"If you didn’t know Ms. Anglund’s stories, you probably knew her drawings of children: Their faces were blank orbs with just two wide-set dots for eyes."

"They became ubiquitous, appearing on Hallmark cards, dolls and ceramics, as Anglund merchandise secured a prominent niche in the collectibles market... Ms. Anglund’s illustrations were particularly distinctive. While the adults in her drawings all displayed fully formed and expressive facial features, the children had none at all, save for those dots for eyes. Ms. Anglund, who used her own children as models, said she had never made a conscious decision to omit her young characters’ mouths and noses. But over time, she said, she realized that unformed, untouched faces better evoked the innocence of childhood. 'I think perhaps I am trying to get down to the essence of a child,' she said, 'not drawing just a particular, realistic child, but instead I think I’m trying to capture the "feeling" of all children, of childhood itself, perhaps.'"

 From "Joan Walsh Anglund, 95, Dies; Her Children’s Books Touched Millions/Her first in a prolific career, 'A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You,' was a phenomenon. And her illustrations capturing childhood became a cottage industry" (NYT). 

Anglund wrote the line "A bird doesn’t sing because he has an answer, he sings because he has a song" — which Maya Angelou, author of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” took to quoting.

That caused some people to think Angelou had written it. Among the misinformed was the U.S. Postal Service, which made an Angelou stamp with Anglund's line. Anglund was gracious about it, not that she had much choice in what to say about it. And the association with the much-celebrated Angelou helped Anglund. Who would know that one line of hers without Angelou? [CORRECTION: Originally, I wrote that Anglund’s line inspired the book title.]

Speaking of copying, I wonder who first got the idea to draw children with a big blank face and dots for eyes. Where else have I seen that? I thought of Hello Kitty, but Hello Kitty has a nose. And whiskers.

Here's the incredibly popular book from 1958: