Sunday, May 30, 2010

31st May Elizabeth Coatsworth (1893 - 1986) Tohby Riddle (1965) Will Hillenbrand (1960)










Busy day with so many birthdays, but I wrote about Elizabeth Coatsworth yesterday and
the other two, Australian illustrator, Tohby Riddle and American illustrator, Will Hillenbrand each have a very comprehensive website that gives biographical details, annotated lists of their books and information about their work philosophies. I cannot tell you anything that is not there.

Both do picture books that cater for a very wide age range of reader. Tohby Riddle has a lovely set of preschool books about a dog and a bird. The first was issued in a soft cover and was popular in the library. The subsequent titles have been issued as board books which limits their appeal in a library such as a school library. Similarly, Will Hillenbrand has a number of books for preschoolers. See The Book Box; Down by the Station and Margery Cuyler's penguin stories, Please Play Safe and Please Say Please.

At the other end of his repertoire, Tohby has picture books that demand very creative thinking by their readers. My favourite of these is Escape From City Zoo. He has also illustrated The Word Spy and The Return of The Word Spy, two rivetting reads about words and their origins by Ursula Dubosarsky.

My favourites of Will Hillenbrand's illustrated books are Phyllis Root's Kiss the Cow, and Rebecca Hickox's Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story.











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