Gyo Fujikawa – illustratör

William Blake, Kate Greenaway, Emily Dickinson: the writers in this charming anthology of 200 poems—first published in 1969—are among literature’s most beloved. And Gyo Fujikawa’s appealing illustrations depict children of all races sweetly interacting, as well as an engagingly rendered menagerie of animals and the natural world in all its wonderment. Among the verses that children will love are Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Christmas Bells,” Lewis Carroll’s “The Melancholy Pig,” and Eugene Fields’ “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod,” along with proverbs, limericks, nursery rhymes, and folk songs.

Originally published in 1885, A Child’s Garden of Verses has served as a wonderful introduction to poetry for each new generation. Stevenson’s beloved poems celebrate childhood in all its complexity and joy, from the sunny pleasures of “At the Seaside,” to the imaginative musings of “Foreign Lands” to the playful, ever-popular “My Shadow.” Of the many available editions, Gyo Fujikawa’s is one of the sweetest and most personal. Illustrated in 1957, it was her very first book—and she evokes a simpler, more innocent time that should profoundly appeal to today’s audiences. It is a gift that every child will treasure.

Pat-a-Cake,” “Simple Simon,” “Rock-a-bye, Baby:” these and the many other rhymes that make up Mother Goose have become almost as much a staple of child-rearing as the rattle and the bottle. Little ones love its mix of lullabies and limericks, humor and sing-song verse, and they learn from it too. Gyo Fujikawa brought her inimitable style to this version, which features a mix of enchanting line drawings and warm color pictures. Adorable mice, led by a duck in uniform, man the boat in “I Saw a Ship a-Sailing.” A multicultural group of children circle round “The Mulberry Bush.” And “The Three Kittens” have never been cuter. Fujikawa has succeeded in creating a truly magical world for kids to enter.