The Tall Book of Make-Believe

The Tall Book of Make-Believe
Selected by Jane Werner ~ Garth Williams ~ Harper, 1950

I have a special treat for you guys today. Way back in 1963, my friend Tonio's mother went to a book signing at our local bookshop here in San Antonio and met one Mr. Garth Williams. She took along a copy of Tonio's favorite book The Tall Book of Make-Believe, thus making this Tonio's most treasured childhood heirloom.

In my five years of buying and looking and learning, no other out-of-print children's book is more loved or more collectible. Not just as a signed first edition in mint condition, but even beat up reprints go for a ton. Not because people want to collect it and put it in plastic on a shelf, but because people want to read it and remember.

Several years ago, I mentioned to Tonio that this book was my thrift shop holy grail, and he said, "Oh, I have that book. And it's signed, too."

Thus how I was finally able to see what all the fuss was about. Now, I did have this book when I was little, but it's long since gone and was long forgotten. But... man.

What I would love to see is Harper reprint this, not is some cheap glossy-paged reprint, but in soft, matte pages exactly like the original. The look. The feel. Everything about this book makes you want to pick it up and pour over it again and again. The stunning pictures and quirky poems and stories. Man. If that happened, I'd buy one for every single person I know. Period.

Every picture has a secret, mysterious feel. And that mermaid. WOW.

It's simply amazing. Every page. Every word. Carl Sandburg's How They Bring Back the Village of Cream Puffs When the Wind Blows It Away. Seriously? Brilliant. There are not enough thumbs in the world to express this book's thumbs up power. Garth Williams was a genius. Nearly 100 pages of absolute joy. I've only included a handful of scans, but you get the idea. If you happen to come across this book, hold onto it for dear life.

It's pure magic.

Also by:
We Like Kindergarten
Wonders of Seasons
Birds
The Golden Bible
Wonders of Nature
Wait Til the Moon is Full
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Sky Was Blue

Big Golden Animal ABC

The Rabbit's Wedding
Three Bedtime Stories
The Friendly Book
Amigo

—————

Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy!

Koko Reads Garth Williams

Didn't get around to posting a review today, but I did come across a copy of National Geographic --circa October 1978-- featuring a photo by Ronald H. Cohn of Koko enjoying Garth Williams' Three Bedtime Stories. Awesome.

—————

Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy

Do You Know What I'll Do?

Do You Know What I'll Do?
Charlotte Zolotow with pictures by Garth Williams/ published 1958 by Harper & Row

Read this book for the first time yesterday, and it made me weepy-eyed about having an only child.... seriously, I cried at the end. This is the sweetest book I've ever seen about what it means to have a sibling or be an older child.

Do you know what I'll do
at the seashore?
I'll bring you a shell to hold
the sound of the sea.

Do you know what I'll do at the party?
I'll bring you a piece of cake with the candle still in it.

Garth Williams' illustrations are always so warm and fuzzy feeling, that you can't help but want to hug your kid when you're done reading. Except for the little boy in the one about the dog who belongs to himself, this is the first one of his I've seen that isn't about animals, so it was interesting to see his human take. You will adore this book, and I have to imagine for any child with a little brother or sister to love, this would become an all-time favorite. 

Also by:
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
Wait Til the Moon is Full
I Have a Horse of My Own
The Hating Book
Flocks of Birds
The Rabbits' Wedding
Three Bedtime Stories
The Friendly Book
Amigo

The Rabbits' Wedding

The Rabbits' Wedding
Garth Williams
Harper & Row, 1958

Since starting this blog over a year ago (has it really been a year!?!), many of you have brought up this book as one of your childhood favorites. I never owned it myself, and honestly, I had never really read it all the way through until last week. We checked it out from the library, and even the librarian remarked on the controversy it caused back in the day. According to The Encyclopedia of Censorship via the Wiki...

The Rabbits' Wedding by Garth Williams, was transferred from the open shelves to the reserved shelves at the Montgomery (Alabama) Public Library in 1959 because an illustration shows a black buck rabbit with a white doe rabbit. Such miscegenation, stated an editor in Orlando, was "brainwashing . . . as soon as you pick up the book and open its pages you realize these rabbits are integrated." The Montgomery Home News added that the book was integrationist propaganda obviously aimed at children in their formative years.

