Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Illustration Friday: Obsession

Prismacolor pencils on Strathmore Bristol Vellum

My obsession? That's easy: books. I love books and everything connected with them: book blogs, bookstores, used book sales, libraries...especially libraries. Aren't they still the best deal going?  When I was growing up, my mom didn't drive, but we lived a few blocks from the Emerson Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library, my favorite place in the world. The librarians had these mesmerizing pencils that had a little rubber date stamp attached to the tip so that they could initial and date the checkout card with one efficient stroke; I thought they had the best job on earth. 

I loved the quiet, the card catalogs, and that intoxicating smell...sort of musty, but sort of magical. And apparently, the addiction is genetic: When my daughter was small, as I was tucking her in one night, she opened her book and cooed, "I  love how books smell." Call me a sentimental fool, but it was one of my favorite parenting moments of all time.

As a kid, on a summer day, I'd take my library books home to the coolness of our screened-in porch where I would begin a little ritual that I still perform: I'd read the first paragraph of each book I'd checked out and one with the best paragraph would be the one I'd read first. To this day, if I pick up a book that doesn't have a great first paragraph, I rarely read any further.


The books I've drawn are my copies of favorites from that era of the visits to the Emerson library. T
op to bottom:


The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

A classic, of course: the size, the story, and those illustrations. Loved 'em then, love 'em now.

Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White, illustrations by Garth Williams

Easily my favorite book of all time, and some of my favorite illustrations as well. I'm thrilled that kids still read it in school; it has stood the test of time unbelievably well. I received this copy for Christmas when I was nine. I also got a little tape recorder, and I would sit and read Charlotte's Web into it and play it back to myself...such a book geek. Audio books, circa 1966.

Magic to Burn
by Jean Fritz
 

I loved this book and read it over and over after doing a book report on it in fourth grade. American kids find an elf while on vacation in England, and bring him home with them. Sadly, it's out of print now, but I found this copy on eBay several years ago.

On Cherry Street
- the reader we used in first grade. We didn't have Dick, Jane and Spot, we had Tom, Betty and Flip. Another eBay purchase.


Sugarplum
by Johanna Johnston

One of the books that we owned, and we must have read it a million times. This was our copy; I found an identical one online for my sisters birthday a few ago.

What were the books that were most important to you as a child?

NOTE: If  you're a book lover, I urge you to get your hands on a copy of Anna Quindlen's indescribably wonderful little book, How Reading Changed My Life...it will change yours.

36 comments:

  1. I work in a library, so I'm definitely loving your post this week! Fantastic!

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  2. Gorgeous! I had to look twice. At first I thought it was a photograph!

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  3. I saw the On Cherry Street first! Resisted buying it in a crowded shop halfway down the lake - price tag of $90 was just too steep for me, but I remember those stories - they began a love of reading for me that has never slowed. My favourite was the day Nan lost her pocket. Thanks for the great drawing, and a lovely memory nudge.

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  4. I spent every bit of my allowance on books from the age of ten and onwards (we didn't have access to a library back then). There was one store in the whole city that sold imported English books. After I had read and reread each to my heart's content, I taped numbers to their spines and made my eager brothers and sisters sign them out in a notebook attached to my bookcase. 20 house-moves and 40 tumultuous years later, I still have the Narnia series (CS Lewis) and The Land of Green Ginger (Noel Langley) with the numbers and yellowed tape still clinging to them.

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  5. Gosh, that comment from Debbie (above) is such a beautiful story. Thanks, everyone!

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  6. As a child, I loved The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde. Decades later, I found it in a sidewalk sale at a used book store for only ten cents. I will keep it forever. I like your blog.

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  7. Ditto to Jen's comment. I thought it was a photo but on closer inspection in so much better than a photo. . .you can feel the love of those books in your drawing :)

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  8. Good question. I love books, but I'm having trouble remembering the titles of my childhood favorites. I know one series I liked was Pippi Longstocking, but I can't remember the other titles. Charming sketch here as a sweet memory.

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  9. Wonderful illustration. This is so much better than a photograph. You have captured the quality of each of the books. Brilliant!

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  10. Beautiful illustration and I totally agree about books :)

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  11. Nice post and nice painting. I love the smell of books too. I love the feel of the paper in my hands. I'm afraid technology is going to take our books away, but until then I'm going to keep reading the old fashioned way!

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  12. What a lovely drawing & heartwarming entry! As you've probably deduced, I too have a book obsession-- not only with the words but with the type, paper, binding, & of course the art! I listen to audiobooks while I work, & even read digital books once in a while, but nothing can replace real books in my heart.

