Best Selling Books by Brian Alderson

A tiny girl no bigger than a thumb is stolen by a great ugly toad and subsequently has many adventures and makes many animal friends, before finding the perfect mate in a warm and beautiful southern land.

Dancing princesses, golden eggs, and evil knights are found in this second volume of Andrew Lang''s fairy tales gathered in the late 19th century "Once upon a time, in the middle of winter when the snow-flakes were falling like feathers on the earth, a Queen sat at a window framed in black ebony and sewed. And as she sewed and gazed out to the white landscape, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell on the snow outside..." Andrew Lang began gathering fairy tales with the aim of conserving "the old stories that have pleased so many generations." This bold and eclectic anthology contains wonderful renditions of old favorites such as Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, as well as some little-known stories like The Death of Koschei the Deathless and The Nettle Spinner. Be transported to a land full of marvels and magic: a world of enchanted forests and isolated castles; of giants, fairies, and trolls; of treasure, music, and promise. Andrew Lang''s fairy books helped to lay the foundation for our continuing fascination with fairy tales as entertainment and cultural objects. The book is republished here with a stunning red jacket, accompanied throughout by the original illustrations.

With literature as his central theme, the author of this history of children''s books in England also wove in biography and facts of social and commercial history. This edition has additional biographical notes, a supplementary chapter on the late Victorian and Edwardian eras and 60 illustrations.

Presents a social history of childhood through a collection of 20,000 rare books, comics, and other printed material, plus toys and games.

Annotation. This full-scale bibliography of the works of one the best-loved artists in the English-speaking world, describes Ardizzone''s books, dust jackets, ephemera, periodical contributions, war art, prints, posters and bookplates. It includes an essay "On the Illustration of Books" by Ardizzone himself.

"It is not widely known that 2014 marks the centenary of the publication of books in The Ladybird Series by the British commercial printers Wills & Hepworth. From the start of the First World War to the start of the Second they published about 100 cheap and cheerful colour-illustrated children''s books for the popular market, but only in 1940 did they fashion Bunnykins Picnic Party which was to be the first of the Ladybird Books that would come to be recognised and bought by most of the British population. Lorraine Johnson and Brian Alderson trace the history of the Ladybird venture from its wobbly beginning through Wills & Hepworth''s triumphant management of the series up to its sale in 1972, with further chapters on the last decades at the printworks in Loughborough down to 1999. A comprehensive bibliography of books edited under the Wills & Hepworth imprint gives ample evidence of their catering for children at all stages of development, a central element in the millions of books that they sold. The many illustrations, mostly in colour, give convincing support to the reasons for their popularity."--Wheelers.co.nz

For her gorgeously illustrated and deeply researched contribution to the prestigious Grolier Hundred series, Chris Loker has assembled one hundred of the best known and most admired children''s books from the English language canon of classics. Organized chronologically, One Hundred Books Famous in Children''s Literature invites readers to follow the development of books written for children and printed between 1650 and 2000--from early forms of instructional primers and devotional readers, to exuberantly entertaining nursery rhymes, fairy tales, children''s novels and works of verse. Also represented are alphabets, folktales, fables, and legends; a touch-and-feel book, a rebus book, a pop-up book, and, of course, picture books. Supplementing the informative essays that accompany each selection are illuminating contributions by five internationally recognized experts in children''s literature: Brian Alderson, Nick Clark, Andrea Immel, Jill Shefrin, and Justin Schiller. This charming and intellectually stimulating volume, accessibly written to appeal to both scholars and the general public, has quickly become the classic checklist for book collectors, scholars, and anyone who loves children''s literature.

When a humble old farmer plants turnips in his field, one of them grows and grows ... and grows ... and Grows. The king rewards the farmer handsomely for his efforts -- much to the dismay of the arrogant squire who lives across the way. But when the squire attempts to claim a similar reward, will he get more than he bargains for? Brain Alderson''s charming text and Fritz Wegner''s humorous illustrations have yielded a "champion" tale that will delight anyone who''s ever cheered for the underdog.

Once upon a time in a certain country there lived a king whose palace was surrounded by a spacious garden. But, though the gardeners were many and the soil was good, this garden yielded neither flowers nor fruits, not even grass or shady trees. The King was in despair about it, when a wise old man said to him: "Your gardeners do not understand their business: but what can you expect of men whose fathers were cobblers and carpenters? How should they have learned to cultivate your garden?" "You are quite right," cried the King. "Therefore," continued the old man, "you should send for a gardener whose father and grandfather have been gardeners before him, and very soon your garden will be full of green grass and gay flowers, and you will enjoy its delicious fruit." So the King sent messengers to every town, village, and hamlet in his dominions, to look for a gardener whose forefathers had been gardeners also, and after forty days one was found. "Come with us and be gardener to the King," they said to him. "How can I go to the King," said the gardener, "a poor wretch like me?" "That is of no consequence," they answered. "Here are new clothes for you and your family." "But I owe money to several people." "We will pay your debts," they said. So the gardener allowed himself to be persuaded, and went away with the messengers, taking his wife and his son with him; and the King, delighted to have found a real gardener, entrusted him with the care of his garden. The man found no difficulty in making the royal garden produce flowers and fruit, and at the end of a year the park was not like the same place, and the King showered gifts upon his new servant.

This collection attempts to bring humour to familiar fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Illustrations from Helen Oxenbury are included.

Colloquial version of the traditional folktales.