Books about Books – Post #6

 

The Golden Age of Children’s Book Illustration by Richard Dalby. Published by Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 1991.

 

From the dust jacket: “From the 1860s to the 1930s there was a great flowering of the illustrator’s art in England and America…author Richard Dalby has written biographies of more than fifty of the artists whose talents helped to create the Golden Age…There are more than 150 illustrations – both colour plates and black and white drawings – which have been reproduced with painstaking fidelity to the originals.”

 

Some artists included are well-known to those of us who treasure children’s books: illustrators such as Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway, Howard Pyle, and Randolph Caldecott. Also included are some lesser-known artists such as Willy Pogany and Louis Rhead.

 

Over my years of book collecting, I have been drawn to the art in these vintage books and have felt saddened by the modern computer-generated “art” in modern children’s books. I even know friends who have  photocopied and framed their children’s favorite illustrations for their homeschool rooms or nurseries. Scenes from Howard Pyle’s The Story of King Arthur and His Knights or N.C. Wyeth’s illustrations from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson or the charming idyllic art of Beatrix Potter from The Tale of Peter Rabbit. What a delight for children and young people to be exposed to such inspiring talent!

 

I highly recommend The Golden Age of Children’s Book Illustration. It’s a lovely book to browse and learn about these talented artists who have given so much to the world of children’s literature.

Books about Books – Post #5

 

American History in Juvenile Books, and World History in Juvenile Books – A Chronological Guide.

By Seymour Metzner. Published by H.W. Wilson Company, 1966 and 1973 respectively. About 350 pages each.

Both of these books are a treasure trove of books for all ages and many genres that go along with specific countries and periods of history. In the American History volume, the chapters begin with the Age of Discovery 800-1550 through to Contemporary American 1920 to the time of publication. The world history volume is organized by continent and then specific countries.

Each chapter includes biographies, fiction, other nonfiction, and some have anthologies listed. And the books are categorized by reading levels: Level One for third grade and below; Level Two for fourth and fifth grades and up; Level Three for sixth or seventh grades and up.

The listing for each book includes author, title, publisher and date of publication, number of pages and if the book includes textual illustrations and/or maps.

The book includes a directory of publishers and distributors, an author index, a biographical subject index, and a title index. Each book has over 2000 titles. An amazing collection! For any time period you are studying as a family, you can find suggestions for each of your children’s age level and reading level. And if you are growing your lending library, you might be able to learn about books in a time period you are lacking in your collection.

I highly recommend both resources for American and world history. I’ve had fun going through my books and putting a pencil check mark beside the titles I have. And I’ve also learned about some authors and titles and started to search for the ones I don’t yet have in my lending library. Looks like there are quite a few copies for sale for a little over $20.

Books about Books – Post #4

 

A Horn Book Sampler: On Children’s Books and Reading – Selected from 25 years of the Horn Book Magazine, edited by Norma R. Fryatt.

The Horn Book Magazine was first published in 1924 by the Boston Bookshop for Boys and Girls. Its purpose was to promote new books in children’s literature, post book reviews, and interview authors and illustrators of children’s books, and publication continues today.

This book, published by The Horn Book in 1959, contains selections from 25 years of publication from 1924 to 1948. The sections of the book include: How the Story Happened, Let Us Now Praise Artists, Reviews and Criticism, What Fairy Tales Mean to a Child, Particularly for Parents, Youth in the War, Small Children and Books, and Touching Poetry.

Read a story written by Edward Ardizzone about why he wrote the Tim and Lucy books. Learn about Wanda Ga’g from Ernestine Evans who knew her personally. Follow the story by George Macy who was a dear friend of Arthur Rackham. “We sat in his studio for hours, in a desultory discussion of other books he might do. I am sure now that it was in a desultory fashion that I said: ‘What about The Wind in the Willows?’ Immediately a wave of emotion crossed his face; he gulped, started to say something, turned his back on me and went to the door for a few minutes. Then he came back and said that he had for many years been trying to persuade an English publisher to let him illustrate The Wind in the Willows. He had been asked by Kenneth Grahame, nearly thirty years ago, to illustrate that book; and had for all those years deeply regretted his refusal. It may not be generally known that The Wind in the Willows was not a successful book when it first appeared….The editor of Everybody’s turned it down; and it is nice to know that’, years later, the editor of Everybody’s built a house in the Adirondacks which he proceeded to call ‘Toad Hall.’ When the book appeared, this time under its permanent title, it had a slow beginning. It was then that Kenneth Grahame called upon Arthur Rackham, and asked him to make illustrations for a new edition….he said No to Kenneth Grahame….So Mr. Rackham lived in disappointment, until that summer afternoon four years ago, when I suggested the title to him. He immediately insisted that he would illustrate The Wind in the Willows.” Have you seen his illustrations of this book? “When the spring of 1938 came around, Mr. Rackham could only report progress…In the fall of 1938 and in the spring of 1939, he wrote me to say that he was now himself confined to hie country house in Surrey, he was permitted to work only a short time each day, but he was giving every minute of his time to the completion of this job which he now considered his final labor of love….Once these water-colors are given to the world, it will be seen with what affection Mr. Rackham made these pictures…It was Mr. Bruce Rogers who brought me the news that Arthur Rackham had died on September 7.”

Some other articles included in this book, A Horn Book Sampler, are “The Genius of Arthur Rackham” by Robert Lawson, “Homer Price” by Eric Gugler and James Daugherty, “On Reading the Bible Aloud” by Ruth Sawyer, “A Part of Victory” by Armstrong Sperry, “Small Children and Books” by Alice Dalgliesh, and a poem “A Valentine for Old Dolls” by Rachel Field.

