Welcome, winter. Your late dawns and chilled breath make me lazy, but I love you nonetheless. —Terri Guillemets
Paddington, one of my favorite bears, and I are dropping in to wish you a “Happy Winter!” Stay warm and safe!
About the Image: “Paddington with Snowball,” the image above, is featured on a winter card my Love Notes friend Gina B sent last Christmas. Paddington is adapted from the original, illustrated by Peggy Fortnum. I have been looking forward to sharing him for a whole year! 😀
The Very Hungry Caterpillar story is about hope. You, like the little caterpillar, will grow up, unfold your wings and fly off into the future. –Eric Carle
Beloved children’s book author and illustrator, Eric Carle, passed away May 23 at 91 years of age, but I learned of his passing just this morning. I spent today’s joy break revisiting Carle’s books and illustrations and thinking about moments I spent with my little one reading and rereading his books. I even listened to the recording of my son “reading” Brown, Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (1967) that I mentioned in a 2018 post (linked below).
It’s sad that we lost Carle, but it heartens me to know that he will live on and on through his works and in the memories of generations who were mesmerized by his colorful books.
If you’d like just a little more of Eric Carle, here are two more posts which feature Carle’s work:
Take a moment to (re)visit Carle’s work this weekend and have joy!
I hope you’re prepared for some super cuteness this evening. The postcards below were sent for Children’s Book Illustration swaps 49 and 50 on swap-bot. I had never heard of “Gumnut” or “Wattle” Babies, and then suddenly I was introduced to them when not one or two, but three postcards featuring May Gibbs’ Australian Bush Babies made it to my mailbox within days of each other.
CBI 50: Original watercolor for The Gum Blossom Ballet from Snuggle Pot and Cuddlepie, 1918. Illustration by May Gibbs (1877-1969)
This first card came from Yvonne and Jeana, who sent the Bunyip and Magic Pudding Maxicards I shared earlier this year. The card features the “Gum Blossom Ballet,” from the book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibbs.
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie are:
two adventurous little gumnut foster brothers who long to see a Human. Snugglepot, the leader, and the gentle Cuddlepie are good friends with Mr Lizard and Little Ragged Blossom and together go on many heroic adventures.
And what are gumnuts?
[Gumnuts are] the first of the bush babies, the inquisitive Nuts are full of fun and mischief. They love all the Bush Folk, but are a little afraid of lizards and snakes. Mrs Kookaburra is most fond of them as they make her laugh. In the hot sun they hang their heavy heads over the swaying leaves and sleep. –from May Gibbs website
I “met” Jess, another Australian swapper, earlier this year. Like Yvonne and Jeana, she also adds unique postcards to my CBI collection. She sent two Wattle Babies postcards.
BLC CBI 49: Original watercolor for frontispiece of Wattle Babies, 1918. Illustration by May Gibbs
The cheerful Wattle Babies are the most good-natured of all the Bush Babies. Their bright yellow clothes brighten the bush on a Winter’s day. In Spring they love to go boating and swimming with their frog friends and have fun playing hide and seek with the baby birds. —-from May Gibbs website
BLC CBI 50: “Wattle Babies.” Illustration by May Gibbs
These are some pretty impressive watercolors!
Gibbs (1877-1969) was an English-Australian children’s author, illustrator, and cartoonist. She was best known for her “bush babies” or flower fairies. Her works have entertained the children of Australia for more than a century.
Gibbs willed her works to the Northcott Society and Cerebral Palsy Alliance. As a result she has helped thousands of children and their families. You can learn more about May Gibbs, her work, and charities here: May Gibbs.
See you tomorrow…
CBI 57: La vie des mini-héros. Illustration by Oliver Tallec.
From time to time the mini hero must stop being a mini hero.
Isn’t this an adorable postcard?
The postcard, featuring a mini hero, came from Valériane (LuneDePapier on swap-bot) of Brittany, France. She rightly assumed I would love the postcard because of the humor.
