Eventually, freed of other obligations, he plunged full time into both writing and illustrating children's books. It drove him through the years of teaching, designing greeting cards and stage sets, and painting church murals until 1965, when he illustrated his first children's book, Sound, by Lisa Miller for Coward-McCann. His determination to create books for children led to a BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and an MFA from the California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland, California. By the time he could hold a pencil, he knew what his life's work would be. Tommy, now an adult, sees another shooting star and thinks to himself, “Now you are both Nana Upstairs.Tomie dePaola was born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1934 to a family of Irish and Italian background. His mother tells him, “Perhaps that was a kiss from Nana Upstairs.” Years later, Nana Downstairs takes to Nana Upstairs’ former bed as she ages and becomes bedridden. Whenever he thinks about her, she will come back in his memory.Ī few nights later, Tommy sees a shooting star fall from his bedroom window.
Tommy’s mother comforts him by telling him that he can still see Nana Upstairs in his mind. He discovers that Nana Upstairs’ bed is empty, and begins to cry as reality sinks in. Tommy’s mother takes him to his grandmother’s house, and he runs upstairs.
One morning, Tommy wakes up to his mother telling him that Nana Upstairs has died, and he won’t be able to see her anymore. Tommy calls his great-grandmother “Nana Upstairs” because she’s 94 and is “always in a bed upstairs.” “Nana Downstairs” is his grandmother, who runs the house where they both live.
It’s called “Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs,” and it features little Tommy and his great-grandmother and grandmother, whom he visits every Sunday. He also wrote and illustrated one of the loveliest books I’ve seen to introduce children to the concept of death. Tomie dePaola wrote and illustrated the classic children’s book “Strega Nona,” the tale of an Italian witch doctor who made so much magical pasta that it flooded the town where she lived.
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