My favorite quote by Armstrong Sperry, written in 1943 at the height of World War II, is this, “And so I say I think it is our great privilege—the privilege of all people who work in any way with children—to help to keep alive that vision of freedom, that these children of today may carry it with them into the world of tomorrow: that imperishable dream of the right to live, to work, and to worship, as free men—in peace.”

I highly recommend this book and other publications of The Horn Book Magazine, which give you an inside look at the authors and illustrators we so admire in the world of children’s literature.

 

 

Books about Books - Post #3

 

Books in Search of Children – Speeches and Essays by Louise Seaman Bechtel. Selected and with an Introduction by Virginia Haviland. Published by Macmillan, 1940, 1969.

“The Macmillan Children’s Book Department celebrates its Fiftieth Anniversary with this collection of speeches and articles by its distinguished founder, Louise Seaman Bechtel. Many of the essays first appeared in The Horn Book Magazine, and many of the speeches were delivered at important library conferences. The collection highlights the growth of American literature for children during four decades, beginning in 1919, when Mrs. Bechtel started the first children’s book department in the United States. And it reveals the career of one editor/critic—a Pioneer in her chosen field—who worked with many of the outstanding children’s book authors and artists of the twentieth century.”—from the dust jacket.

Book “nerds” read books about books! Finding myself unable to sleep one night, I started this book and was delighted to read Bechtel’s essays and speeches. The book is organized into sections which include: Of the Making of Books, Of Authors and Artists, Of Children and Books, and Of Times and Trends. Louise knew personally the authors and artists of the first half of the 20th century; she even went to college with Elizabeth Coatsworth and referred to her at E.C. She wrote about the beginning of illustrating for young readers, about the picture books of Berta and Elmer Hader, the storytelling of Padraic Colum, and many others. I found most interesting her chapters on “current” trends in children’s literature, as she discussed Dr. Doolittle, Holling Clancy Holling’s books, and Walter Farley’s horse fiction.

Bechtel provides an extensive list of books for children before age five. I was delighted to see how many of those books I have in my lending library. These are classics that have stood the test of time. The Country Noisy Book by Margaret Wise Brown, Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack, Blue Barns by Helen Sewell, Junket is Nice by Dorothy Kunhardt, Snipp Snapp Snurr by Maj Lindman, and so many others.

I highly recommend Books in Search of Children. Since many of the authors and illustrators of yesteryear are gone now and we can’t sit down and have a conversation with them, Bechtel provides for us a peek into the talent and delight of these people who pioneered the children’s literature movement.

Books about Books - Post #2

Books about Books – Post #2

Young People’s Literature in Series: Publishers’ and Non-Fiction Series, An Annotated Bibliographical Guide by Judith K. Rosenberg and Kenyon C. Rosenberg. Published in 1973 by Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

 

This 280-page book “is designed to help identify the various titles published in series for young people and to provide descriptive and evaluative information about each series.” A first volume was published in 1972 for fiction series; this second volume covers non-fiction.

 

Includes an extensive listing of titles in each series along with annotations for each series based on format, durability, reading level, and if the books have illustrations, indices, and bibliographies. Wow! An incredible amount of information! From the American Hero Biographies published by Putnam, to the Focus books published by Watts, to the Sagas of the West series published by Putnam, to the Trade Routes series published by McGraw-Hill. Amazing!!

 

The book is arranged first in alphabetical order by the series title, then an author index and a title index. Obviously, since this book was published in 1973, there may have been additional titles added to some of the series. But this resource is a great place to start. I’ve learned so much reading through this book, am starting to mark what I own, as well as learn about series previously unknown to me – that I now want to collect, of course! 

Books about Books - Post #1

 

Books about Books – Post #1

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting information about books about children's books. I own a nice large collection of these and find them so very helpful. Some day I hope to teach a children's literature class so I hang on to these for that reason as well.

Sequences: An Annotated Guide to Children's Fiction in Series - Susan Roman, published by the American Library Association, 1985.

In this volume of 134 pages, the author lists by author various children's fiction series. She notes that not all series are titled - at least at the time of the publication of this book. And she included book series that should be read in order.

"I concentrated on stories that demonstrated growth and development in the character or plot, rather than an unchanged character simply placed in a new setting. Although the Encyclopedia Brown Series is popular, it is not included because the stories need not be read in order." {Susan Roman].

The book is arranged by the author's last name, then a list of books in the series with publisher info and date and a short description of the plot.

I highly recommend this book! I've been going through my copy and marking what I own. I'm finding books I didn't know about - which can be dangerous as we all know. But I've also learned about series that I had never heard of.

Close to the Wind: The Beaufort Scale by Peter Malone

 I came across this book yesterday at a thrift store. Close to the Wind: The Beaufort Scale by Peter Malone. It's a lovely introduction to the Beaufort scale of wind speed/intensity developed by Captain Francis Beaufort of the Royal Navy in 1810 and used by mariners ever since. I believe it is a true living book. The author tells of each level of speed of the wind through the journal entries/letters written home to his sister by a 12 year old boy , William, on the ship as it journeys across the Atlantic. The illustrations are lovely. Each two page spread has the text with small vignette drawings on the left side, and across from that on the right a full page, full color illustration. At the end is a two page biographical sketch about Beaufort, a sketch of a typical ship of the early 1800s with explanations about its structure and sails, and a map of William's Journey. If you have anyone interested in shipping, I highly recommend this book. It would go nicely with Old Ironsides by Weitzman and other books about ships of the late 1700s/early 1800s.