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  13. Wow... amazing illustration Sarah! Colors are beautiful and the story that goes with it is just pure joy to read. I remember those library cards and the stamping so well... I miss those cards where you searched (and searched) for a specific subjects. Of course computers are faster, but there was something "magic" as you said, about it all. Thanks for the travel-back-in-time!!

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  14. Have to agree with the others- at first look I thought it was a photograph! Gorgeous illo!

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  15. Your illustration is beautifully drawn and I like how you personalised using your childhood books. I grew up on Enid Blyton, I used to read them under the bedcovers with a torch!

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  16. So beautiful illustration... Just excellent :)

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  17. Lovely illustration! Is it using colour pencil? I'm also a book collector and keep having to buy more bookshelves as I can't part with the ever increasing collection!

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  18. Hhaha :) I been following you round the net for a few days and finally got here :) Oh a fellow addict. :) I have a massive library, hundreds of art books, it will be a shame when I die, I feel sorry for the books already, but maybe someone will love them like me.

    Great illustration - as usual :) Your eye is superb for detail and tone and draughtsman ship - you know how annoying that is :)

    Books for me when I was a kid were anything with greek mythology Theseus and Icarus and Daedelus, high on the list, I was weird, but I still fly too close to the sun :)

    see you!

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  19. Sarah, this is wonderful! Also love Grace's work...foster that young talent. Funny, I hated reading as a kid, just hated it, but I did go on to major in English lit. and fine arts in college. I was also the youngest and I think reading to me got lost a bit...despite my despising reading then, I do have many favorites, I think the book "He Was There From The Day We Moved In" by Rhoda Levine, illustrated by Edward Gorey, is one of my favorites. A favorite babysitter gave it to me and it's about an Old English Sheepdog whose at a house when a boy moves in...We had an OE Sheepdog named Albert until he bit me on the face and my parents had to give him to the mailman (really, the mailman loved him. That's what they still tell me anyway....) thanks for the memory! As always, you rock! And, nothing, ever will replace the book...never.

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  20. Wow Sarah!...This is perfect. This is my favorite illustration from you so far.... Amazing!

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  21. This is an amazing piece! There is so much power in the delicate detail.

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  22. Beautiful drawing and a great post. I love books (including the smell!) and, in primary school, a wonderful teacher used to read 'The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse' to us. I must re-read it one of these days.
    Sue

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  23. Beautiful illustration, love the soft colours and the flash of red and blue

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  24. Absolutely gorgeous drawing, Sarah...and I can completely relate to your love of books, and libraries in particular! Libraries were my sanctuary as a kid, books my refuge at home, and the BookMobile (remember them?) was my very *first* Santa, before the UPS Delivery Santa that brings my art supplies now. :-)

    I'm not a Mom, but your moment with the daughter who loves the smell of books really melted my heart!

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  25. Thanks, everyone. This one was really fun for me...I think there will be more "book portraits" to come!.

    I enjoyed reading your book memories; I have some new titles to investigate!

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  28. (belatedly looking in...)

    Gorgeous illo! Your pencil work continues to astound me... :) I was just in the library the other day, and was thinking about how much I missed looking through the old wooden card catalog drawers.

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  29. I thought these were a photo when I first saw them. I didn't leave a comment since I didn't have much to say about a book review. Wowsers! Second look made me realize they were drawn and then I read the little blue line under them. Great job!

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  30. Oh wow, I think we are related. I had to pass the library on the way home from school and stopped there every day. I literally read all the books in the children's section.
    Now I am an iPad reader and love having all my books on there.
    Love this post.

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  31. Oh, these are wonderful! I love that they are all so well 'loved' and worn. Charming.

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  32. First, this drawing is amazing! Perfect subject matter, and such a lovely composition and drawing. I also can relate to so many points in your post: the love of books, libraries, card catalogs, and Charlotte's Web. :) Beautiful!!

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  33. Wow what a great collection, you've got a great taste.

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  34. I just discovered your wonderful blog after you left a comment on mine (http://vinpauld.blogspot.com/2011/09/illustration-friday-boundaries.html). In your comment on my blog you mentioned the illustration I posted from "Read Me Another Story." The copy I scanned that illustration from is actually a library book that I checked out from our local library. I'm always checking out books from their children's classics section, primarily ones that are beautifully illustrated. By the way, your illustrations are beautiful!

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  35. This is so inspiring! Excellent illustration yet again. It's so realistic to me and it makes me want to improve my illustrations. I think this one is my favourite... Thank you for recommending a few new books to me :)

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