A Bit of Childhood Nostalgia

Mum and I have recently started collecting beautifully illustrated children's books from charity shops, fairs, etc. Looking back on some of the books from my own childhood, the beauty of the illustrations was lost on me back then but I can really appreciate the quality of the art now, as well as enjoy re-reading the stories, many of which I had forgotten.

One of my favourite books is this one called 'Suzanne and Nicholas in the Garden' by Satomi Ichikawa who wrote the words and painted the illustrations ...

I'm sure you'll agree, the illustrations are really charming. It was a real find for only £1.00 !

The books was first published by Gautier-Languereau in 1976 but my edition was published in 1977 by Franklin Watts Limited of London. If any of you want to try and source a copy the SBN number is 85166 668 X.

'The Oxford Treasury of Fairy Tales' with text by Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrations by Sophy Williams, published by Oxford University Press in 2003, is also very good ...

Here is an illustration from Rapunzel ...

And one from The Three Gifts of the North Wind ...

Another nice book I found is 'The Hutchinson Treasury of Children's Literature' with a variety of writers and illustrators, published in 1995 by Hutchinson's Children's Books. Here are are some illustrations from Alice in Wonderland ...

And The Winter Hedgehog ...

Finally, no conversation about children's books would be complete without a mention of my absolute favourite of all time ... the Brambly Hedge books by Jill Barklem who wrote the words and painted the illustrations. When I was a child the Four Seasons books were the only ones I ever checked out from the school library ... and boy, did I check them out. I pretty much monopolised them ! To the extent that my parents were getting worried my reading skills would never develop because I would never look at other books. Now I am the proud owner of the compendium Four Seasons book and 'The Brambly Hedge Treasury' ...

The stories and illustrations are so lovely that even now, at the age of 37, I am mesmerized by them :)

I'm actually reading an interesting book about the spiritual meaning of fairy tales called 'The Wisdom of Fairy Tales' by Rudolf Meyer (published in 1988 by Floris Books). It tells how the characters and different events depicted in the stories represent the spiritual development of the soul. It is interesting that across Europe most of the fairy stories are the same, maybe just altered very slightly with different characters etc. I'll let you know more about the book once I've finished it !