This is...these are some of my favorite children's books

These are some of the many books I loved to read as a kid: All the Famous Five, Secret Seven and Boxcar Children books, Trixie Belden books, the Anne of Green Gables books by L.M. Montgomery, E. Nesbit's The Enchanted Castle, Mary Norton's The Borrower's

 

, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows  

and C.S. Lewis's books especially, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, as well as countless others. In addition to all of this I really remember a big book on Greek Mythology for kids, all the fairytale books in various colors from pink to puce to green, and of course many of the books by Madeline L'Engle. However, from an even earlier time when I couldn't really read I remember vividly this book, The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies,

 

in large part because of the pictures by Garth Williams. I have always wanted there to be magical creatures that are real just hiding off in some forgotten forest glen or glade. When my family would vacation in Colorado at my grandparent's cabin (really a nice ranch style house that my grandfather and my dad and his brothers built near Buena Vista Colorado in the woods)I would wander around dreaming about fairies and such and try to make little garden's for them from wildflowers I would pick and replant in empty coffee cans. Anway, I still love this book and was so happy when my Mom gave it to me. It had been one of her books from her childhood. So Enjoy looking at some of the wonderful pictures.

 

This one is from one of my favorite stories where a father makes his daughter special silver slippers, which she wears hidden inside her everyday wooden clogs, but here she is shown using them to get the strength to save the prince and his horse from a marsh and some nasty trolls. Eventually the prince discovers that his savior/princess is really just this very brave ordinary girl whose father gave her slippers blessed by good fairies to

Little slippers, go only on bright roads, only on good roads, only on right roads, if you dear child, go astray, sliver slippers will vanish away

. But while the slippers are magic, what really causes her to win out is her father's love and guidance of her as she grows up to be a brave and kind person. This is another one of the great illustrations. 

Even the inside cover the the book is fantastic.

 

So with this book as much as I loved the stories from it, I was as enchanted by the illustrations of this magical world. When I get some more time I may try and show some more pictures from this book.