John Tabor's Ride

 I found this recently at a flea and was quite smitten!  Sea stories and accompanying folklore always draw me in.  Blair Lent's illustrations (woodcuts?  linocuts?) feel old fashioned but mesmerizing.  

John Tabor's Ride

Blair Lent 1966

John Tabor has been shipwrecked when along comes the most curious character, a man who looks a hundred years old wearing a "greasy wool sweater and a pair of tarred and tattered trousers."  No sooner does he catch a whale than he takes John Tabor on a ride around the world back to his home in Nantucket.  This is just the sort of old magical sea chanty kind of book that we would spend Summer afternoons reading.

The Strange Voyage of Neptune's Car

The Strange Voyage of Neptune's Car

Joe Lasker 1977

 This is a pretty incredible true story about young Mary Patton who took over command of her husband's clipper ship, Neptune's Car, when he became ill.  Not only was she only 19 years old, but she was pregnant at the time!  Able to navigate and read charts, Mary brought the ship to harbor in San Francisco after rounding the most treacherous path of Cape Horn.  Joe Lasker's retelling is accompanied by his illustrations that resemble old photographs.

Leroy the Lobster and Crabby Crab

It's coming to the end of summer and we've yet to take a trip to the beach!  This bright and vintage book is making me think of my in-laws' old house at the shore.  How we would pack up our swimsuits and sand toys and books to read after we came home sandy and sunburnt.  Leroy the Lobster definitely would have been one we would have brought with us.  It's a rather silly story, about a lobster and crab who are off searching for pirate treasure (why they need treasure I have no idea!).  They are in the waters off of Maine and cross paths with some native residents, like Big Bad Bill the Codfish and Awful Austin the octopus.  Some vintage books are classics for a reason (the art, the stories) and some, like this one, can just be enjoyed without any expectations.

Leroy the Lobster and Crabby Crab
Edward Harriman 1967

Chirri and Chirra Under the Sea

 I am always especially thrilled when I find a book at the thrift store that has been on my Amazon wish list.  I would never have expected to find this one at my local thrift shop, but there it was waiting for me to pluck it from the shelf!  I had only recently been made aware of the Chirri and Chirra books.  They are by the Japanese artist Kaya Doi and David Boyd does the English translations.  The story is cute, about two little girls on their bicycles who manage to ride into the ocean.  Their exploration is full of fantasy and all joy.  The illustrations are soft and sweet and absolutely delightful!  There are several more books of Chirri and Chirra's adventures in other places.  Can I find them all at the thrift store?!

Chirri and Chirra

Under the Sea

Kaya Doi  2020

Mother Cary's Butter Knife

Mother Cary's Butter Knife

Nicola Davies

illustrations by Anja Uhren 2016

A modern tale with an old folklore feel about three fishermen brothers, a mysterious bearded stranger and his warning.  Uhren's watery pictures add a haunting element to the love story. 

The Chunkies at the Seaside

The Chunkies at the Seaside

published by The McLoughlin Brothers

The Chunky Family (Madeleine thought they looked like the precursor to The Tub People) are ready for a holiday.  They decide to travel to Shrimpville-By-the-Sea and a series of misadventures befall them.  This is fun to read because of the outdated language:

They arranged themselves on the two most comfortable chairs they could find in the hotel lobby, and tried to see who could eat how many buns fastest.  This is a perfectly corking game, provided one has buns enough and a large mouth.  The Chunkies had very small mouths, but this did not discourage them.

Our copy of this book has a inscription of February 25, 1936.  I had never heard of the Chunky Family before but I believe it was a series of books.

This part cracked me up... after all the excitement from the day before, Mr. and Mrs. Chunky tell their boys that they are all staying in and having a quiet day at home.

A deep, dark, depressing gloom then settled down over the three boys, until their mother went out and got them some picture books and some gum drops.  They then just managed to live through the day.

And later...

However, he and Mrs. Chunky were very tired.  There's nothing like a quiet day with three boys in seaside lodgings for making one feel a perfect rag.

If You Want to See a Whale

 A story celebrating imagination.  With sweet, simple drawings by Erin E. Stead to match the sweet, simple words.  I feel like this book represents the early 2000's trend in children's picture books to make stories that are sparse, a little bit vague, abstract, with simple text that belies a deeper sentiment.  When they're done well, like this one, they're quite nice!

If You Want to See a Whale

Julie Fogliano

illustrated by Erin E. Stead 2013