Cicely Mary Barker

Over the next few weeks, months, possibly years, I will be posting some of the poems and illustrations from Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies books.  The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies is an anthology of Barker's works: Flower Fairies of the Spring, Flower Fairies of the Summer, Flower Fairies of the Autumn, Flower Fairies of the Winter, Flower Fairies of the Trees, Flower Fairies of the Garden, Flower Fairies of the Wayside, and A Flower Fairy Alphabet.  Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies books presents an enchanting way of teaching your children to identify various names of prevalent flowers.  Countless children have been mesmerized by Barker's meticulously accurate and beguiling illustrations.

Now a little bit about Cicely Mary Barker :
 ~ born in West Croydon, Surrey, on 28 June 1895; died 16 February 1973
 ~ suffered from epilepsy
 ~ lived a happy, secure childhood with her father, mother, and sister, Dorothy
 ~ her father, Walter, encouraged her artistic talent
 ~ 1908 - 1940s enrolled in the Croydon Art Society; Cicely's father first enrolled her in the Croydon Art Society when she was thirteen years old
 ~ 1908 - 1919 enrolled in an art correspondence course
 ~ like Beatrix Potter, Barker studied natural world with botanical accuracy
 ~ strongly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and Kate Greenaway
 ~ always used real-life models for her paintings
 ~ remained a devout Christian throughout her life

Take Joy!

Take Joy! (1966) is an anthology of "songs, stories, poems, and things to do for a family Christmas" by acclaimed illustrator Tasha Tudor.  I found this treasure at our county library last Christmas, and I so fell in love with it that I won one for myself off ebay!  Now if that isn't a recommendation, I don't know what is!  Tudor's homespun delight in Christmas evidences itself in her rich, warm illustrations and quality selections.  I could go on and on about this book!  However, Tasha Tudor's art speaks for itself.  So in Tudor's words, "Take Joy!"

Unfortunately, Tudor's beautiful book is out of print, so depending on where you live, it may be difficult for you to access, which is why I wanted to share some of her wonderful illustrations with you!

Illustration for an excerpt of Dickens' A Christmas Carol

Illustration for The Boar's Head carol

a few of Tudor's children bringing home their tree

Fairy Tales

Fairy tales originated in cultures and times long forgotten when stories and folktales were orally passed down from one generation to the next.  We can give huge thanks to Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm (otherwise known as the brothers Grimm), Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen for researching and recording the oral stories that transport us into those ancient and fantastical worlds.

I grew up pouring over the stories and various illustrations from large edition called The Giant All-Color Book of Fairy Tales: 50 Best Loved Stories retold by Jane Carruth and published by Golden Press.  We're all familiar with Walt Disney's version of fairy tales.  The volume I grew up with related the unsaccharined version of fairy tale stories.  Likewise, I've exposed my kids to unedited stories of Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, The Princess and the Pea, and Cinderella quite early.  And while my kids aren't too fearful of the dark or storms, they're terrified of wolves!  They always cast the "bad guy" as a wolf or dragon in their pretend play.  So, I would encourage you to preselect the volume you chose to introduce to your family. 

My favorite volume is Classic Fairy Tales.  The talented animator and illustrator Scott Gustafson does a beautiful job with the illustrations of his compilation.  Take notice of his hearty, rosy-cheeked children.  His illustrations soften any "scare" factor in the folktales.

Look for books with individual stories.  We love:

• The individual tales retold and illustrated by Paul Galdone!
• The Princess and the Pea illustrated by Dorothee Duntze
• Cinderella illustrated by Hilary Knight
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears published by Hart Publishing Company

Also, research other culture's versions of familiar stories.  Take the Cinderella story, for instance, just about every culture or nation has a retelling of the Cinderella story, and it's fun to read the different ones!  Start with Tomie dePaola's Adelita: a Mexican Cinderella story, The way meat loves salt: a Cinderella tale from the Jewish tradition by Nina Jaffe, and Yeh-Shen: a Cinderella story from China by Ai-Ling Louie.

Nursery Rhymes

And now we come to nursery rhymes.  This is probably where I should have started from the very beginning since rhymes are where the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends to start reading aloud to your infants.  According to the professionals, rhymes help develop a young child's "ear for language," "stimulate brain development," and encourage "Phonological awareness" by identifying and connecting different sounds with written words.  In fact, leave out last words on a line while you read a rhyme and encourage your child to fill in the missing word.  Many rhymes are set to music, making it fun to sing the rhymes too.

My children repeat their favorite rhymes throughout the week:
~ One misty, moisty morning . . .
~ Sing a song of sixpence . . .
~ Three little kittens . . .
~ Wee Willie Winkie . . .
~ Blow wind blow! And go mill go! . . .
~ Good night! Sleep tight . . .
~ Baa, baa, black sheep . . .
~ Diddle, diddle dumpling, my son John . . .
Which lines can you complete?

"One misty, moisty morning" is especially applicable for today's weather; it also remains one of my children's favorites.  There are different versions of it, but here's our favorite:

One misty, moisty morning,

When cloudy was the weather,

I chanced to meet an old man,

Dressed all in leather.
He began to compliment,

And I began to grin

How do you do?  And how do you do?

And how do you do again?

