Gordon Ralph

Gordon Ralph is a publisher of some two dozen books including those by several FL authors plus his own 4 books [and a coloring book] for children ages 3 to 12. His books have incredible illustrations that re-tell the poetic stories about wild or farm animals, and family or personal issues common to most families.

His inspiration for his first in the "Remaking the World" series of 4 books arose from listening to the Met Opera do "The Nose" on his car radio. The "plot" was so outlandish that he realized that children love the ridiculous so he set about creating "The Nose on the Back of My Head". There are 8 bedtime stories per book, (32 in all). Each is based on the "Midas Touch" story where the thing wished for doesn't work out well, and the child then reverts to liking life the way it is. The illustrator maintains the silliness found in the rhyming text. Embedded in each story is a lesson best approached with some conversation with an adult, like dealing with blemishes on the skin, or eating a farm animal that could have been a pet, or respecting the wildness of a cuddly-looking bear, or dealing with the hand-me-down clothes from an older sibling.

Each of these stories is from a different title of the first 4 books in the series. Gordon's parents, aunts, and others were teachers or librarians, and after his law career, he created employer-hosted "on premises" schools to teach basic literacy and industry skills for the workers to advance.