1 post tagged “children's book”
Books: Show us a great children's book.
Not only will I show you a great children's book. I will show you THE BEST children's book:
Alexander and the Car with the Missing Headlight
by Peter Fleischmann and Morton Schindel
Illustrated by children of ParisFeaturing stills from a stop-motion animated story written and illustrated by children of Paris, 1966.
The imagination and creativity is unlike anything I've ever seen published since. Even more fascinating is that it was created as an animated film project which appears to be lost in time. I have searched for years and have yet to find it.
This was the very first book I ever checked out of the school library when I was in kindergarten. My mom, who volunteered in the school library, saved the little card after it was filled up. I signed my name on 11 of the 16 lines on that library card.
Alexander hears a crash outside his window. A little car has crashed into a tree and broke one headlight. Fearing the sad little car would be junked, he starts it and rescues it from the scrap heap, only to be chased by a huge dog through the streets of Paris and into the country.
He meets a woodpecker, who was crying because there were no more trees to peck. He takes the woodpecker to a jungle where there are lots of trees to peck. They cross the sea on the back of a whale (for a piece of bread) and rescue a little elephant in the process. The little elephant pushed them up a steep mountain and they arrived at a palace where they met a beautiful African princess.
Alexander and the little car did high wire tricks for the princess. The wire broke and so did the remaining headlight. When he asked the princess for a light bulb, she said, "..we only have stars." So the woodpecker flew the car up where Alexander could retrieve a star to install for a headlights.
The elephant stayed in Africa and the woodpecker flew Alexander and the car back to Paris, where the hue dog was waiting for them. They eluded the dog for a long time, but the little car got tired. They covered the car with the web of a giant spider so the dog wouldn't see them. The dog left and they snuck silently home.
he bid the woodpecker goodbye and promised to visit him in the jungle, since, now he has a car. The End.
The imagination and creativity of these little children in 1966 is unlike anything I've ever seen published since. Even more fascinating is that it was created as an animated film project which appears to be lost in time. I have searched for years and have yet to find it.
My wife found this outstanding first edition for my birthday two years ago. Best present, ever.
Runner-Up:
The Orphans of Normandy: A True Story of World War II Told Through Drawings by Children, by Nancy Amis.
In the summer of 1944, a hundred girls left their orphanage near Caen to escape the danger of the Allied invasion. Wearing red, white and blue dresses and carrying white flags, they walked a hundred and fifty miles to safety, passing German tanks in flames and avoiding American bombers. An amazing story, illustrated with heart-warming drawings by girls in the La Maison du Clos orphanage.
This is the most touching children's book I have ever read. The practical, yet oddly idyllic life of this orphanage is contrasted by fears of war and fortitude of the human spirit. I am profoundly moved every time I read it. It makes me want to bash every slick Art Center grad who sells thousands of books about obscenely bratty, nose-picking kids and farting dogs.
Second Runner-Up:
Mike and the Modelmakers, by Miroslav Sasek
In his inimitable illustrative style, Sasek takes us on a tour of the Lesney factory in England, where Matchbox® cars are made. With painstaking detail, he shows the entire process from measuring, scaling, modeling, casting, assembling and packaging.
Yet another first edition acquired for me by my incredibly resourceful wife.
