Brian Wildsmith (1930–2016)

Unfortunately, my copy is smelling a bit musty. It's what you might have to put up with when you buy a book at the Saturday market for a few dollars. But the illustrations are still brilliant. Story? There is no story: "A walk of snipe"; "A wedge of swans"; "A fall of woodcock" and so on. Did he just make these names up or are they real names for numbers of things. Why does English have these strange collective nouns for animals? I just checked out a couple of these and they all seem to be show more legitimate. Wildsmith's style is deceptively erratic. At first glance like a child's scribbles but what an explosion of controlled colour> I constantly find myself asking: "How did he do this?" seems to be a wonderful melange of watercolour, gouche, crayon, spatter, sgraffito....and is there some work there with pen and ink? Not sure.
I recently wrote to the web site devoted to his work and received a delightful letter from his daughter who confirmed that they had no videos of him working ...so pretty difficult to decipher how he actually worked. But the end result is truly a marvel. The siege of bitterns with their beaks pointing up amid a few rough reeds seems to capture the essence of the birds...the colour, the pose, the beady eyes.
He specialised in birds and seems to have been able to effortlessly produce a bird of whatever shape......though I recall him saying somewhere that this effortlessness came of much practice. In his latter years he was apparently annoyed that he hadn't been given the recognition in England that he thought was warranted. (There was museum in Japan devoted to his work and that's where i first came across his work and later sought it out), Sadly, I no longer find his work in print. Maybe by taking himself and family off to France he removed himself from the hurly burly of art and publishing in England and somewhat removed himself from view. But it also attests to the fact that to be successful in Art one needs to also be a great publicist (or have one woking for you). Picasso said the key to success is in having a great agent.
Anyway, despite the lack of recognition....it takes nothing away from the power of the art itself. It's ostensibly directed at children but for me this is art for all ages. Love it. Five stars from me...even if my copy is musty. show less

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley.)

-- 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 where necessary --

A hunter trains his new pup to retrieve sticks and gently carry eggs in his mouth. Once he's mastered these skills, his human takes him duck hunting. Rather than deliver the injured birds to certain death, the dog hides them on a nearby island and brings his human a stick instead (just like he was trained! cue: malicious compliance). The pup cleans the birds' wounds and show more brings them food stolen from his human's kitchen under the cover of night. When his human catches him in the act, the hunter is immediately shamed by his own behavior. The human gathers all the ducks and brings them home. He nurses them back to health and sets them free once they've recovered.

HUNTER AND HIS DOG is a deceptively simple children's book that fosters compassion and empathy while countering speciesism. The art is a little quirky (the hunter more resembles a clown than anything else lol) but charming nonetheless, especially when it comes to the nonhuman animals.

The only reason it didn't give it a full five stars is because of Dog's origin: he was a purchase, not a rescue and, while it's certainly in keeping with the hunter's pre-enlightenment character, it would have been nice to have seen this practice challenged as well. (Adopt, don't shop!) show less

• I’m not quite sure how to feel about this book. In it a man adopts a puppy and teaches it to carry eggs in his mouth as well as fetch sticks. He’s trying to be hunting dog. On the first hunting trip when the hunter shoots a duck, and the dog retrieves it the dog takes it to an island, and brings back a stick. Every time the hunter and the dog go out the dog does this. He has an island of her ducks. The Hunter finds out and feels shame, so they nurse the ducks back together until he show more can release them healthy. Before I go farther, I should say the artist is amazing. It’s unusual. It’s unique and its quality perfectly sums up the discombobulated feeling left by the words of the book. It’s nice that the hunter nurses these birds back to health, but it’s horrible that he shot them to begin with. I have a problem with guns in picture books for kids. Hunting is a legitimate activity, and I understand that. But when animals are so often used to fableize humans, I would hate to think any little kids might get the idea to shoot someone and an adult can make it better. The US has a problem with guns. That is 100% the reason for my discombobulated feelings and I don’t care if hunting is legitimate sports, I do not think guns of any type should be in a picture book. show less

Celebrated British children's author and artist Brian Wildsmith turns to the Easter story in this gorgeous picture-book, telling the tale of Easter Week from the perspective of the donkey which bears Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus' actions at the Temple, his Last Supper with the disciples, his betrayal by Judas and trial before Pontius Pilate, all these are covered, as are his Crucifixion, Resurrection and eventual Ascension...

I had hoped to get to The Easter Story before the show more recent holiday, but my library request for this and a few other titles was delayed, and I read it a few days after Easter. It scarcely matters, I suppose, as I think I would have enjoyed it, no matter the time of year. From a visual perspective, I found it an astonishingly beautiful book - the art is simply breathtaking, with vivid colors, brilliant use of gold tones and accents, and wonderfully stylized scenes. I loved pretty much everything about these paintings, from the angels to the landscape depictions of Jerusalem. If judged upon artwork alone, this would easily be a five-star title for me. Unfortunately, I found the narrative a little less appealing. Although I understand the choice to tell this story from the donkey's perspective, as a means of adding child appeal, I don't think it really works here. I recently read two different picture-books about Palm Sunday, specifically - Marni McGee's The Colt and the King and Michelle Medlock Adams's Little Colt's Palm Sunday - in which the story was told from the asinine perspective. It worked in those books, because the donkey does play a central role in Palm Sunday. But here, the presence of the donkey in various scenes - peering in the window at the Last Supper, observing the trial - strained my suspension of disbelief, and made me wish that Wildsmith had chosen a different focus for his retelling. I still would recommend this one, for those seeking children's retellings of the Easter story, but I recommend it more for the artwork and the general story, than for the specific storytelling focus. show less