Mother Goose - pictures by Gyo Fujikawa

I've been thinking a lot about what illustrations have meant to me over the years. The first picture is a scan of my "Mother Goose" book. It's a big one - about 9 1/4" x 12" and the copyright 1968, which is when I was four years old, and a very influential age.

I have always loved to look at these illustrations, and shared them with my son when he was young, too.

Please excuse the yellowing around the edges, after all it is 45 years old. Haha!

The second and third pictures are of some of the full color illustrations found in the book. It is set up with 2 facing pages being black & white, and then the next 2 facing pages being in color.

I like the way that not every page is set up the same way. Notice the second picture is just very sporadic while the third picture is much more grid-like in layout.

I also like, on the color images, the way the lines aren't "harsh" looking. It doesn't look like someone simply colored in a coloring book page like some children's illustrations do.

In the fourth picture you'll see some of her black and white illustrations. These, although not in color, still have a great deal of detail. Just look at the basket of flowers and you'll see what I'm talking about. 

I'm not the only one that appreciates this book, I'm including a link to "Book of the Week" which will show you more.