How such a sweet little book could cause such a stink I'll never know. It was a different world back them. For me, I'm taken by how obviously titillating the story is. It has more romance in it that a lot of the crappy date movies you see nowadays, and I could actually see giving this as a wedding present. When the two rabbits begin to express their feelings for each other, their wide-eyed expressions say as much (or more) as any kiss or caress.

"What are you always thinking about?"
asked the little white rabbit.
"I'm just thinking about my wish," replied the little black rabbit.
"What is your wish?" asked the little white rabbit.
"I just wish that I could be with you forever and always,"
replied the little black rabbit.
The little white rabbit opened her eyes very wide
and thought very hard.
"Why don't you wish a little harder?"
asked the little white rabbit.

Come on... is that sexy or what!?! The way these two rabbits interact with each other is exactly the way I see my son reacting to ladies he thinks are "cute." Such an honest and lovely story... I'm sorry now I've been missing it all these years.

Also by:
Wait Til the Moon is Full
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Sky Was Blue

Big Golden Animal ABC

Three Bedtime Stories
The Friendly Book
Amigo

Three Bedtime Stories

Three Bedtime Stories
Garth Williams ~ Golden Press, 1958

Another oversized Big Golden Book I came across last week, here, Garth has included three nighttime tales that feature characters of three: The Three Little Kittens, The Three Little Pigs & The Three Bears.... using the cover and end pages as an opportunity for them to interact. As soon as I saw it, I thought what a wonderful third birthday present it would make, but then, I'm a dork like that. I will admit that my favorite part is that Garth hasn't sugarcoated the Three Little Pigs story... the two lesser, lazy pigs do die at the hand (fangs) of the wolf while we actually get to see the bad guy getting boiled alive. Awesome. Preschool gore is always the most refreshing! And so...

The three little kittens, they lost their mittens, and they began to cry, "Oh Mother dear, we sadly fear our mittens we have lost!"

The second little pig built himself a house of sticks. He was just putting the finishing touches to the window curtains when the big bad wolf knocked at the door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in!" "Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin!"

One day a little girl, who was called Goldilocks because of her golden curls, went for a walk in the forest. And she came to the house of the three bears. Knock knock knock at the door went Goldilocks. But of course there was no answer.

As always, the fussy illustrations delight, and the stories do seem to connect in a way I'd never associated these tales before. Short, sweet, mildly horrifying, and to the point, these really are the perfect nightcap. (Particularly for those of us who are newly mourning the loss of nap times and look forward to that twilight time of day.)

Also by:
Wait Til the Moon is Full
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Sky Was Blue

Big Golden Animal ABC

The Rabbit's Wedding
The Friendly Book
Amigo

The Sailor Dog

Margaret Wise Brown ~ Garth Williams ~ Golden Press, 1953

A few months back, a reader wrote in to ask if I remembered a book about a dog who was a sailor who builds a shack on the beach, and surprisingly, I knew instantly what he was talking about. In most cases, even when I am familiar with the titles, I get brain freeze when someone asks me about a book (that's what What's That Book is for), but in this case I felt proud, even if I only remembered because I had just looked at the dang thing the day before. Then, after all the sweet comments on Little Fir Family last week, I thought about how I was so Brown/Williams heavy when I first started this blog, and even though my son is growing a bit too old for their books, I still need to get through all of them.

So here we are.

Born at sea in the teeth of a gale, the sailor was a dog.
Scuppers was his name.

Would make a nice grave epitaph, no? Luckily, we don't have to worry about that for our purposes. Yes, there is a shipwreck, a trip to foreign lands, but it all comes out in the wash for good 'ole Scuppers. Brown's quirky writing is in top form here... particularly feeling the love for this sentence...

He put his hat on the hook for his hat, and his rope on the hook for his rope, and his pants on the hook for his pants, and his spyglass on the hook for his spyglass, and he put his shoes under the bed and got into his bed, which was a bunk, and went to sleep.

I've always adored the way she overuses so many words. It reminds me of the way children talk and rationalize things. And as always, Williams shines when there is a fuzzy creature involved. Our Little Golden Book collection is sorely underused at this point. I must remind myself to always keep a few in my purse so we can squeeze those last years of use out of them before they get packed away in the memory attic. Sniff, sniff. If they could just stay little til their Golden Books wear out.

