.
But last October, Munsch announced he had been forced to retire from writing books and performing after he was diagnosed with dementia.
“I can’t drive, I can’t ride a bicycle, I can’t write. So it’s been really whittling away on who I thought I was,” Munsch told CBC News.
Still, he released two previously unpublished books this year.
Munsch spent his early years in the United States, where he attended university and studied to become a Jesuit priest. He discovered his love of working with children after stints in an orphanage and daycare centre.
He moved to Canada in the 1970s and quickly gained acclaim for visiting schools to tell stories, often using the students as characters for future books.
Kennedy was in fourth grade when Munsch visited his school.
“It was magical. He didn’t just show up and, like, read a book. He told a story and interacted with the crowd,” said Kennedy, who has spent the last two years performing a one-person “Fireside Munsch” show for children.
“His work is so timeless. It’s just, it’s always about zaniness and fun. If the book says Robert Munsch on the cover, you’re probably going to get a good time out of it.”
But the books, with their distinctive illustrations by Michael Martchenko, also take on the difficult task of making sense of the world for young children.
Nearly all the outlandish tales are rooted in the lives and experiences of real people, including Munsch’s own children.
David’s Father, the story of a child whose father is a giant, came after one of Munsch’s adopted daughters asked him to write about someone who doesn’t look like his parents.
“That was his son’s experience growing up,” said Kennedy. “And then you read this story and while it can be scary, it can also be a beautiful thing.”
Munsch has also been open with the public about his own personal struggles, including his past addiction problems and the challenges of living with bipolar disorder.
Kennedy hopes his performance can pay tribute to the author whose vast body of work has shaped the lives – and outlooks – of millions of children.
“These books endure because every kid understands the kernel in the centre of the story as something they’ve experienced themselves in some way,” said Kennedy. “All of his books contain real feelings and ridiculous circumstances. And the message that growing up is for suckers.”
