The wife made up the stories, but her illustrator husband turned them into oversized books for their children. Author Maurice Sendak said of him, "Between 1931 and 1937, he completed a body of work that forever changed the face of the illustrated book," and noted that the books had "a freedom and charm and freshness of vision." Years after the husband died, his son, who was only 12 when he lost his father, studied art and continued the stories, because he'd grown up with the main character and felt the need to keep the spirit of the little elephant alive. This is the Babar series, and the authors are Jean de Brunhoff and later his son Laurent de Brunhoff, but let's give Madame de Brunhoff credit, too!
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