The Toosdai Critters are big fans of the art of children’s book illustration. The Critters think that the best illustrators have truths to tell humans of all ages. Let’s once again take a look at some of the Critters' favorite illustrators.
Part 1 and Part 2 of the series are here.
Arnold Lobel was an illustrator and author trained at the Pratt Institute in New York. In 1974, Lobel came out as gay; there has been speculation that two of his most well known characters, Frog and Toad, should be understood as gay partners.
Regardless, Frog and Toad were two delightful characters with a deep cross-species bond.
The characters were first introduced in the book Frog and Toad Are Friends.
One tale in the book features a sick Frog, whom Toad has helped to bed. Toad hopes to create a story to entertain his bed bound friend, but Toad just can’t think of anything.
Original storytelling has its challenges.
Toad becomes so frustrated that Frog, now feeling better, switches places so that he instead can tell a story.
Frogs are entertaining characters.
Mouse Soup is another beloved Lobel book. It begins with a weasel who plans to turn a mouse into mouse soup.
But Mouse has other ideas. Mouse tells Weasel imaginative stories about supposedly necessary ingredients for the soup. The fantastical ingredients become too much of an obstacle, and
Mouse seizes the opportunity to escape and returns home for some cozy relaxation.
Tasha Tudor was another illustrator and author who delighted in depicting critter truths.
Tudor was especially fond of corgis and featured them in her book Corgiville Fair.
Corgiville Fair tells the story of Caleb Corgi, who has spent months preparing his goat Josephine for the races at the Corgiville Fair.
We all know that corgis are good planners.
Caleb Corgi has a dreaded foe, however, in sneaky Edward Tomcat.
The Critters are very familiar with sneaky cats.
In 1942, Tudor wrote the book Dorcas Porkus,
the story of a mischievous pet pig
who breaks into a church spelling bee.
Dorcas learns a tough lesson that the critters often find to be true: there are consequences for mischief.