I'm Scuppers the Sailor Dog--
I can sail in a gale
right over a whale
under full sail
in a fog.

Also by:
Wait Til the Moon is Full
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Sky Was Blue

Big Golden Animal ABC

The Rabbit's Wedding
The Quiet Noisy Book
On Christmas Eve
Christmas in the Barn
The Dead Bird
Little Chicken
The Little Island
Amigo
The Friendly Book
Little Fir Family

The Big Golden Animal ABC

Animal ABC
Garth Williams/ published 1954 by Western Publishing

Still lovin' these Big Golden Books. Really, why aren't all picture books oversized and wonderful like these? It's such a great format to showcase illustration. Anywho... this is a trip through the alphabet hosted by the cutest little Williams' bunnies. From the giant teeth of the alligator to the rear end of the zebra, each animal has a rabbit companion that brings humor and life to what otherwise might be just another animal ABC. (By the way, what's an ermine?)

Let us go find...
Aa for ALLIGATOR
Bb for BEAR
Cc for CAT
Dd for deer

Williams draws the greatest creatures and the ample spread of this fold allows you to truly appreciate the sweetness of his kitten eyes and mouse whiskers. Such a talent that man was. Really, anything you see illustrated by him you should grab. (PS... I am headed back to Texas in two days. That means in less than a week I'll be reunited with my scanner. YEA!)

Also by:
Wait Til the Moon is Full
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Sky Was Blue
The Rabbits' Wedding
Three Bedtime Stories
The Friendly Book
Amigo

Home For A Bunny

Home for a Bunny
Margaret Wise Brown ~ Garth Williams ~ Golden Press, 1956

Staying home with a sick child for a few days does have its advantages. Somehow we've managed to trash my son's room playing games and running humidifiers, and in the process, we unleashed a bunch of oldies but goodies from the back of the bookshelf. This was one of my son's favorite books when he was a baby. His first few years were spent loving a Little Golden Book version I'd bought him, but my childhood Big Little Golden Book was returned to us when I spent that summer plundering my mother's attic. Though its spine is flaking and the cover has seen better days, I can still imagine my infant hands shuffling through the pages and delighting in the sounds of spring the same way my son did just a few years ago. Giving it the blog love is a long time coming.

Now, of course all collaborations between Williams and Brown are awesome, and here we see Garth's signature bunnies as well as some of the most fun rhythms Margaret ever penned. Some of my all time favorite lines to read aloud...

In the Spring a bunny
came down the road.
He was going to find
a home of his own.
A home for a bunny,
A home of his own,
Under a rock,
Under a stone,
Under a log,
Or under the ground.
Where would a bunny find a home?

Our bunny asks around, looking to the trees, the water and on land for a place to call home.

"Where is your home?" he asked the frog. "Wog, wog, wog," sang the frog. "Wog, wog, wog, Under the water, Down in the bog."

Not until he meets another bunny does he realise his home is underground, right along side his friend. A perfect story for little bunnies who want nothing more than to snuggle in and feel safe. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

Also by:
Wait Til the Moon is Full
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Sky Was Blue

Big Golden Animal ABC

The Rabbit's Wedding
The Quiet Noisy Book
On Christmas Eve
Christmas in the Barn
The Dead Bird
Little Chicken
The Little Island
Amigo
The Friendly Book
Little Fir Family
The Sailor Dog

The Sky Was Blue

THE SKY WAS BLUE
Charlotte Zolotow with pictures by Garth Williams/ published 1963 by Harper and Row

Always loving the Garth, especially when it comes with the one-two punch of Zolotow. His sweet girls with their feathery hair and pinched, little lips are truly darling. This one is overflowing with nostalgia when a girl and her momma look at an old photo album and take a walk down memory lane back three generations. Discussing things like the dress her grandmother wore, the doll her great-grandmother had, and the especially awesome 50s/60s modern house her mom grew up in. (I think this book might have been written in future-tense if you know what I mean.)

The little girl
closed the photograph album and leaned against her mother.
"Is that all?" said the little girl.
"No," said her mother.
"Someday, you'll be showing your picture to your little girl,
and you will be telling her that...
the sky will always be blue.
Grass will always be green.
Snow will always be white and cold.
The sun will always be warm and yellow.
And then," said her mother,
"you'll hug her too.

