More Martin and Alice to help begin the closing of the week. The shortest and sweetest of all the Provensen books I've seen, my bird lover takes this one especially to heart.
Mrs. Parker has a new hen named Etta.
Mrs. Parker's little girl is named Emily.
Emily loves Etta.
Etta has laid an egg for Emily.
You can imagine what happens next.
She eats the egg.
No, just kidding. Of course, she doesn't eat the egg. Protecting it from all sorts of danger, she and Etta love that little oval until it hatches into a wee little chick that grows and grows and grows into a big beautiful bantam. Emily with her wispy hair and her sweet, one-line smile is heaven. Not to mention the chickens. Makes you believe for a few minutes that the creatures are actually snuggable.
Just when I think my five-year-old has been sucked into a cynical world where superheros in 3D rule and Spongebob is king, he surprises me by going to the ultra commercial Disneyland and falling head over heals in love with "It's a Small World". Despite its recent (and not as bad as I thought it was gonna be) renovation towards a more-Disney/less-international theme, the boy went gaga for Mary Blair's fantastic amusement... asking to ride again and again and having me take tons of pictures of every room in great detail, literally squealing when another fabulously plumed bird came into view and singing along with the song at the top of his lungs. My husband remembered being entranced by the original ride at the 1964 World's Fair in New York, and seeing as he is ignorant of all things Disney, he didn't even notice the addition of Peter Pan, Woody, Stitch and the lot. Though marred in the eyes of the traditionalist, the heart and the soul of the ride are still there, spinning and twirling in the air, climbing up to the top of plaid mountains and dancing to an utterly contagious tune that brings the whole world together in harmony.
That said, it's moments like these when I realize that as sophisticated as my son and his peers might seem on the surface, it's not quite time to put away the Mother Goose. And back to the Provensen's we go....
All the MG favorites are here, drawn as a "tip of the hat" to illustrators like Kate Greenaway with her eighteenth century fashion and nineteenth century style. Harking back to the Mother Goose tales of yesteryear, right smack in the middle of the swinging seventies. I love it when the Provensen's go old school. Funny that, now, so many modern illustrators are doing the exact same thing and echoing their style. Intergenerational inspiration is fabulous! Soak in the scenes of girls watering cockle shells and wee boys snoozing in the hay and meet new faves like my current...
A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.
Our vintage hardcover includes a handwritten 1979 Christmas inscription to one "Laura" from someone named "LaLa." My heart always lifts thinking of those people of the past who felt it important to give books as presents. Good on you LaLa, wherever you are! You had impeccable taste.
Getting ready for the big surprise week starting on Monday, and now nursing a sick hubby to boot. Whew! Will we ever all be well at the same time again? That said, remember to enter the Great Monday Give before midnight tomorrow, and enjoy this weekend treat. A big, fat songbook I picked up today at a library sale filled with an amazing collection of tunes, all featuring wonderful (as always) illustrations by the Provensen pair. The songs are in sections: Ballads and Old Favorites, Work Songs, Marching Songs and Songs of Valor, Christmas Carols, Old Hymns and Sprirituals, and feature any and every ditty you think might be included. Enjoy!Also by:
A Child's Garden of Verses Roses are Red. Are Violets Blue?? Funny Bunny The Mother Goose Book Animal Fair My Little Hen Our Friends at Maple Hill Farm
I could wax poetic forever (and have) about Stevenson's classic verses (not to mention Treasure Island... man, oh, man is the boy digging that), but this time I'll just give a solemn nod to the genius and be on about other things... namely the always wonderful Provensen pair.
They represent everything cool about the illustration of the 50s and 60s. I've mentioned that one of my all time favorite books as a child was Funny Bunny (fear not, the bunny is slated for Update Wednesday tomorrow, so I'm sure to add a ton of scans), and although I didn't have this one, it's a wonderful version of a book every child MUST have on their bookshelves in one form or another.