La vie des mini-héros [Life as a Mini Hero] was authored by French illustrator Olivier Tallec. The books are designed for preschoolers:
Clad in bright suits that bespeak their daring deeds, these mini heroes live their daily lives assailed by all sorts of difficulty and disaster. Whether jumping rope on the playground, eating towers of ice-cream, or hanging upside-down from the ceiling, they are never short of plans and prospects! Sometimes, it’s true, they have to pause, which may be the greatest challenge of all. –Google Books.
Tallec has illustrated more than 50 books, including the gorgeously illustrated This is a Poem That Heals a Fish. [The link leads to a Brain Pickings article filled with images from the book].
You can find out more about Tallec’s work through this brief interview: Interview with Olivier Tallec.
Until tomorrow…
I haven’t done a post featuring children’s book illustration (CBI) postcards in a long time, so I decided to dedicate three posts this week to CBI postcards. I have more than 60 to share; I won’t get caught up this week, but I’ll do what I can.
Today’s offering…Dikkie Dik! Both cards below were sent for Children’s Book Illustration Postcard swaps on swap-bot. The cards came from Dutch swappers, Marianne and Marleen.
CBI Swap 30: Dikkie Dik. Illustration by Jet Boeke, 2017
Dikkie Dik is a series of Dutch children’s books featuring a naughty orange cat named Dikkie Dik. The cat originally appeared on the Dutch version of Sesame Street (SS). According to Marianne, who remembers fondly the stories from SS, the books are “cute with big illustrations and very little text.”
BLC CBI Swap 57. Dikkie Dik. Illustration by Jet Boeke.
The Dikkie Dik books are illustrated by Jet Boeke and written by Arthur van Norden. Though the series began in 1978 as stories told to children on Sesame Street, the books soon made their way to bookstores. There are now hundreds of Dikkie Dik stories to enjoy.
Dikkie Dik Postage Placeholder. Illustration by Jet Boeke
Dikkie Dik doesn’t look so naughty to me, but looks can be deceiving. I guess, I’ll have to read some of the stories to know for sure.
I’m back with two more children’s book illustration (CBI) postcards. These come from Yvonne and Jeana [MelbourneGirl on swap-bot], mother-daughter swappers who hail from Australia. I love receiving children’s book illustrations from other countries, and Yvonne and Jeana do not disappoint. The characters and books illustrated were new to me, so I was over the moon when I received these cards.
The first card was sent several months ago for Book Lovers Congregate (BLC) CBI Swap #33; it features an illustration from The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek (1973) written by Jenny Wagner and illustrated by Ron Brooks:
One night something very large and muddy heaved itself on to the bank of Berkeley’s Creek. ‘What am I ?’ it murmured. ‘What do I look like ?’ A platypus told him he was a bunyip. But what is a bunyip? Although everyone had an opinion, no one really knew. So the bunyip set off to find out for himself. —Google Books
The Bunyip of Berkeley Creek. Illustration by Ron Brooks.
Of course, I had to do a bit of exploring to learn more about the book, and Google did not disappoint. Here’s a book trailer with more wonderful illustrations:
And here are detailed reviews of the book with more images: We Read It Like This or Dad Reads: Stories for Grown-ups About Stories for Children.
The second card, received for BLC CBI Swap #43 just days ago, features an illustration from another classic Australian children’s book, The Magic Pudding, written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay. The postcard celebrates 100 years since the book’s publication in 1918.
The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay. First published in 1918.
I “found” the illustrated book on Gutenberg. Happy dance! I’ll get my guys to read it with me during the Thanksgiving holiday. Hubby is a storyteller, so he’s always “game” for a good tale. In his “tweendom,” the not-so-little-one eschews anything “babyish,” but he’ll go for it if it’s a family activity.
