Mr. Tanner

by Harry Chapin, Bryan Langdo (Illustrator)

Overview

Mr. Tanner runs a dry cleaning shop in Dayton, Ohio, where he spends his days greeting his customers with his beautiful baritone voice. His friends and neighbors encourage him to sing professionally instead of cleaning clothes. He eventually takes a chance and travels to New York City to be heard by a concert agent and critics, only to find they weren’t hearing what he was feeling. The song Mr. Tanner was released in 1973 off Harry Chapin’s Short Stories album. The song was inspired by a mediocre review about a baritone singer in The New York Times. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to help support WhyHunger, a charity championed by Harry Chapin himself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780991386680
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/09/2017
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Harry Chapin (1942–1981) was an American singer-songwriter best known for his #1 hit Cat’s in the Cradle. He was a true troubadour of storytelling through his songs. He also was a humanitarian who fought to end world hunger and is one of the founders of WhyHunger. Bryan Langdo is the illustrator of over thirty books for children, including Salad Pie by Wendy BooydeGraaff. He is also a writer and editor. When he’s not in his art studio with some music playing, he likes to be outdoors with his wife and two children.

Editorial Reviews

03/27/2017
The late singer-songwriter Chapin’s 1976 song “Mr. Tanner” gets a picture-book adaptation that softens some of the song’s melancholy, though not much. Inspired by real-life events, it tells of Mr. Tanner, a “cleaner from a town in the Midwest,” who loves to sing but recognizes that although “music was his life, it was not his livelihood.” After friends urge him to “use his gift instead of cleaning coats,” Mr. Tanner hops a plane to New York City and performs at Town Hall, but the reviews are not kind. Langdo (There’s a Cat in Our Class!) portrays Mr. Tanner as a well-dressed brown bear, and his sensitive watercolors draw out the joy Mr. Tanner gets from singing, his shock over the bad review, and its effect on him: after returning home, “he smiled and just said nothing, and he never sang again.” Although closing images of Mr. Tanner singing to himself at his shop temper this outcome somewhat, it’s a somber reminder of the way criticism can get inside an artist’s head. Ages 5–7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"In essence, both the song and the book tell the story about finding one's voice (no pun intended), to be yourself, and that you should always thoughtfully be willing to try things and not be scared to fail, because after all that's how we learn."  —Jonathan Chapin, step-son of author/songwriter Harry Chapin


"Langdo (There’s a Cat in Our Class!) portrays Mr. Tanner as a well-dressed brown bear, and his sensitive watercolors draw out the joy Mr. Tanner gets from singing, his shock over the bad review, and its effect on him: after returning home, “he smiled and just said nothing, and he never sang again.” Although closing images of Mr. Tanner singing to himself at his shop temper this outcome somewhat, it’s a somber reminder of the way criticism can get inside an artist’s head."  —Publishers Weekly


"Aside from a few changes, the rhyming text of the book is the same as the original song. A facsimile of the typed lyrics with Chapin’s handwritten corrections is included. Like 'Cat’s in the Cradle,' the late singer/songwriter’s best-known work, this story about good intentions going awry has a melancholy air. There’s inspiration in the refrain: 'He didn’t know how well he sang. It just made him whole.'"  —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2017-03-29
One of Chapin's songs is brought to life in this book about facing criticism.In a Midwestern town populated by a variety of anthropomorphic animal characters, Mr. Tanner is a baritone bear who joyfully sings in his dry-cleaning shop. His friends and customers encourage him to use his musical gifts professionally. Even though "music was his life, it was not his livelihood," he lets himself be persuaded to go to New York to perform at Town Hall. He gives it his all onstage but comes away with poor reviews from music critics. Crushed, he goes home, never to sing publicly again. Langdo's soft-edged watercolor illustrations, many in album-cover-shaped squares, capture the arc of Mr. Tanner's unfulfilled dreams. The book opens with a bird's-eye view of a small town and ends with the bear framed by his shop windows, singing to himself. A line of clothes is cleverly hung from a musical staff that winds its way from Dayton to New York. Aside from a few changes, the rhyming text of the book is the same as the original song. A facsimile of the typed lyrics with Chapin's handwritten corrections is included. Like "Cat's in the Cradle," the late singer/songwriter's best-known work, this story about good intentions going awry has a melancholy air. There's inspiration in the refrain: "He didn't know how well he sang. It just made him whole." (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews