I found the most delightful children's book last week at work. Perhaps I should consider this a belated Lost in the Stacks book (and a juvenile addition to the list). It's a whimsical story/poem with the most amazing illustrations. If you look close enough at them you can get quite lost in the tiny detail. Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer and Marvin Bileck was a Caldecott Honor book in 1965. I'm sorry not to be able to share the cover with you, but the library copy has been rebound, but here is a peek inside.
The text is a nonsense rhyme that begins:
Rain makes applesauce
The stars are made of lemon juice...and rain makes applesauce
I wear my shoes inside out...and rain makes applesauce
My house goes walking every day...and rain makes applesauce
And goes on page after page with equally silly pronouncements with pictures to match.
Oh, you're just talking silly, silly talk
I know I'm talking silly talk, but --
--
Rain makes applesauce
And look at the detail! The rain pours down, the little people stir and stir and drink and drink. And all the apples are scattered about. It's all very charming.
Dolls go dancing on the moon...and rain makes applesauce
This is one of my favorite pictures in the book. It's all so fantastical. What child wouldn't be enamored? I wonder if a child would be more likely to get caught up in the minutiae of it all? At first glance I flipped through thinking 'how unusual', but when I slowed down and started really looking, I became very caught up in it all.
Books that make me slow down and pay attention are always welcome. It's as easy to forget to stop and look as it is to stop and listen. That is really look and really listen.
I need to do that more often!
Oh, to regain that wonder of a child!