Kathleen Lines (1902–1988)

A stunningly beautiful picture-book Nativity Story, Once In Royal David's City pairs a simple text from author Kathleen Lines, adapted from the account of Jesus' birth found in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, with gorgeous illustrations from Harold Jones. Each two-page spread contains a few sentences of the tale, together with a depiction of the events being described. The artwork alternates between full color and black and white spreads, and the full Biblical text from which the story show more comes is given at the rear of the book.

Highly recommended by a goodreads friend - thank you, Hilary! - Once in Royal David's City gave me a bit of trouble, in tracking it down, as the library's research copy (the book was published in 1956, and no longer circulates) was missing. Fortunately, they own another copy, and I was able to request that one. How glad I am that this is so, for this is a book well worth the effort of finding, with a lovely retelling of the Nativity Story, and beautiful illustrations. I loved everything about the book, from the text to the visuals, the front cover to the way it was all laid out. I found the black and white spreads just as lovely as the color ones, sometimes even preferring them, and came away with a great appreciation for Jones' artistry. This is my first title from him, but I certainly hope it will not be the last. Here is one of my favorite scenes from the book, in which an angel visits Joseph, to warn him of King Herod's evil plans:



In sum: a lovely, lovely book, one I am glad to have read, and which I highly recommend, to anyone in the market for Nativity Stories for the picture-book set, and to anyone who appreciates beautiful picture-book illustration. show less

What fun to read the nursery rhymes in Lavender's Blue! At 170 pages with often more than one rhyme per page, Lavender's Blue is chock full of them. Kathleen Lines did a marvelous job compiling so many old rhymes, and the illustrator, Harold Jones, created pictures for each using a mix of color and black and white drawings to accompany them.

There are some rhymes in here that I don't remember ever seeing in a book before, but that I learned from my mom, specifically this one which also is a show more face game:

Here sits the Lord Mayor,
Here sit his men,
Here sits the cock,
Here sits the hen,
Here sit the little chickens, (although Mom says "chicks")
Here they run in,
Chinchopper, chinchopper, chinchopper, chin.

The instructions on how to do the motions for this and some other hand and finger games for a few of the rhymes are even included in the back of the book. I certainly enjoyed reading this book and only wish I had had it when my children were preschool age so that I could have taught them more rhymes. show less

This facsimile edition of the classic nursery rhyme book Lavender's Blue is excellently illustrated and perfect for introducing children to classic English nursery rhymes. I mostly read this book out loud to my wife while she was sewing. I was impressed with Oxford Press' attention to illustration detail. I was also a bit shocked at how gruesome some of these nursery rhymes were. There are lots of beheadings, chopping off of limbs, child deaths, and a penchant for cruelty to cats. Perhaps it show more signifies how much closer to death and disfigurement the old world used to be when it came up with all these little couplets and quatrains to help teach children how to count, read, and rhyme. You can certainly tell that cats had a rough go of it back in the day. If you don't enjoy reading the word "pussy' over and over again than you'd better steer clear of pages 102-122.
Regardless, all the classics are in here: Humpty Dumpty, Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater, Three Blind Mice, There was an Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe, ect.. And many less well known rhymes too which I had never heard before. There are even some riddle rhymes which the reader can guess the answer to by deciphering the illustrations on the page. Overall, a nice addition to our slowly growing children’s and young adult section of the Hahn family library. show less

A beautiful book with hand-drawn illustrations. It has big fonts which makes it easy for children to read. I bought it because of its Old World charm.