Compared to some of the other books I've read which celebrate the history of children's book illustration this slim volume is very light weight. It lacks the academic depth of subject that the Norton anthology edited by Jack Zipes contains, as well as coming in below board in its illustrated content compared to the larger volumes, but it was still a nice taste of the topic. The author covers the various illustrators quite concisely, and even though each illustrator stands alone Dalby did a good job of arranging the connected illustrators together to create a more narrative slow than expected. I may not have been overly impressed with the amount of illustrations, but those black and white pictures that were included were well chosen and well placed. The colour plates, on the other hand, were even more underwhelming, falling prey to the page style grouping that disassociates written and illustrated text (a personal pet peeve of mine) and in a few cases being prone to inferior colour reproduction quality. We are, of course, treated to much higher publishing quality now, so I will mostly forgive this volume for its faults and laud it for its quality entry into the large subject of children's book illustration. ( )

Christmas gift ( )

Interesting and informative- with terrific art to boot. ( )