Serving Up Memories in BOARD BOOKS: Puddles and Beards!

When I read comments or challenges in social media calling for favorite books from childhood, I am reminded of the very limited fare of my own young life. The literary richness I experienced consisted of  endlessly repeated but always entertaining bedtime rereads by Mom or Dad. They were skilled at dramatically voicing one or more of the anthologized folk tales or fairy tales from a few partially illustrated collections that constituted our family library. That limited menu of choices included a few glossy versions of Disney movies (Cinderella, Snow White) and reading the "funny pages" in the daily and Sunday newspaper. Our school classrooms provided a nonexistent "library", and the nearest branch of our public library was multiple bus rides away. 

As a result, I seized on any chance to visit the library, and thought the very limited offerings in the children's section was a treasure trove in comparison to daily life. It is also the place in which I first concluded that books were written by old (dead) men. Among those, though, there were some gems. Edward Lear's BOOK OF NONSENSE limericks as well as THE JUMBLIES were all-time favorites, and I checked those out on alternate visits, year after year. Granted, the small branch library had few offerings, but even in the abundance of a book store I would have included Lear's NONSENSE in any wish list.

Creative Editions, March,2023

That's why I jumped at the chance to see how LEAR was being introduced to youngest of readers in a new BOARD BOOK offering from CREATIVE EDITIONS. This board book, NONSENSE, BOOK 1, offers a single limerick by Edward Lear, richly and delightfully illustrated by Swiss artist Etienne Delessert. 

Featuring what is perhaps Lear's best known limerick, THERE WAS AN OLD MAN WITH A BEARD, the few lines unfold with a visual narrative that turns nonsense into a heartfelt experience. The opening reveals an amiable, long-bearded man, clutching a feather, and closely observed by a lineup of vaguely familiar book characters on a background counter. Each page turn reveals the amazing qualities of that beard length, the owls, hen, larks, and wren who recognize a cozy home when they see it, and other fauna in the countryside who little eyes are sure to spot and celebrate during this simple outing. When the man returns home, with birds "at home" in his beard, the countertop "friends" join in the fun. All in all, there will be countless requests to "read it again. Those little two-to-three-year-old encore audiences will have memorized this clever poem years before I first discovered it!

As you might have imagined, the visual art plays a significant role in making this such a winner. The physical book itself is also a delight, with a small trim size to fit young hands, with a sturdy, hardbound spine and glossy pages that invite stroking and exploration while holding up well to such intimate and tactile "reading". I imagine that Lear would have been pleased with the production quality for this intended audience. The "BOOK 1" subtitle encourages me to hope that the publishers plan a series of these LEAR books. What a fine start to building any child's personal library!

Text aimed at adult readers on the  final page turn reveals information about Lear that was new to me. He was a gifted sketch artist/nature artist until he began losing his sight at an early age. The nonsense poems allowed him to simplify his drawings but he published them under a pen name, considering them less than literary or fine art. Actually his line art in those original books from my childhood was brilliant, IS still brilliant. It was nearly two decades after original publication when he finally used his own name on them and published more, including NONSENSE SONGS and other poems, including the OWL AND THE PUSSY-CAT.

Creative Editions, March, 2023

A more contemporary and familiar style board book is next in the line-up. PUDDLE SONG is written by Laura Purdie Salas  and illustrated by Monique Felix. One glance at that cover calls to mind the splish-splash nature of spring, especially in the midwest. These days, weather extremes offer rainy-day experiences across the country. Heavy rains may even be frightening to small ones. A book like this is exactly the joyful, glistening, imagination-sparking story that might restore impulsive puddle-jumping memories to childhood lives.

Salas is a brilliant wordsmith, rhymer, and image-evoker, whose lines in this short text assume the voice of the puddle. With a call out to those children,  to ALL children, to the child in all of us, puddle calls for boots, stompers, jumpers. Puddle celebrates the potential for dancing, floating, and sloshing in every creature, with a final spread that settles its 'silver skin" into ripples in a breeze. 

With no images at all, this short verse sings like the loveliest of lyrics, as the title suggests. When portrayed in subdued rainbow colors, from charming perspective shifts, and  with reflective light effectively transforming water into magic on every page, the text soars. Young readers will be begging for rain, and boots, and puddles, but will savor the vicarious experience in these pages when those are not on hand.

Several recent reviews and interviews here have emphasized that picture books have important ideas to share with audiences of many ages, including adults. When it comes to board books, adult pleasure is often a by-product of the delight of the child rather than from the materials in the book itself, due to the simplicity that board books generally invite in topic and theme. In the case of these two books, I'm convinced that even adult readers who share them will delight in the joy and grace of the art and text. Take a look and see what you think. 

Copies of both board books were provided by CREATIVE EDITIONS with no promise of a review.