Category: Children’s Books

Here are more of these cute coloring book illustrations, including Japan and China for Lenny and Cynthia.  Other countries I have uploaded can be found in the “Children’s Books” category on the sidebar.  Click any image for slideshow.

Animal Friends Picture Book Merrill Publishing Co., 1939

Here is the next group of countries requested by readers.  Click any image for slideshow.

This is my most recent vintage coloring book, purchased on Etsy.  Several of the country names have changed since 1954, and Alaska and Hawaii would not be states until 1959, so they still had “other land” status. The activities of the children seem a little quaint, even for the 1950s, but the illustrations are so…

Art Deco illustrations are some of my favorites, and this old paint book is full of them.  It was published by Whitman, and although it is not dated, it’s pretty clear that these images are from the 1920s. I am going to be taking a blog break for the next few weeks, and plan to…

Here are the last two pages of my current favorite ABC book.  I’ve mentioned before how much I love the bold graphics in this book, but the unusual alphabet words are also pretty great.  To locate the other alphabet pages, click on the Children’s Books category on my sidebar.

There are only two pages left to clean up in this book.  It turns out that the child who received this cute book decided to color not only the outline pages, but several of the example pages as well, which I hadn’t noticed at first and which was annoying because the crayon has to be…

Here are the next three pages of this adorable Whitman children’s book.  I love the simple graphic shapes, and the bright primary colors.  The cover and previous 2 pages are located here. ABC Painting Reading Book Whitman Publishing, 1934

This image is not actually from a vintage children’s book, but I hope you don’t mind.  It was drawn by Beatrice Stevens, and published in the Milwaukee Sentinel in July, 1914.  The illustrations in the Sentinel are some of the best I’ve seen in old newspapers, there were tons of them, and they were large…

This is my new book, and I love it so much.  Each of the ABC pages has a companion outline page to paint, but they are all colored or painted and would be nearly impossible to clean up.  Fortunately, the example pages are in good shape. ABC Painting Reading Whitman Publishing, 1934

Here are more illustrations from one of my favorite old coloring books (earlier group here).  My favorite, the accordion, is for Gina. Click images to enlarge.

This cute coloring book was published by Watkins-Strathmore in 1961.   I’m pretty sure, although I can find no documentation, that this must be the same Lois Ehlert who illustrated many popular children’s books beginning in the 1980s, including Color Zoo (1989), a Caldecott Honor Book.  She would have been 27 in 1961, and it…

To celebrate June, here are the inside cover pages from one of my favorite illustrators, George Carlson, who was a regular contributor to the magazine, creating over 50 of its covers and most of the puzzles and games.

The Headstart Book of Knowing & Naming, 1976 Kent Salisbury, Illustrator