James Thurber (1894-1961) was born in Columbus, Ohio. After dropping out of college, he became a successful reporter, first for The Columbus Dispatch and later for the New York Evening Post. In 1927, after rejecting countless submissions, The New Yorker published one of Thurber's short pieces. Not long after, he met E.B. White, who helped him get a job as an editor there; White also encouraged Thurber to use his own drawings to illustrate his first book, the best-selling satire Is Sex Necessary? Thurber didn't last long in his editorial job, but he continued publishing sketches and "Talk of the Town" pieces for The New Yorker until his death. Among his nearly forty books are The Owl in the Attic, Fables for Our Time, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and A Thurber Carnival, which was adapted for the stage, winning a Tony Award in 1960. Thurber also wrote five books for children: Many Moons (1943), a Caldecott Honor Book; The Great Quillow (1944); The White Deer (1945); The 13 Clocks (1950); and The Wonderful O (1957). »

The Wonderful O

By James Thurber
Illustrations by Marc Simont

Black and Littlejack are bad men. Littlejack has a map that indicates the existence of a treasure on a far and lonely island. He needs a ship to get there. Black has a ship. So they team up and sail off on Black's vessel, the Aeiu. "A weird uncanny name," remarks Littlejack, "like a nightbird screaming." Black explains that it's all the vowels except for O. O he hates since his mother got wedged in a porthole. They couldn't pull her in so they had to push her out.

Black and Littlejack arrive at the port of the far and lonely island and demand the treasure. No one knows anything about it, so they have their henchmen ransack the place—to no avail. But Black has a better idea: he will take over the island and he will purge it of O.

The vicissitudes visited on the islanders by Black and Littlejack, the harsh limits of a life sans O (where shoe is she and woe is we), and how finally with a little luck and lots of pluck the islanders shake off their tyrannical interlopers and discover the true treasure for themselves (Oh yes—and get back their O's)—these are only some of the surprises that await readers of James Thurber's timelessly zany fairy tale about two louts who try to lock up the language—and lose.

Reviews

A playful allegory on love, valor and freedom, and a ceaseless romp with wordplay.
— Publishers Weekly

O, wonderful! James Thurber's grown-up kids' books, The Wonderful O and The 13 Clocks, long out of print, are back -- rich with ogres and oligarchs, riddles and wit. What distinguishes them is not just quixotic imagination but Thurber's inimitable delight in language. The stories beg to be read aloud...Thurber captivates the ear and captures the heart.
— Newsweek

A prodigious performance. As a medium in the great séance of letters he is incomparable; he has only to utter an incantatory moan, and words levitate, phrases rap out unexpected messages, and whole sentences turn into ectoplasm.
— The New Yorker

No one else could think up a fairy story, tale, legend, exercise or what have you, based upon 'O' alone. Certainly no one else could bring it off if he had. Mr. Thurber, however, can, did, and does. No more worthy 'O' words could go before The Wonderful O than another O Wonderful.
— Lewis Nichols, The New York Times

The Wonderful O, published in 1957, is a tale for children, and a reminder for adults, of the joys of love, liberty, language and, not least, humor. It has pirates and treasure and magic and a message that especially in complacent times must not be forgotten...The Wonderful O is a book worth finding, wherever you can, and reading, as one of its characters concludes, 'lest we forget.
— The Wall Street Journal

Also see:

The 13 Clocks By James Thurber Introduction by Neil Gaiman Illustrations by Marc Simont Satirist Thurber takes on the fairy tale and the results are captivating. "There are spys, monsters, betrayals, hair's-breadth escapes, spells to be broken and all the usual accouterments, but Thurber gives the proceedings his own particular deadpan spin." —Los Angeles Times

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