"Nighty-Nightmare": A scary book illustrated by Leslie H. Morrill

By searching for other scary picture books for children in the Milner Library's Special Collections, I found something completely different to the scary books we have discussed before on this blog. I discovered the Nighty-Nightmare, written by James Howe and illustrated by Leslie H. Morrill, from 1987.

Lois Lenski's American Regional Series

In our previous posts, we have mentioned Lois Lenski's American Regional Series. The first book of this series is Bayou Suzette. It was published in 1943. Lois Lenski received the Martha Kinney Cooper Ohioana Library Award in 1944 for this book. She also received Newbery Medal in 1945 for one of her best selling book Strawberry Girl (1945). Other famous books of the regional series include Houseboat Girl, Coal Camp Girl, Corn Farm Boy, Boom Town Boy, Prairie School, Cotton in my Sack.

The impact of scary illustrations in children books

It's exciting to see how frightening some illustrations in children books can be. Normally, parents read picture books to their children before they go to bed. So, that they become calm and tired. But what happens to them if parents read them scary children books?

Lois Lenski's Rare Handwritten Manuscripts and Scrapbooks

Cover of Corn Farm Boy (1954)

In our last blog about Lois Lenski, we come to learn about the author. Now, we are going to talk about one of her most popular books. The name of the book is Corn Farm Boy. This book is from her American Regional Series.

In the Milner Library, you will find the Handwritten Manuscript as well as Scrapbook of this book. This is a rare collection that is preserved in the Milner Library Special Collections. You will also find the first edition of the book there. Today you may buy later editions of this book either online or in store. However, you cannot find the first edition easily.

Turning over to scary: Struwwelpeter

If you have read our last post about Lois Lenski, you hopefully enjoyed the introduction of her Houseboat Girl and her Strawberry Girl. Wonderful literature like this is one part of our blog. The other part is also wonderful, but to a greater extent the stories and illustrations are very scary. Both the wonderful and the scary children books can be found in the Special Collections of the Milner Library (Illinois State University, Normal, IL). This post will show you the beauty of the original edition of Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter (The Slovenly Peter) and its cruelness. Be aware, some of the illustrations will be terrifying, at least if you are part of Hoffmann's target audience "children aged 3 to 6".

Lois Lenski: The Legend Herself

Lois Lenski (1893- 1974)

The Legend Herself

Whenever anyone talks about the children’s picture books, the name Lois Lenski comes at the first. She was the J. K. Rowling of her age.

Children Books Illustration

With our blog Children Books Illustrations we want you to take a deeper look inside the story of illustrations in children’s books. Our target is not to provide some recommendations. Rather, we want to discover the background and development of certain picture books' illustrations and their impact on children’s development. We hope that we can share these discoveries with you!