Picture. Book. Art Exhibit

    Earlier this summer, without a deadline in sight, I decided to do one illustration for every book, story, or poem that had meant something to me as a child.  Books were a huge part of my childhood and I thought it would be a great way to get back in touch with those wonderful feelings of contentment as I sat on my mother’s lap being read to or curled up on my own in my room with a stack of books to read.
    Of course, when I was little, there were no electronic gadgets to stare at, tv consisted of Bonanza, The Carol Burnet Show and, once a year, The Wizard Of Oz, so our main form of entertainment was reading, sharing books, and acting them out in the neighborhood or on the school playground. Trips to the library were looked forward to every 2 weeks without fail. We all received books on every holiday and birthday and our favorites got passed around and re-read many times.
    I re-read several of these books as I did these drawings and I loved them all over again! I hope they bring back some wonderful memories for you, too, or inspire you to read the stories that aren’t familiar to you. They’re just as good now as they were then, although maybe not as politically correct as they would be if written today. And I’m sure there are many books and stories that you loved that I missed—- actually, there are many books that influenced me that I did not include in this project, such as all the Raggedy Ann and Andy books illustrated by Johnny Gruelle, because it was the art in those books that inspired me rather than the stories.                                                                             My goal was to try and recreate for myself the warm, fuzzy feelings I had reading certain stories as a child. It was a very personal project, that will probably go on indefinitely for me, but I hope the results take you back to happy memories of your own childhood.  I hope it makes it clear, especially in a time when a sad group of people are actually trying to ban books and control what children read, what a great, almost magical power books have to influence and change our lives.

Mary Engelbreit