The Guardian features a cute gallery of pictures in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the book. I learned that Lindsay wrote the book “reportedly to settle an argument with his friend Bertram Stevens, claiming children preferred to read about food than fairies.” I wonder who won???
Did you notice the postage stamp and postmark on the front of the cards? Those aren’t machine errors. They’re intentional. The cards are called maxicards; the coveted postcards feature the “first day of issue” postmark and stamps related to or identical to the images on the front of the cards. You can learn more about them via the Postcrossing blog.
These cards are just so delightful! Thanks, Yvonne and Jeana for introducing me to classics in Australian children’s literature. I’m looking forward to reading both books!
It’s “Sunflower Week” on Pics and Posts, so I’m sharing a children’s book illustration postcard out of sequence because…well, it’s a sunflower! 😉
Samantha (Sammoning on swap-bot), from the Netherlands, sent the Eric Carle postcard below for Children’s Book Illustration Postcard swap #30.
Eric Carle, “Summer”
If you’re familiar with Eric Carle, the author/artist of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, you probably recognized the sunflower as his work immediately. The postcard comes from the World of Eric Carle 100 Postcards, a delightful collection full of the artist’s brilliant work. There is very little information about the postcard. The image was posted on Carle’s blog almost eight years ago with no other detail but the title. It is part of his “season’s collection.”
By the way, if you need a dose of the warm fuzzies, you should really check out his blog.
Carle has “written and/or illustrated more than 70 picture books.” His collage illustrations are made with hand-painted tissue paper. If you’re looking for a fun (and easy) art project to help you decompress after a long work day, check out Carle’s slideshow in which he shares his technique: How I Paint My Tissue Papers.
And if you’re (ever) in Amherst, Massachusetts, check out the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
See you tomorrow…with even more sunflowers.
Map of the “100 Aker Wood”–Drawn by Christopher Robin with the help of Mr. Shepard.
Today we celebrate Edward Bear–known as “Winnie-the-Pooh”–and the birth of the beloved bear’s creator, A.A. Milne, who was born January 18, 1882! I’ve been writing Pooh-Bear postcards all week, so I thought I’d drop by and share a few from my collection with a tiny bit of Pooh wisdom.
“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels perhaps there isn’t. Anyhow, here is is at the bottom, and ready to be introduced to you. Winnie-the-Pooh.
I’ve loved the Pooh characters since I was a kid, and I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the 100 Acre Wood with my own little one. Although he watched some episodes of Disney’s “new” Winnie-the-Pooh (My Friends Tigger and Pooh)—with Darby not Christopher Robin–we read every original Milne story with E.H. Shepard’s art.
I appreciate Disney for introducing the classics to a younger generation of kiddos, but I don’t think anything can top the Milne/Shepard duo. The art is sweet and innocent and the plots are cute, but what keeps us returning to Pooh is the simple wisdom we glean from the interactions of Pooh and friends.
“Pooh and Piglet walked thoughtfully home together in the golden evening, and for a long time they were silent.” Illustration from Christopher Robin Gives Pooh a Party.
Through Winnie-the-Pooh Milne inspired books and articles that focus on the life lessons and wisdom offered through Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit, Owl, Roo and the rest. My favorite bit of wisdom for today is:
Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering. –Piglet in Pooh’s Little Instruction Book
I’m looking forward to the weekend when I can spend a day of “not bothering.” Do you have a favorite bit of Pooh wisdom to share?
As I was writing postcards for Children’s Book Illustration Postcards swaps yesterday, I realized I hadn’t posted about the swaps in 11 months!
When I began the second series of the swaps, I’d planned to post about the cards received every two to four weeks. Today, I’m sending off swap #31, but the last time I shared was swap #12. I have a lot of catching up to do!
I hosts two children’s book illustration swaps on swap-bot every two weeks–a public swap that any swapper can join and a swap for members in the Book Lovers Congregate group. Needless to say, I have a nice stack of images to share. But instead of overwhelming you with images, I’ll try to share 2-10 postcards once or twice per week until I get caught up.
