The Book Basket's Author Feature: Brian Wildsmith
Good books to share in May
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I first got to know Brian Wildsmith’s books when I was a classroom teacher. His detailed, colorful illustrations caught my eye immediately. Wildsmith was a British illustrator (and sometimes author) who spent his life illustrating a total of eighty-two books over the course of forty-five years.
You’ll find a few religious titles below (which is how I became familiar with his work), and I included some nature titles as well. I’d commend Wildsmith’s website to you for further exploration.
Children are all-important, and so is art ... Art is food for the soul. And books are a child's first encounter with art so I felt it was a way I could make a contribution to the world. A drop in the ocean maybe, but picture books offered a chance to communicate the importance of things such as kindness, compassion, friendship and beauty.
Wildsmith mostly worked for Oxford University Press during his career, including a series of classic fables. If you’re introducing your kids to fables, these might be a nice companion to a classic Aesop’s fable collection. Wildsmith even has a collection of his own (out of print, but still around!). Here are two to sample:
The Lion and the Rat: the classic story of the rat who is spared by the King of the Jungle and repays him later on.
The North Wind and the Sun: “So the Sun was able to achieve by warmth and gentleness what the North Wind in all his strength and fury could not do.” A lesson on kindness.
The Little Wood Duck: a story about how a little duckling with an abnormality (one foot is larger than the other) ends up saving his siblings. I love the illustrations in this one.
Jungle Party: Python throws a party, and the rest of the animals do tricks. They eventually learn to never trust an invitation from a python.
Saint Francis: This large-scale picture book tells the story of St. Francis of Assisi, from his calling to his death.
The Easter Story: This follows Jesus from Palm Sunday all the way through to the ascension. Following Jesus along the way is a tiny donkey, observing all that happens.
Jesus: This one is similar to The Easter Story, but instead it runs from Jesus’ birth to Pentecost. The illustrations are extensive in this one. It covers a lot of ground!
A note on purchase links: I’m a happy supporter of independent bookshops, so the links I provide will almost always go to my affiliate link at bookshop.org. For my local readers, I heartily recommend you buy them through our favorite, Goldberry Books, but you might have a shop closer to you. Of course, you can always find these selections on That Big Website That Ships Quickly, But Not As Quickly as It Used To, and Remember How They Sucked Us All In By Being a Bookstore to Begin With? I’m also a big fan of saving money and patronizing your local library. Happy reading!
I love your book lists!