And then there's "Diddle, diddle dumpling, my son John."  You know, he's the one who went to bed with "one shoe off and one shoe on."  I attribute this rhyme to my daughter's (who at the time was only three) unwavering resolve to put only one sock on each day, no matter where we were going.  I insisted that she had to at least wear both shoes.  It was late fall and winter, and I had stake in my image as her caring mother after all!  Otherwise, I allowed the quirky behavior.  And did we receive some memorable comments and stares!  But, oh the laughs we indulged!

Needless to say, I strongly recommend owning a collection of nursery rhymes!  I'm the nerd who likes to collect different volumes.  So here are my top recommendations:

1st prize: Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever (not to be confused with his much smaller Mother Goose).  The kids adore this version.  We ALL pull it out several times weekly!

1st runners up, coming in oh so closely behind: Tomie dePaola's My First Mother Goose or his board book Tomie's Little Mother Goose and Scott Gustafson's Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose.  Once again, Gustafson "Wows!" us with his beautiful illustrations.

Honorable mentions: I hold a special place in my heart for the iconic black and white checkerboard covered The Real Mother Goose, which was my very first childhood volume.  It's arguably the most recognized volume.  For some reason, my children didn't attach themselves to this one as readily.  My eldest wanted illustrations for each rhyme.  However, I would recommend this most thorough collection illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright in 1916.  The publishers have also issued friendlier versions for young children in board books and "touch and feel" books and cards.  You can't go wrong with this classic.

For you Beatrix Potter book lovers out there, I would strongly recommend her charmingly illustrated and original Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes and Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes.  These sweet little volumes make excellent gifts.

Also, for you researchers, Michael Montgomery does an excellent, and humorous, job of exploring the stories behind nursery rhymes in his book Over the Candlestick: Classic Nursery Rhymes and the Real Stories Behind Them.

In conclusion, there are many amazing artists with very good illustrated editions of nursery rhymes out there.  I encourage you to find your favorite and read them enough to laugh over your own kids quirky ways of applying rhyme to their everyday lives.

Poetry

Those who know me well know that I have a particular affinity toward poetry.  So naturally, I think children should be introduced to poetry at an early age.  Yikes!  I know this is an alienating statement.  Stick with me, now!  Of course, a great precursor to poetry is nursery rhymes, which I'll discuss in length at a later date.  Not only do I think children should have early introduction to poetry, I think they should be exposed to it regularly.  I understand that many claim to be "afraid" of poetry, insisting that poems have mysterious and hidden meanings.  These people read a poem like they walk through a haunted house, timidly shirking away from the questionable corners, fearful that something spooky might jump out at them and, finally, relieved when they reach the end, surmising that it's all summed up as dark blur anyway.  Have you experienced that?  I'm not quite sure how poetry gained such an infamous reputation; although, I do have a few ideas.

I want to REALLY encourage you to rediscover poetry!  It's going to be exciting!  Start reading poetry aloud to your kids.  Join your children in memorizing a poem from time to time (hey, you'll be warding off Alzheimer's too!).  Hear me out on this one: if you expose your children to poetry now, they won't be intimidated by it later on. 

Before you get squeamish, you've all read Sandra Boynton, right?!  Come on . . . you can say Moo Baa La La La in your sleep!  That's poetry!  I don't claim to have exhausted children's' poetry anthologies.  But please allow me to share a few children's books of poetry that we've tried out.  I encourage you to pick a book to try out for yourself!

For the tots:

• Sandra Boynton books
• Animal Crackers by Jane Dyer
• Shirley Hughes Nursery Collection, which includes the five individual titles: Bathwater's Hot, When We Went to the Park, Colors, All Shapes and Sizes, and Noisy.
• Eloise Wilkin's Poems to Read to the Very Young
• Eloise Wilkin's A Child's Garden of Verses
• Golden Book's My Little Book of Poems selected by Rebecca Heller

As the children grow older:

• I think everyone should own a copy of A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.  We have several copies floating around our house.  My only suggestion is to find an illustrated copy that you like.
• Favorite Poems for Children an anthology put out by Barnes & Noble
• If you can find an old Childcraft volume, look into it!  Childcraft anthologies are treasure troves of poetry!
• Caroline Kennedy has put together a good and easily accessible anthology called A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children.
• I really like the collection of Winter Poems selected by Barbara Rogasky and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.
• If you can access a volume of Kate Greenaway's work, do check it out!  One of the very few female illustrators of the late Victorian Age (a contemporary of Randolph Caldecott), Greenaway's illustrations remain timeless.  I especially like her illustrated book of Robert Browning's poem The Pied Piper of Hamlin.
• There's an extensive series of poetry books underneath the common title Poetry for Young People that I highly recommend.  To search, type in "Poetry for Young People" on Amazon's or your local library's database.  Then I would start off with Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, William Blake, etc.  These books have lovely illustrations, and the poems are well chosen.  They make wonderful gifts for adults and children alike.  I will point out that they're more age appropriate for older elementary children than younger tots.
• Stories and poems for extremely intelligent children of all ages by Harold Bloom (I don't actually own this volume, but I'd like to.  Harold Bloom is an extremely well respected and knowledgeable literary critic, academic, and writer.)

Readers, weigh in!  Please recommend your favorite poetry books / anthologies for children!