Brian Wildsmith's Twelve Days of Christmas

Brian Wildsmith's Twelve Days of Christmas
Brian Wildsmith ~ Oxford University Press, 1972

And for slagging off the last few weeks... a little post-Christmas treat.

This, plus Father Christmas Goes on Holiday.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Professor Noah's Spaceship
Maurice Maeterlinck's Blue Bird
Brian Wildsmith's Birds
The Hare and the Tortoise
Squirrels
Fishes
Brian Wildsmith's Wild Animals

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Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter, Etsy and Graphic Novels My Kid Loves.

Brian Wildsmith's Wild Animals

Brian Wildsmith's Wild Animals
Brian Wildsmith ~ Franklin Watts, 1967

Week three of first grade en Español.

Sometimes I feel like my son is so immersed in The Kane Chronicles, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and all things "A es para ave" that it's nice to snuggle up with a big stack of picture books when he gets home from escuela. Still one of his favorites, the perceptual animal lover will never stop loving looking at Wildsmith's grand colors and wild, wild animals.

Once again, we find Wildsmith cataloging his creatures into their fascinating and sometimes aptly-named groupings. Such as...

An array of hedgehogs

A shrewdness of apes

A lepe of leopards

A skulk of foxes

A cete of badgers

Goodness gracious. I could go on and on and on about the beauty and, literally, wallpaper my whole house in his images and never ever EVER tire of the looking at them.

Bless this man and the splendid polish that comes from his hand.

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Professor Noah's Spaceship
Maurice Maeterlinck's Blue Bird
Brian Wildsmith's Birds
The Hare and the Tortoise
Squirrels
Fishes

—————

Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy!

Brian Wildsmith's Birds

Brian Wildsmith's Birds
Brian Wildsmith ~ Franklin Watts, 1967

Today isn't the happiest of days, but I figured I should keep up. Our local Central Library here is so magical. They have a WITHDRAWN book basement where hardcover children's books are 50 cents, and it is just a dream. Drop $15 in there and you leave with a huge box full of books. It's a delight really. I picked this one up the other day. I've never seen it before, but it makes me smile.

A walk of snipe

A wedge of swans

A nye of pheasants

A siege of bitterns

The bird illustrations are really whimsical and sweet with explosive color. And the writing... "The words that refer to a gathering of creatures...." Definitely for those in love with words. There is one on ANIMALS too, so, more seeking to do.

It never ends does it?

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Professor Noah's Spaceship
Maurice Maeterlinck's Blue Bird
Brian Wildsmith's Birds
The Hare and the Tortoise
Squirrels
Fishes

Brian Wildsmith's Circus

Brian Wildsmith's Circus
Brian Wildsmith ~ Franklin Watts, 1970

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday, but motherhood got the best of me. I'll be out of commission tomorrow, too, but wanted to share with you a sweet gem we received in the mail from this guy. Still trying to decide what to send him in return, but in the meantime...

The circus comes to town...

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Professor Noah's Spaceship
Maurice Maeterlinck's Blue Bird
Brian Wildsmith's Birds
The Hare and the Tortoise
Squirrels
Fishes
Wild Animals

—————

Read along on Instagram, Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy.

Squirrels

Squirrels
Brian Wildsmith ~ Oxford University Press, 1974

I'd always get tickled watching tourists foreign tourists in NYC taking pictures of squirrels, as if they were some magical creature of legend. When really, here in the U.S., they are everywhere. Albiet cute and curious, they are often times more pest than pet. That said, I've rescued many a squirrel in my life. From babies fallen from trees to full-grown (probably rabid) adults staggering in Central Park. No one can resist a squirrel, no matter how unsanitary or troublesome they may be. It would take a lifetime to understand everything about this all-too-common yet mysterious creature, but here, Brian Wildsmith sums them up in a few pages... a few pages filled with his signature color and vibrancy.

It is easy to recognize a squirrel. He is a furry, small animal with a long, bushy tail, two strong back legs, two small front paws, two large tufted ears which stick up, and two big front teeth. He looks happy and mischievous.