Today’s post features an eclectic collection of postcards sent from Germany, Israel, Sweden, and the Netherlands, but they share a bit of commonality–mischievous children and/or cute animals.
The first pair of cards, sent for swaps #13 (the group and public swaps), came from Lihior of Israel. You are probably familiar with Beatrix Potter and her series of children’s books, but if not, click an image for a closer look and details about the card.
Roosje of the Netherlands and Sissi of Germany sent postcards for swaps #14. I’ve loved the “naughty toddlers” Jip and Janneke [Roosje] since a Postcrosser introduced them to me many years ago.
Jip and Janneke. Written by Annie M.G. Schmidt. Illustrated Fiep Westendorp
Pettson and the cute cat Findus [Sissi] are quickly finding a place in my heart.
Pettson and Findus. Author/Illustrator, Sven Nordqvist
For swaps #15, Stargazer008 of Germany sent another Pettson and Findus (same card as above), and Lihior sent “The Frog King.”
“The Frog King”
Finally, for swaps #16, Lihior sent a postcard from the World of Eric Carle postcard collection. (Poor Lihior, she couldn’t shake me for a few weeks).
Eric Carle, Draw Me a Star, 1992
And Pei04, from Sweden, sent a Pippi Longstocking illustration. This one brought back fond memories of the Saturday afternoons I spent absorbed in the Pippi books when I was a little girl.
Pippi Langstrump by Astrid Lindgren. Illustrated by Ingrid Vang Nyman
The illustrated postage stamps on the back of a couple of Lihior’s postcards rivaled the postcards for attention.
Postage from Israel: (L) “The Fox in the Vineyard.” “R) “The Reed and the Cedar.”
Postage from Israel
Don’t you love how each panel tells a story?
That’s it for today. Look for more children’s book illustration postcards next week. Enjoy!
From the Big Book of Bear and Hedgehog, Ingrid & Dieter Schubert
Should we be concerned that the first thing I noticed about this postcard is the sunflowers that form part of the bouquet Bear is hiding? My obsession with sunflowers has hit an all new high.
The cute card, featuring two animals hiding gifts behind their backs, was sent for the Book Lovers Congregate Children’s Book Illustration Postcards Swap #12. Sammoning (Netherlands) sent the postcard and admitted that she joined BLC “just to participate” in children’s book illustration swaps! How cool is that? She’s fortunate enough to live near a bookstore that sells “beautiful illustrated postcards with typical Dutch characters like Miffy and also more unique and current stories.”
The postcard illustration comes from The Big Book of Bear and Hedgehog, which is actually a compilation of four books of the duo’s adventures written by husband and wife team Ingrid and Dieter Schubert. The bear is described in reviews as “clumsy and rather silly,” and the hedgehog as “cheeky.” They were introduced to Dutch children’s literature in 1998 and have continued to line the shelves of children all over the world.
For Children’s Book Illustration Postcards Swap #12 (public), Mollypop (USA) sent this sweet postcard of a little girl with her teddy bear (because she knows I like teddy bears). The illustration is by Alice May Cook (1876-1958), a Scottish painter and illustrator.
Alice M. Cook from Blackie’s Children’s Annual
The image is from Blackie’s Children’s Annuals, which were published by Blackie and Son Limited, a publishing house in Glasgow, Scotland (1891-1991). According to the Abe Books website, children’s books were published in periodicals and distributed weekly or monthly. At the end of the year, the best stories were collected, bound, and released just in time for Christmas gifting.
You can find a selection of Cook images here. Though limited, the collection demonstrates the range of her art. Unfortunately, I found very little about the illustrator and even less about this postcard in particular.
Swaps #13 haven’t made their way to me from Israel yet, but good news–both postcards for swap #14 arrived today! Look for those here soon.
Until next time…
Enjoy!
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