The Twelve Days of Christmas

This is such a FUN book!  The kids and I are consistently mesmerized by Hilary Knight's illustrations, and his version of The Twelve Days of Christmas (c. 1981, 2001) proves no exception!  In fact, this copy has proven quite a friend to the bed-ridden, flu-stricken children this week.

Talk about green living, look at the use of space and  furnishings in this cottage!

Each time the kids pick it up, they find another hidden delight.  Knight's detailed illustrations do not cease to entertain while revealing yet another surprise.

Knight gives us a page by page tour of this darling house; if only it were a REAL dollhouse!

Needless to say, Hilary Knight weaves several tales in his ingenius, watercolor and colored penciled pictures.  Unearth them for yourself and be newly delighted by a familiar carol.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

So you loved P. L Travers and/or Disney's Mary Poppins (yes, they're different), and your kids are begging for more.  Enter: Betty MacDonald's Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (text c. 1947, renewed 1975).  And critically acclaimed artists Hilary Knight's pictures (illustrations c. 1957) and Alexandra Boiger's illustrations are a wonderful addition to MacDonald's charming text.

Betty MacDonald spun her stories first to her daughters' delight and then for the whole world to enjoy.  As our publisher (Scholastic) accounts: Everyone loves Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.  She lives in an upside-down house and smells like cookies.  She was even married to a pirate once.  Most of all, she knows everything about children.  She can cure them of any ailment.  Patsy hates baths.  Robert never puts anything away.  Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly.  Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.
Ages 6 to 10

And when you discover that you have reached the end of the book and the kids are still begging for more, don't fret, there's always: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm (illustrated by none other than Maurice Sendak)

This post is lovingly dedicated to all four of the Lewis children.  Have a great week, friends!

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

 Check Hilary Knight's The Owl and the Pussy-Cat (reissue c. 2001) out of your local library and be enchanted.  The illustrations are the most stunning interpretation of Edward Lear's classic poem that the Mister and I have ever come across.  Not only were we spellbound, the children were too!  Who says that adults can't be hypnotized by childrens' books?  Each page transports the reader into another world.  Perhaps one of Knight's greatest masterpieces because he fills each spread in The Owl and the Pussy-Cat with quirky, magical images to feast your imagination upon.

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.