When these two get together, the themes are always so sentimental and dear, but sadly - as far as I can tell - very girl-oriented. Even still, my son gets all snugly at the end. Why, I got two cheek kisses and a hug around the neck just this morning from this book. I love anything that generates the mom/son warm fuzzies. (I know, I am getting too 60s-themed again... will try and dig back deeper for tomorrow.)

Also by:
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
Wait Til the Moon is Full
I Have a Horse of My Own
The Hating Book
Flocks of Birds
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Rabbits' Wedding
Three Bedtime Stories
The Friendly Book
Amigo

Amigo

Amigo
Byrd Baylor Schweitzer ~ Garth Williams ~ Macmillan, 1963

Though this book isn't about the holidays, its theme sure makes good on the season. Told in sometime rhyme, the story is about a poor Mexican boy who wants more than anything a dog... but when his family can't afford one, the idea of taming a prairie dog begins to look really good and so our tale begins.

Very gently he whispered
"Amigo..."
The word
Was so soft
It could only be heard
By one prairie dog
And one low-flying bird...
"Amigo..."
It was half laugh, half song,
The kind of word that floats along.

Little does the boy know that at that same time a wee prairie dog is thinking about taming a boy himself, and the intersection of these dreams is pure sweetness. You have the love of nature, the essence of hope, appreciating what you have in life, and all sorts of good "green" messages tied in here for the holiday season. Oh, what a lovely thing a friend is indeed. I just love Garth's drawings here, at once sad and melancholy, then a few pages over filled with pure joy. This is the feel good story I needed to read today.

Also by:
Wait Til the Moon is Full
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Sky Was Blue

Big Golden Animal ABC

The Rabbit's Wedding
Three Bedtime Stories
The Friendly Book

Fox Eyes

Fox Eyes
Margaret Wise Brown ~ Garth Williams ~ Pantheon, 1951

Late day review to share with you yet another collaboration between the great Mr. Williams and the eloquent Ms. Brown.

There was once a spy,
a red fox who came to
spy on the opossums.
There were five of them
and they were supposed to be asleep.
But they weren't.
They each had one eye open.
They were playing possum.
The fox noted all this and
went on his way.

Throughout the day, the fox spies all the forest creatures, but still, he goes on his way leaving an ocean of anxiety in his wake. Each rabbit and frog and bear (and child!) spends that night in a rush of anxiety wondering what the fox knows. While sly Mr. Fox sleeps peacefully in his den.

Sleep tight, all.

Also by:
Wait Til the Moon is Full
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Sky Was Blue

Big Golden Animal ABC

The Rabbit's Wedding
The Quiet Noisy Book
On Christmas Eve
Christmas in the Barn
The Dead Bird
Little Chicken
The Little Island
Amigo
The Friendly Book
Little Fir Family
Sailor Dog
Tall Book of Make Believe
Three Bedtime Stories

—————

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

Wait Till the Moon is Full

Wait Till the Moon Is Full
Margaret Wise Brown with pictures by Garth Williams/ published 1948 by Harper & Row

I know, MWB again, but I can't help myself. This was one of the first vintage kids' books I bought for my son after he was born. It's just a little crappy two-tone TRUMPET CLUB paperback, but the story is great.

Once upon a time in the dark of the moon
there was a little raccoon.
He lived down in a big warm chestnut tree
with his mother -- who was also a raccoon.
This little raccoon wanted to see the night.
He had seen the day.
So he said to his mother,
"I want to go out in the woods and see the night."

But his mother said, "Wait. Wait til the moon is full."

So he waited, deep in his warm little home under the chestnut tree.

That anticipation for everything that is youth. The coveting of all that is unknown, and the titillation is waiting for it. Plus, it's got loads of adorable animals which to me is what children's literature is all about ;). I mean, isn't it cool that since the beginning of time people have used animals to connect to kids (or adults even for that matter). I suppose we see so much of ourselves in them, it is easy to imagine parallel universes where rabbits dress in petticoats and racoons have mommies that rock them to sleep at night. I especially love the dedication: This book is dedicated to all the things that love the night.

Also by:
Do You Know What I'll Do?
The Quiet Noisy Book
On Christmas Eve
Christmas in the Barn
The Dead Bird
Little Chicken
The Golden Egg Book
The Sky Was Blue
The Rabbits' Wedding
Three Bedtime Stories
The Friendly Book
Amigo