Doing some purging of our bookshelves. This was a fun chickenpox story involving nursery rhyme characters. What drew me to it were the blue and red retro-inspired illustrations. I mean, just look at the Bear's kitchen and all the atomic furniture! We've enjoyed it and now it's time to pass it on. Listing on ebay or at my yardsale.
My oldest daughter was a Russian language major in college. So Russian books always catch my eye! This one is particularly clever as illustrator Vladimir Vagin says on the front flap, "It is the first book in the world designed by an American and painted by a Russian." Working together even though they didn't even speak each other's languages, Frank Asch and Vagin became not just collaborators, but friends. Pretty powerful especially considering this book was created during the Cold War.
What makes the 18th and 19th century study of Nature so alluring is how it was all interconnected with other sciences, art and literature. At that time so many naturalists had to be artists and draw their observations. This biography of Anna Atkins enters just at the time when photography (a burgeoning science of its own!) was being utilized..
This wonderful book tells the story of Anna's work as a botanist and her use of cyanotypes to publish the first photography book of her collection of seaweed. The illustrations are in shades of blue with only a pop of momentous red, and best of all many of Anna's cyanotypes are duplicated.
These "sun prints" are quite easy to make and I love how well they suit botanical treasures. Fiona Robinson took some liberties with the early unknown years of Anna's life, but she perfectly captured a father sharing his love of discovery and curiosity with his daughter, and the spirit of the times.
Another vintage Tall Book (though not as magical as my favorite Tall Book of Make Believe). Feodor Rojankovsky did the illustrations and interestingly a different version of The Three Bears. All the stories are familiar, the pictures are what make it so enjoyable.