I have a copy of the original in terrible shape as well as the latest 1999 reprint. As with so many facsimiles, the drawings do not translate as well into the reprint, and some of the more dated pictures have been cut... And I'm always despondent when a book goes from matte to glossy. Still, whatever the form, it's a lovely treasure to have...The pictures are a delight. So many things to say about their darling perfection. Simple lines and geometric shapes... wonderful colors and background textures.Page after page of knockout eye candy. Whew. Before I pass out from awesome, I'll leave you with this...The Land of Nod
From breakfast on through all the day
At home among my friends I stay,
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod.
All by myself I have to go,
With none to tell me what to do,
All alone beside the streams
And up the mountain-sides of dreams.
The strangest things are there for me,
Both things to eat and things to see,
And many frightening sights abroad
Till morning in the land of Nod.
Try as I like to find the way,
I never can get back by day,
Nor can remember plain and clear
The curious music that I hear.
VKBMKL: Any children's book illustrators that you love that you discovered as an adult? Or is there a book you find yourself buying over and over again to give to your son's friends?
CARSON: I discovered Alice and Martin Provensen five or six years ago and I couldn't believe I hadn't known of them before. I feel so kindred to them - it seemed impossible that they hadn't been influencing me my whole life. Also, Taro Gomi, Mitsumasa Anno, Miroslav Sasek, Ivan Bilibin, Wanda Gag, Tove Jansson, and Tomi Ungerer, who I didn't truly discover as an adult - I read Crictor and Flat Stanley as a kid - but I don't think I really understood what an amazing, weird genius he was until recently.
As for oft purchased books, I've bought a lot of copies of both Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown and Garth Williams and My Friends by Taro Gomi. They're two of my favorite board books and board books are my favorite gifts to give to new parents.
VKBMKL: Did you go into illustration with children's books in mind or is that something that came about later on?
CARSON: I've wanted to illustrate children's books since I was a kid but I didn't study illustration in college. I grew up in New York but was strongly, mysteriously drawn to the University of Montana, where I got a painting degree because they didn't offer illustration classes. I assumed it would be more or less the same idea. It wasn't. I graduated knowing nothing about illustration - not what an art director does, nor how to use a computer, nor what the term "editorial illustration" means. After college, I was a painter and I worked a lot of cocktail waitressing and bartending jobs. My first illustration gigs were the work I did for The Decemberists - album art, flyers, drawings for t-shirts and websites. More and more people saw that stuff and it led to editorial work, which eventually led to book work. So it was always the goal to illustrate books but I came to it in a long, roundabout way.
VKBMKL: As the subject matter hits home for this blog, can you tell me how the idea for the "Reading Frenzy" print came about?
CARSON: My friend (and fellow vintage kids' book enthusiast) Chloe Eudaly owns an awesome little bookstore in Portland called Reading Frenzy. I made the print for her to sell there. It's a portrait of Hank who really exists in a perpetual reading frenzy, though this illustration is a bit staged. If this was an actual portrait of my son reading, half the books in this pile would be Eyewitness Books. It's an ode to Hank and his love of reading but equally to the books I especially love.
VKBMKL: I've always been fascinated by married couples who work together in children's literature: Ruth Krauss and Crocket Johnson; Leo and Diane Dillon; Martin and Alice Provensen. How has working on The Wildwood Chronicles with your husband changed your home life and how has it affected you as an artist?
CARSON: It was fun and challenging. In general, I've found there's not a lot of collaboration happening between authors and illustrators of books these days. Illustrators are typically handed finished manuscripts and there's not really an invitation to offer criticism or feedback. And, in my experience, it goes both ways - I've never gotten feedback from an author on my sketches and, in a couple of cases, the author didn't even see the illustrations until the final art was all done. So, of course, working with Colin was really different. We thought about Wildwood, talked about it and worked on it around the clock. Creative collaboration can be a messy and painful thing though, especially when undertaken by people who love each other and who are comfortable being honest with each other about what they like and don't like. We fought over things in a way I never would with another author. There's something to be said for having an editor as a diplomat and go-between. That said, we've been collaborating for over ten years on all things Decemberists so we're not strangers to that process; to hurting feelings, melting down and then somehow, in the end, coming to accord. Disagreeing seems an inevitable part of the process for us but I think we've gotten pretty good at it. I also think there's a sort of telepathy that happens between married couples that really streamlines creative collaboration. I can often picture what Colin is envisioning when he writes a passage and he can often picture what the illustration will look like when I draw it. In this way, once we settled on how Wildwood would look - it's medium and palette - the interior illustrations came really easily and peacefully.As for how it changed our home life, I'd say, occasional bickering aside, it was very sweet. We're both always working on something - each of us knee deep in some all-consuming project - and it was fun to have that project be the same thing for both of us this time. Our household revolved around Wildwood for a couple of years. We were always thinking and talking about it; Colin read Hank and I new pages at the end of every day; Hank was totally wrapped up in it. We were really immersed in that world.