From where squirrels live (in trees BTW) to the many uses of its tail to how they store food for the winter, this endearing book will have you wishing you had one as a pet.... though I wouldn't recommend it. Many a squirrel pet story has ended in tragedy. My neighbor whose pet squirrel was electrocuted while eating the cord on her stove... my mother who was crestfallen as a small girl when her pet squirrel returned to the wild. The adorable pets my husband and I allowed to live in our attic until they tore up all our installation. Falling in love with a squirrel is sure to end in heartbreak, so why don'y you just look at these pictures and squeal, instead.

Good enough?

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Professor Noah's Spaceship
Maurice Maeterlinck's Blue Bird
Brian Wildsmith's Birds
The Hare and the Tortoise

—————

Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy!

Fishes

Fishes
Brian Wildsmith ~ Oxford University Press, 1968

Just in case you haven't had enough Wildsmith of late, here's one more to add to your subconscious. Following the same theme as our family favorite, Birds, (d'uh), here Brian uses grouping names as a conduit to share his lovely underwater illustrations.

His visuals are always astounding.

A herd of sea horses.

A company of archerfish.

A glide of flying fish.

There's a quote on Brian's Website that I thought particularly lovely. “I believe that beautiful picture books are vitally important in subconsciously forming a child’s visual appreciation, which will bear fruit in later life.”

Here, here. If you are interested in reading more, a great interview with the artist ran in the Independent last spring. It's a fun read, but in knowing a lot about Brian's picture books and his eye for color, the design geek in me really just wants to see pictures of his house. Right?

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Professor Noah's Spaceship
Maurice Maeterlinck's Blue Bird
Brian Wildsmith's Birds
The Hare and the Tortoise
Squirrels

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Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy!

Der Hase und die Schildkröte

The Hare and the Tortoise
Brian Wildsmith ~ Atlantis, 1966

Picked up a few things at a library sale over the weekend including a handful of Brian Wildsmith titles in German. I have to assume this is at least somewhat akin to the traditional tortoise and the hare story, but if you are really dying to know, it seems to still be available in English. I, for one, am just going to enjoy looking at the pictures. So much color and personality. Yum!

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Professor Noah's Spaceship
Maurice Maeterlinck's Blue Bird
Brian Wildsmith's Birds

—————

Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy!

A Child's Garden of Verses

A Child's Garden of Verses
Robert Louis Stevenson ~ Brian Wildsmith Oxford University Press, 1966

Mr. Wildsmith is one of those illustrators who I wish had made wallpaper so I could just wrap my whole house in his colors and imagination. Seriously, if this book was butter, right now I would be smearing it all over toast. As can be evidenced by my difficulty in whittling it down to one or two pictures to scan. I really wanted to just videotape the whole book, but then, if I sat around doing that sort of thing all day, when would I have time to read to my boy? So, I cut it down to a handful and called it a day.

A Child's Garden of Verses unto itself is one of my favorite books for children. The writing so luminous and real. Childlike and magical yet rooted in the longing and yearning of adulthood. I know I enjoy the words far more as an adult than my son does as a child. This sort of wisdom only arrives in retrospect. How could we all possibly know when it was happening just how wonderful and fleeting those moments of childhood were? And Wildsmith's paintings here fit so naturally and literally explode off the pages and into the poems themselves. Well, I'll just let the pictures and words do the talking.

The Land of Story-Books

At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.

Now, with my little gun, I crawl
All in the dark along the wall,
And follow round the forest track
Away behind the sofa back.

There, in the night, where none can spy,
All in my hunter's camp I lie,
And play at books that I have read
Till it is time to go to bed.

These are the hills, these are the woods,
These are my starry solitudes;
And there the river by whose brink
The roaring lions come to drink.

I see the others far away
As if in firelit camp they lay,
And I, like to an Indian scout,
Around their party prowled about.

So when my nurse comes in for me,
Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear land of Story-books.

Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses
Brian Wildsmith's Birds
Professor Noah's Spaceship
A Child's Garden of Verses - Ruhman edition
Maurice Maeterlinck's Blue Bird