doodle

Let the wild rumpus start!

Beloved children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak gets the Google doodle treatment today on what would have been his 85th birthday.

Sendak has been a childhood touchstone for generations, rising to widespread acclaim with his 1963 book "Where the Wild Things Are" and continuing to produce work until his death in May 2012.

The doodle following a turning-wheel storyline that starts by taking boyish hero Max through the land of the Wild Things and courses through other familiar settings sprung from Sendak's imagination. The flying boy from "In the Night … Read more

A picture depicting a girl's reunion with her father returning from war has won the top award in a Google Doodle contest.

On display Thursday at Google's home page, "Coming Home" is a simple but powerful piece of art that portrays a young girl holding an American flag and running to reunite with her father. The returning soldier appears. They exchange a glance. And finally they fall into a deep embrace as they treasure their moment together again.

Created by 12th grader Sabrina Brady of Sparta, Wisc., "Coming Home" faced great competition in being crowned the 2013 U.S. Doodle 4 Google national winner. Google received more than 130,000 submissions for the contest, which garnered millions of votes. But in the end, Sabrina's drawing clearly moved the voters.… Read more

Jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald would've been 96 years old on Thursday, prompting Google to commemorate the date with its latest doodle.

Known as the "First Lady of Song" and the "Queen of Jazz," Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917, and grew up to become one of the world's most celebrated jazz singers, typically ranked as one of the top three female jazz singers of all time along with Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. "Lady Ella" sang professionally for more than 50 years, selling more than 40 million albums and winning 13 Grammy awards.… Read more

Google is marking Earth Day 2013 on Monday with what might be its busiest animated doodle yet. In fact, its level of involvement led Google to create a checklist to ensure you don't miss anything.

Highlighting the Earth's complexity on the 43rd Earth Day, the doodle offers a snapshot of the four seasons our fragile planet experiences, as well as some of its flora and fauna.

"Today we are celebrating Earth Day with an interactive doodle that captures a slice of nature's subtle wonders," doodler Leon Hong wrote. "We hope you enjoy discovering animals, … Read more

It seems so obvious now, but taking pictures of models outside of a studio was something of a revolution in the 1940s and 50s.

For Norman Parkinson, the British photographer who would have been 100 years old today, it offered an opportunity for an additional elegance and simplicity.

"I never work in studios if I can help it, because working in a studio is such hard work," he told one interviewer.

A studio is merely an attempt to simulate daylight. Why not just plump for daylight in the first place?

Many think of Sir Norman (as he became) … Read more

It's another good day to be a numbers nerd, at least based on Google's doodle tribute to Swiss super-mathematician Leonhard Euler that showed up earlier.

How appropriate that Euler, considered the pre-eminent mathematician of the 18th century, should have been born on our modern Tax Day. Ignoring the IRS' big day is also likely to be much less controversial than failing to acknowledge Easter with a doodle.

If he'd lived to see his 306th birthday today something tells me Euler would either be one rockin' CPA, or the only guy to understand derivatives markets.… Read more

Those venal, vegetable-munching lefties at Google have struck again.

Just when they should have been doodling away to celebrate a religious festival of bunnies, colorful eggs, and lots and lots of chocolate, they go and place a large picture of recently deceased venal, leftie Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez on the home page.

At least, that's what certain irate and passionate humans thought when they raised their objections about Google's Easter doodle celebrating labor activist and very devout Christian, Cesar Chavez.

Their passions overflowed to such an extreme that some even threatened to perform acts of unspeakable shame and … Read more

Twitter is lighting up with tweeps questioning Google's choice of doodle for this Easter Sunday. The main search page today features no mention of the Easter Bunny, brightly colored eggs (which are on full, beautiful display on Bing), or Jesus, but instead commemorates what would have been the 86th birthday of labor leader and activist Cesar Chavez.

Just to be clear, I don't feel strongly about Google's choice. Chavez, Jesus and the Easter Bunny all seem pretty cool to me. But Glenn Beck and other prominent Christians are tweeting their disbelief.

Dana Perino of Fox News also … Read more

They were already out on the streets yesterday, with their green Lucky T-shirts, green plastic glasses (on head and in hand), and very silly green necklaces.

Well, St. Patrick's Day happens to fall on a weekend, which means two days of reverence to Guinness and, well, alcohol of many other kinds.

Google's doodlers clearly understand and respect this.

So while you and your friends might be creating a river of beer, they have contented themselves with presenting a little riverdance on Google's home page.

One boy and five girls -- each representing one letter of the Google … Read more