Mr. Salteena's Plan (The Young Visiters)

Here is a Valentine's gift for everyone: The Young Visiters or Mr. Salteena's Plan by Daisy Ashford. You can read this delightful book online at google books.

This is the story of a love triangle between Mr. Alfred Salteena, "an elderly man of 42" with "a small portion" of noble blood flowing in his veins, and his young visiters [sic], Miss Ethel Monticue and Bernard Clarke.



It was written by Daisy Ashford, aged about 9, in 1890. It is transcribed from her exercise books, with spelling and grammar intact (hence the title spelling).



It is full of odd twists of language and beautiful details. Mr. Salteena, very old and unloved by Ethel, comforts himself while "imbibing his tea beneath a pink silken quilt". Cows "flash past the windows" of the train as it speeds through the country. There is also this stirring passage (with spelling intact from the original) which is both tender and very funny:



They arrived at Windsor very hot from the jorney and Bernard at once hired a boat to row his beloved up the river. Ethel could not row but she much enjoyed seeing the tough sunburnt arms of Bernard tugging at the oars as she lay among the rich cushons of the dainty boat. She had a rather lazy nature but Bernard did not know of this. However he soon got dog tired and suggested lunch by the mossy bank.
Oh yes said Ethel quickly opening the sparkling champagne.
Don't spill any cried Bernard as he carved some chicken.
They eat and drank deeply of the charming viands ending up with merangs and chocolates.
Let us now bask under the spreading trees said Bernard in a passiunate tone.
Oh yes lets said Ethel and she opened her dainty parasol and sank down upon the long green grass. She closed her eyes but she was far from asleep. Bernard sat beside her in profound silence gazing at her pink face and long wavy eyelashes.

Really, this book cannot be recommended highly enough. The preface, by J.M. Barrie (of Peter Pan) is also pretty great.


Happy Valentine's Day!

Mouse

Mouse
Little Mouse in gray velvet,
Have you had a cheese-breakfast?
There are no crumbs on your coat,
Did you use a napkin?
I wonder what you had to eat,
And who dresses you in gray velvet?
—Hilda Conkling
Poems by a Little Girl, 1920

Other books by Hilda Conkling:
Shoes of the Wind, 1922
Silverhorn, 1924
Silver Pennies (Anthology), 1925
Sing a Song of Popcorn (Anthology), 1988

(Mouse knit from a pattern by Ysolda Teague.)

Owls See Clearly at Night | Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer

This past Saturday Simply Read Books launched Owls See Clearly at Night at Collage Collage. Owls See Clearly is an introduction to Michif, the language of the Métis people. Michif is a combination of Cree and French and used to be a common language in the Prairies, but is now disappearing. This book is a resource to help preserve Michif and it is also beautifully illustrated and carefully conceived by Julie Flett.




If you would like to know more about Michif, here are some resources from the book (click on the image to enlarge), including the online Métis Museum, which contains educational resources, stories and more.


This book was designed by hundreds & thousands, which is my design studio. It is typeset in Electra and Syntax. The book proportion is 1:1.1 and was derived from a 4-column grid in Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typography (incidentally and randomly, the grid is patterned off an ancient Egyptian text—it was an almost perfect fit with the material). The paper is a really beautiful off-white which was recycled. It printed beautifully. It's really great to see how well recycled papers are performing these days. A few years ago there weren't many to choose from.

Swallows & Amazons

Update: Recently Ransome fans raised enough money to buy the original Swallows boat from the 1974 film on auction. True to the spirit of the books, they would like to keep the boat on the water rather than in a museum. If you would like to sail in the dinghy (pictured here), you can make a donation to the Nancy Blackett trust. Find out more here.



Swallows & Amazons is a series of books written and illustrated by Arthur Ransome. It is a very famous series in the UK, but is much less well-known in North America. Arthur Ransome was a journalist and after the first World War, he became a spy for the British government. He led a quite fascinating life.



In 1929, he stopped writing for the Manchester Guardian and began writing children's books. He wrote the Swallows & Amazons series between 1930 and 1945. They are based on his childhood holidays at Nibthwaite. In the author's preface, of 1958 he writes:

"I have often been asked how I came to write Swallows and Amazons. The answer is that it had its beginning long, long ago when, as children, my brother, my sisters and I spent most of our holidays on a farm at the south end of Coniston. We adored the place. Coming to it we used to run down to the lake, dip our hands in and wish, as if we had seen the new moon. Going away from it, we were half-drowned in tears. While away from it, as children and as grown-ups, we dreamt about it. No matter where I was, wondering about the world, I used at night to look for the North Star and, in my minds eye, could see the beloved skyline of great hills beneath it. Swallows and Amazons grew out of those old memories. I could not help writing it. It almost wrote itself. "

The books are mainly about two families of children who love to sail, fish and camp. Sailors John, Susan, Roger and Titty (it's short for Laeticia) Walker are the Swallows and pirates Nancy and Peggy Blackett are the Amazons. Each family has a beautiful little boat, and they are free to go on short adventures, so long as their parents know where they are. As they go, they imagine even greater adventures, such as traveling to the North Pole, or going on a mining expedition.



