Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Every Picture Tells a Tale

As Christmas approaches I have been kicking back a little - the presents are pretty much sorted. I can get the last couple at the weekend thanks to what is now a family tradition....my husband and I sneak out on our own for a quick Christmas shop and long lunch while the children have a break with the grandparents. In the meantime, I have been having fun cyber browsing book blogs. I could lose hours this way!!

I have always loved illustration as an art form. There are books from my childhood which haunt me still for their beautiful, bold and characterful illustrations. Some of these I have been able to track down and others yet elude me. Gus the friendly ghost is how I remember this one - I was heartbroken to discover that we no longer had it but was delighted to be introduced to the online world of secondhand books in my search for a replacement. It's not quite the same as the real thing and certainly lacks the charm and adventure of a rummage through dusty bookshelves, but I have been reunited with some old friends this way so I'm prepared to go with the flow on this one.

by Jane Thayer, illustrated by Seymour Fleishman

I think I re-found it through AbeBooks but most importantly I have now been lucky enough to share it with my children, along with some others from the same series.

Today's little treasure is this one, 'True Tall Tales of Stormalong: Sailor of the Seven Seas' (by Harold Fenton). Best of all, I was able to order it straight-away and now I can hardly wait to snuggle down under blankets with the children for an adventure on the high seas with these beautiful illustrations, all by Joan Sandin:


Now if anyone can remember/locate a book of children's poems which I think was called 'Happenings' that would be fantastic. There was a poem in it about someone becoming/being a crow, I can't remember it clearly. I do know this, it was an oddly chilling poem which left me anxious every time I read it but I would love to re-read it now to see how I respond as an adult.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. See you on the other side. XXX
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1 comment:

  1. Molly15 January 2013 at 18:22

    I'm entirely in agreement with you about trying to find those elusive childhood memories ... books I read in our tiny school library or those "very strange" imports from the UK that were syndicated out to our even smaller television station in the centre of the Canadian prairies. I use AbeBooks a lot too, but sadly it's the titles I can't remember :o( In that regard, do you know of a children's television series that was introduced with the scene of a pair of eyes looking through a painting? Captivating! This would have been the mid to late 1970s.
    Thanks and happy new year!

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