The Giant Story, Maurice Sendak

Today's vintage children's book, The Giant Story, is by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. I've had this book for some time and didn't realize when I purchased it that Sendak was the illustrator as it was done early in his career. The illustrations are different from his more recognized work such as Where The Wild Things Are and In The Night Kitchen. That being said, the compositions are really nice and I like the simple color palette.


My apologies for the lapse in posting, I forgot to mention in my last post that I was going to be out of town. I am still without a scanner, but putting my camera to good use.

THE GIANT STORY

By Beatrice Schenk De Regniers

Illustrated by Maurice Sendak

E.M. Hale and Co., 1953

The Joke Book, Bill and Bonnie Rutherford

Kids usually go through a stage where they like joke books. When you have a joke book with great illustrations, it makes it even more fun. Such is the case

with The Joke Book by Oscar Weigle, illustrated by Bill and Bonnie Rutherford.

As I mentioned in my last post, my scanner died, so I used my camera this time - you'll have to pardon the distortion. I need to work on the lighting too.

The Joke Book

Compiled by Oscar Weigle

Illustrated by Bill and Bonnie Rutherford

Grosset and Dunlap, 1972

On Mother's Lap, Glo Coalson

I think my scanner just died. It made some very ugly sounds and now won't make any sounds any all. I had just started scanning a book and now have only three pictures to show you from it.

I really like Glo Coalson's loose sketchy illustrations in On Mother's Lap. This type of drawing is my favorite, as I may have mentioned before in previous posts. I'd like to see more of Coalson's work from the 70's, unfortunately there aren't a lot of images to be found on the internet.

Glo Coalson is from Abilene, Texas. She spent some time in Alaska, living with her brother and his wife in Kotzebue. This time in Alaska had an influence on her work and shows in some of her books, especially in On Mother's Lap.

On Mother's Lap

By Ann Herbert Scott

Drawings by Glo Coalson

McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1972

Some other books illustrated by Glo Coalson:

Glo Coalson has a website that shows her paintings and sculptures. If you would like to view it, click here. I also found some images of some lovely raku fired pigeons that Coalson made, you can view them below. I found these images on Flicker, courtesy of Toolie von Bip, where you can also view more images.

The Sea-Breeze Hotel

Today's vintage children's book, The Sea-Breeze Hotel, has charming mixed media illustrations by Patricia Mullins. The story by Marcia Vaughan, centers around the hotel which has a lack of visitors because of the wind. But Sam solves this problem with his idea to make kites to fly above the hotel

The Sea-Breeze Hotel 

By Marcia Vaughan

Illustrations by Patricia Mullins

Willa Perlman Books, 1992

Chanticleer and the Fox, Barbara Cooney

Today's vintage children's book, Chanticleer and the Fox, is my favorite book by Barbara Cooney. To prepare for illustrating this book, Cooney studied rare illuminated manuscripts from medieval times. You can see the influence of that in all the gorgeous detail and brilliant use of color in her illustrations. A neighbor loaned Cooney some chickens and the local Grange donated a pen so that she could use the chickens as models in her studio. In my opinion, Chanticleer and the Fox is her tour de force. Cooney definitely earned her Caldecott Medal for this book. I took many scans and hope that you enjoy this book as much as I do.

Chanticleer and the Fox

By Geoffrey Chaucer

Adapted and Illustrated by Barbara Cooney

Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1958