George Ancona: A Door to the World

If anyone was destined to create books for children, it was my dad. He had the curiosity, openness, creativity, and joy of a kid. He loved meeting new people, visiting new places, and learning new things. For him, work was play. And it was often very personal.

A glance through his 118 titles will tell you that George Ancona was proud of his Mexican heritage. He created a five-part series called “Viva Mexico!” and bilingual books like Mis Amigos / My Friends. His parents were originally from the Yucatan Peninsula. They immigrated separately to New York City, met there, and then raised my father and his sister in Brooklyn and Coney Island.

Dad’s New York childhood was magical. He explored the city with his father. A favorite destination was the dockyards, where George was “filled with wonder and awe-feelings” at seeing massive ships from across the globe. He spent summer days at Coney Island Beach, riding the merry-go-round. On Saturday afternoons, he went to the movies. Afterward, he and his friends later reenacted the adventures of Flash Gordon, Tarzan, Zorro, and the Lone Ranger. Imagination and movement are common themes in his work. He made six books on dance alone! (He really loved to dance.)

Many of my father’s neighbors were also immigrants. He once described a school potluck that included “pasta fagiolo, egg rolls, knishes, noodle pudding, chicken soup, latkes, pizza, and my mother’s tamales and tacos.” With experiences like these, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he often wrote about and photographed food! I also think that growing up among immigrants sparked my dad’s interest in other cultures and gave him a sensitivity to being outside the mainstream. 

So how did he ultimately become an artist? My grandfather was an amateur photographer, but my dad found the process of developing images tedious. “It was boring, and I vowed never to be a photographer,” he once said.

Young George did love to draw and paint. In junior high, he took a sign-painting class that set him on his initial career path as a graphic designer. After graduating from high school, he worked as an apprentice in art studios, attended night classes at the Cooper Union, and built up a design portfolio. Before long, he was working at magazines like Esquire and Seventeen and then ad agencies serving clients in TV and fashion.

As a designer, my father worked closely with photographers and filmmakers. Inspired by them, he began experimenting with photography and filmmaking in his downtime. 

At age 30, he took the plunge. He quit his full-time job and became a freelance photographer/filmmaker. Projects took him to Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Pakistan, Japan, and all over the United States.

Dad’s entrance into the world of children’s books came about when a writer friend asked him to work with her. He thought it sounded fun. The result was Faces, published in 1970. He continued collaborating with her and other authors until an editor suggested he try a solo project. Dad was not convinced of his writing skills, but, characteristically, accepted the challenge. Monsters on Wheels came out in 1975. Dad later compared choosing words to mixing colors for a painting: “frustrating and exciting at the same time.”

Although his books cover a wide range of topics, Dad primarily considered himself a “people photographer.”

The friendship between my father and his subjects is plainly evident in his work. The photographs have such warmth and familiarity. You can tell that people really trusted Dad. He, in turn, became very attached to them. Finishing a shoot could be bittersweet.

Luckily, my father had ongoing friendships with the subjects of both books featured in CLICK! He saw them many times! He made four books about sign language with Mary Beth Miller, a teacher and actor with the National Theatre of the Deaf. In Handtalk Birthday, Mary Beth’s friends throw her a surprise birthday party. In the era before digital photo manipulation, my father shot scenes from above to make Mary Beth “fly.”

Pablo Remembers: The Fiesta of the Day of the Dead follows a young boy in Oaxaca, Mexico, as he and his family observe the three-day celebration of El Día de los Muertos. Dad found the Montaño-Chavez family through a chance encounter on the street. He stayed close to them for the rest of his life, returning to their village for a book about piñatas and even attending Pablo’s wedding.

Through Pablo Remembers and so many other books, my father hoped to instill in his young audience the same sense of wonder that he experienced when his father took him to the Brooklyn docks.