Norman Birdwell, R. I. P.

Flavorwire: Kids everywhere lost a friend today. 86-year-old Norman Birdwell passed away on Friday in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He was best known as the author and creator of the Clifford the Big Red Dog series, a Scholastic classic that started in  1962. It’s sold over 60 million copies, and forty different Clifford titles have been released.