Cinder and Inky Again

Several sources mention that Youmans wrote short stories, but other than her first "real" publication—"The Man Who Wanted a Dog That Would Kill," appearing in the October 1921 issue of American Magazine—I hadn't found any of them. So, I was thrilled to stumble across the August 1933 issue of Child Life, which contains "Cinder and Inky Again," a short story with colorized illustrations by Ruth Eger. 1933 is also the publication year of Cinder, about the black-and-tan toy terrier of the same name, with supporting characters Ida (a little girl), Inky (Ida's black kitten), and Queenie (Cinder's mother). I suspect this short story was probably edited out of the full-length Cinder, since both texts appear in the same year and the short story references events that take place in the longer work.

It's a cute story—about Inky attempting to look into a nest of baby Robbins, only to learn a very painful lesson about protective bird parenting. I always wonder if artists really read the stories they illustrate (or in this case colorize). The text is very clearly about Robbins, and yet the birds in the drawings are white with bluish shading. The pastel hews of the end result make for a pretty spring palette nonetheless.


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