We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy: Two Nursery Rhymes with Pictures

Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak’s darkest, most controversial, yet most hopeful and personal children’s book – a moving cry for mercy, for light, and for resurrection of the human spirit at a time of hopeless darkness:

Everything I Need To Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book

Diane E. Muldrow

A charming compendium of life-advice for modern grownups, culled from vintage children’s books 

Abc Bunny (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)

Wanda Gag

In 1934, pioneering artist Wanda Gág collaborated with her brother and sister on this sweet and unusual children’s book:

The Hating Book

Charlotte Zolotow

A lovely vintage illustrated parable about the insecurities we all share and what every friendship needs

Alice in Wonderland Illustrated by Ralph Steadman: A 1973 Gem

Lewis Carroll

Down the rabbit hole of creative magic, one truly mad hatter at a time.

Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present

Charlotte Zolotow

To live long, write for children:

Little Boy Brown

Isobel Harris

The greatest ode to childhood and loneliness ever written, illustrated by iconic mid-century French graphic designer and cartoonist André François

Fairy Tales

E. E. Cummings

Gorgeous vintage illustrations for the fairy tales E. E. Cummings wrote for his only child, plus the odd story of how he he almost abandoned her

Inside the Rainbow: Beautiful Books, Terrible Times

Julian Rothenstein & Olga Budashevskaya

“A lovely primary-colored geometrical wonderland-light sparkling with every conceivable kind of wit and brilliance and fantasy and fun.”

Gorgeous vintage Russian children’s book illustrations from the 1920s-1930s – a treasure trove of visual delight at the link:

I’ll Be You and You Be Me

Ruth Krauss [pictures by Maurice Sendak]

Indescribably heart-warming vintage ode to friendship and the imagination, illustrated by 27-year-old Maurice Sendak. See the lovely drawings at the link: