A Child's Garden of Verses: A Classic Illustrated Edition

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Introduction to Robert Louis Stevenson
Review: This is a nice, extra-sturdy book for toddlers. It includes these eight complete poems: The Land of Counterpane, The Lamplighter, Happy Thought, Foreign Lands, The Cow, My Shadow, The Swing, My Bed is a Boat. Most toddlers won't sit still for the complete poems, but you can just read the first few lines until they grow into them, and they'll have fun looking at the pictures. There are various vintage illustrations in full color by different artists including one of a boy in a tree by Jessie Willcox Smith (Foreign Lands), a charming colored drawing of a Mom showing a bird to her four little ones (Happy Thought), a simple but cute picture of a little girl watching a cow (The Cow) and a picture by one of my favorite Child's Garden of Verses illustrators, Eulalie (My Bed is a Boat). Yet, the cutest picture is the one on the cover by Jessie Willcox Smith. It begs one to wonder why they didn't use her pictures for all the poems. This book is a nice size, bigger than most board books, but still small enough to be handled easily by even very young children.