VKBMKL: And one silly question about your husband. In his music, as in what I've read so far of the book, he's a very lyrical writer. He often uses dated phrasing and words, and I wondered if he talks like that in real life or if he keeps note books where he collects words that strike him?
CARSON: Ha! No, he doesn't talk like that. He's an articulate guy and an eloquent speaker when he wants to be. He loves lyrical, multi-syllabic words and I guess he'd use words like palanquin and bombazine and arabesque if they came up in conversation but, really, how often do they come up in conversation?
Thanks Carson. My husband and son have been reading a chapter a night of Wildwood for the past few weeks, and it's right up my son's alley. Nature and fantasy combined is his perfection.
Another long overdue shoutout. Criminal, really, that I've never posted on it before, so here goes. We all know the love professed for the Provensen's on this blog and throughout the Internet. Quite possibly the most awesome husband and wife children's book team of all time.
The latter part of their careers have focused on books with historical content, but for me, it's their early work that gets me jazzed. Happy animals and children come utterly alive in their drawings -- with this one especially being a big hit in my animal-loving son's life.
The bird page alone... jeez. Magic.
One day a hummingbird sat all by himself on a pole. A sparrow fluttered down and perched beside him. Then a chickadee, a titmouse, a finch, a pippit and other small birds joined them.
"Is something going to happen?" asked a wren.
A little owl looked wise. "I think there's going to be a parade," he said.
A parade, indeed. An animal parade! When my son was little, I always worried he was underweight, so I'd bribe him to eat by reading to him at mealtimes. Sound great, right? Well, five years later, and now my son still has the annoying habit of (almost) always refusing to eat unless someone is reading to him. Needless to say, this collection of short tales, wordless stories, poems and gags, comes in handy at restaurants, allowing my husband and me to eat our dinners between stories! Sad, I know, and a horrible habit that we've spent years trying to break, but hey, at this point, it's for his future wife to worry about. There are worse things in life that having to read to your son at mealtimes. But anywho, I digress. The Animal Fair is bright and funny and a must-have for all wee libraries. It was reprinted several times, and Golden Gems has full scans of the reprint, here.
Oh, in case you were wondering how to tell a big, bad wolf, from a run of the mill grey one...
In the series of over sized pages that follow, we meet a cast of characters with all their own dramas and hilarity -- past, present and future.
The animals that were...
the animals that are...
and the animals that will be...
bring joy, laughter and life to the lives of the people
who live in a house that needs painting,
at the end of a road full of holes...
MAPLE HILL FARM.
My son likes this book because it is jam packed with animals and each one has its own little legend. This is one of those reads that is so story heavy, it is hard to get all the way through in one sitting.
Similar to Richard Scarrey in a way, a two-page spread is filled with a dozen scenarios, so you're never sure which one will win the boy over at a particular reading.
Not that I refer all my author histories to Wikipedia (ahem) but... these two had a very interesting life together... his creating Tony the Tiger only being a small piece of the tale. Check it out if you get a minute.
My Little Hen
Mrs. Parker has a new hen named Etta.
No, just kidding. Of course, she doesn't eat the egg. Protecting it from all sorts of danger, she and Etta love that little oval until it hatches into a wee little chick that grows and grows and grows into a big beautiful bantam. Emily with her wispy hair and her sweet, one-line smile is heaven. Not to mention the chickens. Makes you believe for a few minutes that the creatures are actually snuggable.
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