The best thing about these stories is that so much of what the children do is real. In Pigeon Post, for example, they imagine that they are exploring for gold in South America. But as they do, they really do pan, test minerals for gold content, and find a spring with a divining rod (as there is a drought) and use carrier pigeons to send messages.





Another fantastic thing about the books is the language. Throughout the book are dromedaries, supplies of pemmican, knickerbockerbreakers, butter-brained galoots and fox moth caterpillars. In Pigeon Post the children have a rival, who they believe is also prospecting for gold. They don't know his real name, so they call him Squashy Hat. That is an excellent name for a nemesis. The books themselves have beautiful titles: Peter Duck, Coot Club, We Didn't Mean to go to Sea, Pigeon Post, The Picts and the Martys.

Finally, the illustrations, which are done by Ransome himself (after he was disappointed by professional work). They are quite cool, because they are both quite technical and very sketch-y. Many of them look almost as if they were drawn on scrap paper.

The books have been adapted for film and for television, as well. But the books are best. Perfect for reading by the campfire.

How to draw using simple shapes

Are you familiar with Ed Emberley? He has written almost 80 books for children and is a Caldecott award winner. In many of his books, he teaches drawing with very simple shapes and lines, and shows you how to combine these same shapes and lines to create a princess or a dragon or mouse. He is fantastic.

It looks like he is currently updating his web site, and it has activities. Here is an excerpt from his biography (on his web site):

"I am an old grandpa kind of guy." So simple, so nice!




Here are two books we have at home, Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Faces from 1975 and Make a World from 1972.



The layout of the books is very simple: long strips of step-by-step instructions. We wanted to post a couple of details, and the long shape doesn't fit the screen very well, so (with apologies to Mr, Emberley) we are stacking instructions for an admiral, a helicopter and a blimp.





Look for Ed Emberley in your local library or bookshop (we especially recommend the Great Thumbprint Drawing Book). Soon you will be doodling Viking ships, windmills and igloos!

A Gift from the Lonely Doll

Dare Wright was a model and later a photographer for magazines, including Good Housekeeping and Vogue. She was raised by her mother, who was quite a successful portrait painter.

In the late 50s she released her first children's book The Lonely Doll, about a doll who is adopted by a family of bears and the adventures they have together. The series were very successful, appearing on the New York Times bestseller list. However, they later faded away and for a long time they were out of print. Over the past few years her books have been reissued (you can see her official web site for more information, linked at the end of this post).

In total, Dare Wright released 18 children's books, not all about the Lonely Doll. Sometimes she used herself as a model, and these images of her are a bit reminiscent of Cindy Sherman's earlier work (although this was before Cindy Sherman's career had begun). Her shots are elaborate and carefully staged.

The Lonely Doll books are illustrated with photographic tableaux, which was a very unusual style at the time and seemed to make a very strong impression on the children who read them. Adult fans who grew up with her are quite fierce in their devotion. Seeing images of a world where dolls were alive, and seeing the realized work of an adult who enjoyed playing with dolls, too, made a very strong impression on them.






Neither of us had Dare Wright books as children. However, it's really interesting for us to see the pioneering work of someone who photo-illustrates, as we do.

A Gift from the Lonely Doll was actually a gift to us from our publisher, Dimiter Savoff. It is set at Christmas. Edith, the doll, wants to surprise Mr. Bear with a muffler. She knits it in secret, always keeping it mostly hidden in her knitting basket. As a result she cannot see how long the muffler is growing....


Recently, a biography about the life of Dare Wright was released, so there is quite a bit of information online about her now. Unfortunately, her life was quite troubled and it would be a good idea for parents to accompany their children on google while finding out more about her. Her official web site seems fairly child-friendly as of this posting. If you would like to see more of her books back in print, you can join her estate's campaign. Dare Wright also has a facebook page, which has some really great images and illustrations from the books.

This is slightly off-topic, but one interesting thing about Dare Wright: her brother invented a very successful fishing lure and retired on an island at a young age. Later, he felt badly for all the fish that had been caught with his lure, so he took out an advertisement against his lure, the "Phoebe". (Unfortunately, this only increased sales.)

The most recent release, Make Me Real, from the 1970s, seems appealing. Maybe we will hunt it and give a follow-up review.

Cherche la petite bête

Cherche la petite bête (literally "look for the little beast", but also an expression like "nit-picking") is a beautiful book from the naïve imprint by Delphine Chedru. Each page has a pattern with a hidden little beast. Pictured here: a peacock, a papa sea urchin (his son is so tiny he doesn't show up in the image here) and a pair of soccer-playing earthworms.

This book is for children 3 and up. It's a nice way to practice French at home. The French is quite simple, although there is a little word play throughout the book.

There is a translation available, called Spot it!. If you're outside of France (and Quebec), you can find a French copy at smallable. Their description of the book is quite fantastic: She creates an interplay of illusions that stimulates young readers, almost like a highly amusing game of hide-and-seek. And the game can go on forever, thanks to a spectacular finale... Hmmm, is this copywriter available?

Naïve, a new favourite imprint! Their books are beautifully designed. We will profile another of their books soon. (They also release music, including CDs by Carla Bruni.)