19th February

No birthday today, but a couple of nights ago I read that it was Nancy Ekholm Burkert's birthday on the 16th February. She was born in 1933. As I didn't include her on the 16th, I thought I would visit her work today. I went to the library shelves and found her books. A long time ago in the 1980s I was introduced to her work in a course while I was studying fairytales. At the time I fell in love with Nancy's Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs, any work by Susan Jeffers and Errol Le Cain. I didn't think I had ever seen such wonderful illustrations in children's books. Of course now there are so many more to choose from, but then I was in awe of such considered, time- consuming, detailed work that was just so evocative. Through this wonderful picture book I was also introduced to Randall Jarrell and then I went off to learn more about him and his writing. As much as I love Mosel and Lent's The Funny Little Woman, if I had been a judge for the Caldecott in 1973 Snow -White would have been the winner, not the Honour Book! Rereading Snow -White today I can honestly say I still love it!