Suzuki Beane

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Suzuki Beane is a humor book written in 1961 by Sandra Scoppettone and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh. The hipster comedy classic was a downtown satire on Kay Thompson's Eloise series (1956-59). First published in hardcover by Doubleday & Company, Suzuki Beane reappeared as a McFadden Books paperback that same year.

The story, sometimes described as "the Eloise of Greenwich Village," is told from the viewpoint of a young child of Bleecker Street beats. Little Suzuki encounters a different lifestyle when she becomes friends with Henry Martin, a rich kid from the Upper East Side. The two learn about life, love and how to deal with prejudice in the early 1960s. The pair finally decide to "run away from home and start a village where a Square can be a square and a swinging cat can swing in peace."

The Saturday Review described Suzuki Beane as "the littlest Beatnik, a real cool, swinging chick" and Henry Martin as "her square but nice boyfriend" who together have "wonderful adventures."

Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball purchased the rights in 1962 for a possible adaptation of the characters for development and inclusion into a live-action television series starring the late comedian-musician Victor Borge. The Victor Borge television pilot was not a success, but the Suzuki Beane book continued to sell. Original copies of the books are now considered collectibles and are frequently traded for very high prices on the Internet and at antique book stores. David Teague purchased the rights to Suzuki Beane from Sandra Scoppettone and has written and illustrated sequels to the original book; much is lost, however, without Louise Fitzhugh's extraordinary illustrations. Fitzhugh died in 1974.

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