The Cozy Hour Storybook and The Important Book, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard

Leonard Joseph Weisgard (1916-2000) was an American author and illustrator of more than 200 children's books. He is well known for his collaborations with author Margaret Wise Brown. (Brown made a contribution to The Cozy Hour Storybook, a poem called The Fish With the Deep Sea Smile.) Weisgard's recognizable illustration style has great appeal.  Perhaps because I was a child in the 60's, I find many of his illustrations to be heart warming. 


To read more about Leonard Weisgard there is a website by his children that is lovely and quite comprehensive: www.leonardweisgard.com.  Also, the Margaret Wise Brown website is very nice too; a fitting tribute to Brown who gave so much to children's books and died too young, www.margaretwisebrown.com. 

Here are some illustrations from The Cozy Hour Storybook and The Important Book, for which Leonard Weisgard won a Caldecott Medal in 1947 for best illustrated book.

The Cozy Hour Storybook 

Edited by Nora Kramer

Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard 

Random House, 1960

The Important Book

Words by Margaret Wise Brown 

Pictures by Leonard Weisgard 

Harper Collins, 1977