Thursday, November 8, 2007

golden goodness

back at my mom's house in indiana, and rooting around in the basement finding all kinds of junk. i stumbled on a box of old books from when i was a little kid and it blew my mind. so here is a really long post about some really great books that meant a lot to me as a kid and the really great drawings that were inside of them.

Happiness Is A Warm Puppy
by Charles M. Schulz


i just watched a pbs special on charles schulz the other day, and it made me think that he is perhaps one of the best american artists. you should really watch that program. i'm planning on going to the museum in santa rosa when i get back.


this was given to my mother in 1963. some things never change.

The Enormous Crocodile
by Roald Dahl, illustrations by Quentin Blake


long lost slipcover, this cover makes me very happy.


such a rad style. so quick and perfect. check out the lion's face! cracks me up.

Lyle Finds His Mother
by Bernhard Weber


oh man, i was such a lyle fan as a kid. check out's mom's hair. something about an alligator eating crackers is perfect. such a different approach to the reptile than mr. dahl from up above. lyle was a sensitive kid.


this breaks my heart.

Our Animal Friends
by Alice and Martin Provensen


the lines, man, the lines! and again with the left-aligned serif text combined with watercolor. you really can't go wrong with that.


lambs are full of fun. yes, i do see the lamb getting his rump licked at the bottom of the page. don't be gross. look at that log!

Faeries
by Brian Froud and Alan Lee


these guys also did Giants and Gnomes, both of which were fascinating to me for obvious reasons. beautiful stunning drawings. look at the curve on this guy's back. this shit is luscious.


this guy, redcap, scared the living shit out of me as a kid.

The Muppet Show Book
drawings by Tudor Banus


it's so great to see these drawings of your muppet buddies. love how vincent price and his muppet goon feature in this story and that it's laid out with the script itself. when looking at these, i could not tell you details about the storylines, but i get such a feeling of being a kid again. the same feelings come right back and i remember sitting on a giant chair looking at this stuff.


this is so weird, so cosmic.
if you have a kid, get them books and keep them forever.

6 comments:

Toddy said...

I saw that PBS special too. And then I read something about him in either the New Yorker or the Times.
And then I watched the Great Pumpkin the other night.

Seriously great artist.

There is this old one called "The Elephant Who Like to Smash Small Cars"

You'd like that one maybe.

minarnie said...

Alligator mom hair! My brother gave me a copy of a book called the one pig with horns by Laurent De Brunhoff that we were really into as kids. I had utterly forgotten about it. I was also a serious Richard Scarry and Ed Emberly fan.

Nice photo show! I'll imitate you at my moms house this xmas.

Bubbie said...

I always loved Lyle Lyle Crocodile and Flat Stanley by jeff brown was a big Favorite of mine too. Richard Scary's books were like maps. the text in the charles shultz book is amazing!

califoren said...

OMG

I still have your present. You're going to FREAK.

Yay

honeyo said...

heyyyy! first off, your skateboard is at rad summer reppin hard. secondly and i feel bad about this one now...i saw a velvet painting of lucy today at a goodwill. if i only knew! ahh well

Jake Troth said...

you should write/illustrate a book that is "Rad is a gnarly skate spot"