This week Janet shares some of her favourite recent releases and also
treats us with a glimpse of her personal book collection of Noah’s Ark
Books – Wow! What an amazing array of beautiful and historic books she
has gathered together.
I have some
reviews and then a few books from one of my collections. Who doesn’t know the
feeling that grips you when you see the right book? Not “I want”, but “I must have”. That’s how collecting is – a
visceral need to own that book. Not to complete the collection – it’s never
complete – but to join the other books that have chosen to come home with you.
Reviews
Bear and Wolf, Daniel Salmieri, Enchanted Lion Books, 9781592702381, $30
This gentle
lyrical picture book has soft illustrations in shades of rose, white and violet
which imbue the whole with a sense of peace. We’re shown the quiet progress of
a walk in friendship through the winter landscape, then the re-awakening of the
pleasure of that friendship against the resurgence of life in spring. A
beautiful book to treasure and share.
All ages.
All ages.
Malamander, Thomas Taylor, Walker Books, 9781406389920, $17.99, May
“My name ‘s
Herbert Lemon by the way. But most people call me Herbie. I’m the
Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, as you can see by my cap.“ Thus
begins a chilling, mysterious adventure in Eerie –On –Sea. Missing parents,
courageous children, the frightening Boathook Man, and a terrifying sea
monster, the malamander – all the elements needed for a satisfyingly scary
novelAges 9+
How it Feels to
Float, Helena Fox,
Pan Macmillan Australia, 9781760783303, $17.99, May
This is a
moving story of a teenager grappling with mental illness; Biz’s dad is with
her, telling her things about her past – but he is dead, no-one else can see
him, and she can’t tell anyone else her dark thoughts. She drops out of school,
and is almost ready to float away herself, but the anchor of friends and family
draw her back. This debut novel is
moving and sad, yet also life-affirming.Ages 14+
A Velocity of
Being: Letters to a Young Reader,
edited Maria Popova and Claudia Bedrick, Enchanted Lion Books, 9781592702282,
$45
Including
such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Alain de Botton, Jane Goodall and Ursula Le
Guin, this will to add depth to any school library - to dip into at class
reading time, to browse through by yourself in a quiet moment. There are 256
entries from scientists, artists, philosophers, reflecting on the joy of
reading and what it means to them, each with a facing illustration by a different
artist - including William Grill, Sean
Tan, Mo Willems and Jon Klassen – that illuminate and add resonance the text.All ages
Janet’s Noah’s Ark Collection
I love and
collect picture books, but it wasn’t until I had a Noah’s Ark book that I began
to consider the joy of having many books on one subject - the diversity of
illustrations brings such pleasure, and a sense of wonder that one idea can be
presented in so many different ways, as this epic story has been for hundreds of years.
The first one
I acquired was The Ark Book, Freda Derrick, 1920. I saw in it a secondhand
shop in Cecil Court, London, and immediately needed it. But it was expensive,
we were trying to stay within our holiday budget, and I resisted. Fast forward
to 25th December, and there it was in my Christmas stocking. The beginning!
This is a wonderful and amusing telling of the story; illustrations are naively
charming, in bright colours, with some hilarious conversation bubbles from the
animals. A highlight is the page showing the animals with Noah and family as
they “jazzed up and down the Ark” to celebrate the rain stopping. “And if you
don’t know what “Jazzing” is, ask anyone who remembers Armistice Night.”
Noah’s Ark, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015
This
beautiful version, true to biblical language, has full page illustrations from,
amongst others, a seventeenth century bible, an English tapestry, Courbet and
Chagall. Sumptuous and splendid, irresistible.
The last pages have information on each illustration, and you can be
delighted anew at the variety of styles that depict one story.
Noah And The
Ark, Harold
Jones and Kathleen Lines, 1961 is, by contrast, a quieter presentation, with blue washed
illustrations reminiscent of Edward Ardizzone’s. It’s told in simple language,
every page has a picture that is a pleasing addition to the text, with the
cheerful, often smiling animals adding a touch of whimsy.
Noah’s Ark, Reinhard Herrmann illustrator, 1959This has the traditional
text. Herrmann’s distinctive use of flat
bright colours will please those of us who enjoy a nostalgic look at picture
books of the 1950s.
L’Arca di Noe, Andre Helle, this edition 1991.
Originally
published in French in 1925, I acquired
this reprint in Italy. It’s a large hardback, but I had to make room in the
suitcase for such a find. Illustrated in art deco style, in colour,
and with other black text pictures, it has information about the animals – both familiar and exotic - written by Helle – that renders them alive
and loveable.
The Puffin
Noah’s Ark, John
Miles, 1958
I don’t own
this, but I really need it. Please help! Actually I need two copies – one for
the Noah’s Ark collection, another to add to my set of old Picture Puffins –
but that’s another story…
Janet
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