The Origins of The Giant Jam Sandwich (with full credit to Christina Hoover Moorehead)
Okay, this is one of those rare moments when you learn something important and you want to let the whole dang world know about it. I’ve already discussed this discovery on my podcast Fuse 8 n’ Kate, but without the information being freely available (and searchable) online, I didn’t feel that I’d done my due diligence.
Activate diligence… NOW!
Not long ago, Fuse 8 n’ Kate discussed the picture book The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord and Janet Burroway. In the course of our discussion I kvetched a bit about the fact that when it comes to researching the origins of this book, there really is nothing out there to be found. It’s a British book to begin with, and one from 1972 at that. Though it has a bit of a cult following, it hasn’t enough of one for us to know why it even exists.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Enter Christina Hoover Moorehead.
Christina, as it happens, has been many things over the years, including a classroom teacher and the Program Director of the Center for Teaching Through Children’s Books. She also is very amusing on the TikTok.
I shall now, relate you to the entirety of the email she sent to me. This is partly to explain the circumstances and partly because Christina has so delightfully encapsulated her journey down this dark and twisting rabbit hole. She writes:
I have discovered an interesting fact about my mental processes (which may lean toward being slightly alarming for you) when, on your podcast, Kate goes to read the book and Betsy goes into sharing book backstory—and might admit that she had trouble finding any backstory to tell. My aforementioned mental processes grab onto the unfindable mystery and begin gnawing on it, much like any one of my 3 rescue dogs trying to extract and consume a squeaker from a new toy.
At first I just ponder. Hmm. Who was this creator who seems to be unfindable?
Then I gnaw with a little more gusto. Well, it won’t take me but a minute to google this author or illustrator, just to see what’s going on.
Then the fluffy toy stuffing begins to peek out from the weakened, masticated toy seams—before I know it I’m scanning genealogy websites, newspapers.com. I’m ordering copies of the book from Thriftbooks.
I’m out of control.
The fluff flurries like snow around me, and before I know it I’m staring at my computer, chewing noisily on the squeaker. Luckily my husband is usually at hand to yank the squeaker away before I choke myself on plastic bits.
So on the December 8th Episode, number 342, when Betsy confessed that while she did discover some of John Vernon Lord’s musings on the nature of illustrating, she could not find any backstory for the creation of THE GIANT JAM SANDWICH itself, well…I’m sure you know what I did.
That’s right. Gnaw, Gnaw, Gnaw.
My usual websites (from which I was, if you recall, able to find some tidbits about the authors of the now-infamous Episode 285 cut-paper classic HOW BABIES ARE MADE) turned out useless in the face of the John Vernon Lord challenge.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
But come on—someone with the name of John Vernon Lord surely has wisdom to impart. If he was so keen on describing drawing technique how could he resist speaking at length about his books?
And then I remembered: Betsy DID point out that John Vernon Lord is a professor emeritus at the University of Brighton. I happen to be married to a professor of Sociology/Race Scholar, so I know that being a professor means lectures….And POOF. I found a website called Fulltable.com, an offshoot of the website of one Chris Mullen, which he started in 1996. And rambling within the slightly chewy navigation of Fulltable.com’s pages was this:

A collection of John Vernon Lord’s lectures. And within these many lectures by John Vernon Lord was this:

Yep, a lecture by John Vernon Lord all about THE GIANT JAM SANDWICH.
While this isn’t the ideal finding—which would’ve been a nice, long interview of BOTH of the authors of this tale–it’s pretty close. And it gives a fascinating peek into John Vernon Lord’s writing inspirations and life.
I hope this fills in some of the missing John Vernon Lord GIANT JAM SANDWICH details. And I do apologize for writing out all of JOHN VERNON LORD’S name every time I mention him, but it couldn’t be helped. The name demanded full disclosure at all times.
As always, I send you both my fervent thanks for your tremendous podcast, and await the next chewy gauntlet.
So there you have it, folks. If ever you wanted to know the reason this book exists, we have the answer for you here today.
For the record, there is a lot to love in Lord’s lecture on the subject, but I think this passage may be my favorite:
“When a story has been published as a book, ideally the young child will have the initial advantage of someone reading the text out loud whilst referring to the pictures. However, a book worth its salt also needs to sustain the child’s interest independently, without always having the intermediary agency of a lively narrator. Ideally a picture book for the very young child needs to fascinate the adult reader too, so that both parties can share the book with genuine conviction when they go through the book together.”
Thanks again to Christina for locating the source material and giving us a closer look into the goings on in Itching Down.
Filed under: Uncategorized

About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
How to Do Just About Everything in 2025
Morgana & Oz, Vol. 1 | Review
Goodbye for now
When Book Bans are a Form of Discrimination, What is the Path to Justice?
Penguin Random House Showcase
ADVERTISEMENT
Thank you for this background information on one of my favorite picture books.