Worth at least 10,000 words

o7”Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,

There’s always Pooh and me.

Whatever I do, he wants to do,

‘Where are you going today?’ says Pooh:

‘Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too.

Let’s go together,’ says Pooh, says he.

‘Let’s go together,’ says Pooh.”

f7

Pooh, of course, is Winnie the Pooh and the person Pooh is always

with is Christopher Robin. It is hard to imagine anyone in the world

who doesn’t know Pooh and Tigger and Eeyore and Roo, or who has not

gone to Buckingham Palace with Alice.

A.A. Milne’s classic books, “Winnie the Pooh,” “The House at Pooh

Corner,” and the poetry collections, “When We Were Very Young” and

“Now We Are Six” have been a part of our culture for generations.

Despite the wonderful Disney cartoons, most of us remember the

characters in the form of the charming black-and-white drawings (or

“decorations,” as they are called in the original books) by Ernest H.

Shepard.

Is this making you wax nostalgic? Think of P.L Travers’ “Mary

Poppins,” and if you can get Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke out of

your mind, you’ll visualize the wonderful original sketches by Mary

Shepard. And, yes, she was Ernest Shepard’s daughter.

The art of book illustration is often overlooked or undervalued,

but if you read books as a child, it is impossible to separate the

book from its pictures. “Alice in Wonderland” drawn by Sir John

Tenniel, “Peter Rabbit” with Beatrix Potter’s watercolors, “Treasure

Island” painted by N.C. Wyeth -- the patriarch of the artistic family

-- and Maurice Sendak’s wild things in “Where the Wild Things Are”

are all examples of the power of illustration.

It’s a sure bet, though, that very few people can conjure up the

images of the first illustrated children’s books. Comenius’ “Orbis

Pictus” was a primer written in Latin in about 1657 and contained

woodblock drawings. In the East, there is the 12th century “Scroll of

Animals” illustrated with sketches by Japanese artist Toba Soja. In

1765, John Newbery included woodcuts in “The Renowned History of

Little Goody Two Shoes,” and Randolph Caldecott’s nursery rhyme

picture books set the modern standard for book illustration. In fact,

it is no coincidence that the two biggest awards for children’s

literature are the Caldecott and the Newbery awards.

Now, this may seem like a strange topic for a column about the

library. But a recent stroll through the children’s room in search of

a book with beautiful photographs for an adult request became a trip

down memory lane, as it were. Arthur Rackham’s colorful illustrations

for “Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens” and Howard Pyles’ vivid

woodcuts for “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in

Nottinghamshire” came flooding back in a wave of nostalgia (or maybe

mid-life crisis.)

However, it was a very pleasant and happy trip and one highly

recommended for the jaded or those worn out with modern cares. And,

of course, if you have a young child or a grandchild or a niece or a

nephew in the family, it is virtually one’s duty to see that they too

share in this rich cultural heritage.

It’s also a lot of fun to re-read E.B. White’s “Stuart Little” and

“Charlotte’s Web” and the beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little

House on the Prairie,” all brought to visual life by Garth Williams.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Sara Barnicle. All titles may be

reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at

o7https://www.newport beachlibrary.orgf7. For more information on

the Central Library or any of the branches, please contact the

Newport Beach Public Library at (949) 717-3800, option 2.