Old Aunt Elspa and her alphabet, made for “book-loving chubbies.” Think you could get away with calling your audience chubby today? Even if they’re five…? Doubt it. No, Old Aunt Elspa dates back to 1884. The antiquated S that looks like an F, the cover that proudly proclaims the availability of a color edition, and … Continue reading
Palefsky holds court as a true artist, with a style that is a mix of surrealism and comic book art. Owls become a parade, shoes become a shoe critic, cats become dogs, and houses become butterflies. The idea and execution are immaculate and awe-inspiring. Continue reading
Wanda Gag cuts a unique figure in the world of children’s books. Both successful and controversial, she made a mark on 1920s America that still rings out today. Children’s books, illustration, feminism, and realism-during-a-vogue-of-surrealism, Wanda Gag made waves. Continue reading
Another Nonsense Alphabet is not as brilliant as most of Edward Lear’s work. It resembles a zine, cheap and quickly constructed. The pictures are rough, fast sketches, less lively than his limericks or pseudo biology and botany. The comedy isn’t at its peak, the nonsense isn’t at it’s peak. Not bad stuff, per se, just not as particularly sharp as his other work. So why do I include it here among the best of his work? Well… Continue reading
Jim Aylesworth’s story and Stephem Gammels illustrations make Old Black Fly one of the better themed abecedarian books I’ve seen. It’s a straightforward story: Old Black Fly has been having a very busy day being bad; he does all sorts of badness; then, justice comes, he gets swatted, and “he won’t be bad no more.” Written in a song-like, rhythmic kind of way, complete with rhyme and the oft repeated “Shoo fly, shoo fly, shoo”, it begs to be read aloud in that slow way of an old man sitting on a hot porch, listlessly waving his hand at a fly buzzing round his head. The tone makes the SWAT! at the end particularly effective. But then, it’s right back to the slow tone that eclipses the messy undoing of an evil, dirty fly. Continue reading
Little Book Review 