Gyo Fujikawa: Four Books

A to Z Picture Book (2010)
Fairy Tales and Fables (2008)
Mother Goose (2007)
Oh, What a Busy Day (2010)
Gyo Fujikawa
Sterling


Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! I love it when publishers re-release books like these. Fujikawa first published these books in the 1970s, and I grew up absorbing them and poring over the intricate illustrations just like many others kids of my day. Guess what?! Kids STILL enjoy poring over them and absorbing them. We saw two of these (nice, hardback) at Barnes and Noble the other night  and snatched them up for a very reasonable price.


Fujikawa mixes color spreads with black-and-white (very common back and then), but her illustrations are still appealing. Her strengths include filling her pages with cavorting young children with a nice multicultural representation (especially given the time period in which she was published). There is always a lot happening and much to take in, but these illustrations remain restful at the same time. Her Mother Goose book contains many rhymes; her fairy tales book contains the best loved and most familiar and well as a nice global sampling of ones not quite so familiar. Oh, What a Busy Day goes through the adventures of a group of children through a busy day, and the ABC book covers a host of activities and objects and events which correspond to the appropriate letter. (Concerned parents may wish to know that there is a big two page spread for Halloween in the ABC Book.)


I've found these at my public library recently (as well as finding them at Barnes and Noble). Look for them if you have young children in the house!

Cover images from goodreads