Lovely children's books with lots of intricately detailed pictures?

[Enid]

For my dd2 (5) who loves books and poring over pictures - puzzley ones even better but not essential.

Sorry this is following on from the thread about You Choose and Usborne Puzzles (big faves).

Not sure what type of stuff you are after, but I loved books by Mike Wilks from about 7 yo. I had the Ultimate Alphabet, and later the Ultimate Noah's Ark, but I see now that he has done a few others too.

They are brilliant detailed pictures, for people to pore over and spot as many things as possible (eg in the alphabet one, each letter has a separate picture and a list of words to tick off once you have found it in the picture; the noah's ark has a list of animals - all but one is depicted in a pair - which animal is on his own?)

What about the Joan Aiken books illustrated by Jan Pienowski (sp?). I still love the illustrations in those.

Seems to be out of print, but you can get second hand copies:

www.amazon.co.uk/Necklace-Raindrops-Puffin-Books/dp/0140307540/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=119495 1026&sr=8-2

effieperine she loves the story of a necklace of raindrops (we have it on tape) and I have been trying to get hold of the jan pienowski one for ages

silver that sounds perfect

Anything by Christian Birmingham - The Snow Queen is about to be published. Search on Amazon, lovely stuff

Beautiful chalk pastel artwork that he spends HOURS working on (and I should know I lived with him for 5 years )

megalegs

I think I have something else by him - did he do the night before christmas?

The Little Red Train books by Benedict Blathwayt have lovely, very detailed pictures. There is so much going on in them, that evry time you look at them you see something different.

Yes, think Night before Christamas is his most successful yet, v.big in the US I believe.

The yellow rabbit in The Sea of Tranquility belongs to my sister, we had a casting session, it had to be a well loved cuddley toy.

I did some stars on one page of NBC - little spots of white chalk, he showed me where to do them, I was terrified that I ruin his amazing art work.

The pictures are not specifically aimed at children, and are very complex (eg right down to listing muscle groupings in the alphabet one) but are what I think of as detailed rather than graphic. But I think there would be a lot for any child who likes that sort of thing to get out of it - there are literally hundreds of words listed for the alphabet book (IIRC something like 1100 listed for "s") so many everyday objects to find as well as obscure ones. Looking on his website he has done one about the weather and one called "my granny's garden" too, whcih sound a bit more aimed at children.

I loved mine, and wish i still had the time to pore over them as never finished finding all the words!

If you want to get the Ultimate Alphabet, I would look around for ne with a workbook (not sure if still printed this way) as I found it better to tick off words I had found (and was originally printed as a competition so the list of words includes some not in the pictures - you have to find them to find out which is which) rather than the annotated which lists only the words in the pictures, but I guess you know which your dd would prefer

it sounds perfect for dd1 (nearly 8) actually. she would love the idea of a workbook (conscientous child!)

...have been trying to find a link to some of the pictures but so far no luch. Wikipedia has a shot of the cover, which is the picture for "p", so you could try enlarging that. It also has quite a good description of the book.

Odd child that I was, i too loved the workbook concept . Was bliss just sitting for ages looking for eg "safety pin" just so I could tick it off in a list!

Can You Catch a Mermaid? by Jane Ray was my dd's favourite book at that age. The pictures are beautiful, very intricate. The story is very touching too.

ah - actually on the website here there are loads of images.

www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1003993413&searchurl=an%3Daiken%26sortby%3D3%26sts%3Dt%2 6tn%3Dnecklace%2Braindrops%26x%3D96%26y%3D8

another second hand copy (this is the paperback version I have)

There is a modern reprint but with another illustrator

I like Satoshi Kitamura's style - Acorn to Zoo (an alphabet book) has lots to pick out.

Where's Wally is a bit of an obvious suggestion ... presumably you have that?

PJ Lynch's painterly illustrations for various books are beautiful too

Christmas in Exeter Street is funny and full of detail but rather old-fashionedly non PC

And another old fashioned Christmas read is The Good Little Christmas Tree, also with lovely pics

But I am assuming she has done Each Peach Pear Plum enid because all the characters pop up in each other's pictures and it's fun to spot them

Oh, and if you are in London in the next couple of months, take her to the Illustration Cupboard Gallery winter (selling) exhibition of children's book illustration - we are going next weekend on a Brian Wildsmith mission.

What a lovely idea bink, sadly a bit out of our price range
Hope you find what you are looking for!

This is a beautiful book it was bought for my son when he was three and has been loved y all my dc since then.
The pictures are full of detail and are bumpy so they love running their fingers over them too.
Great to learn about seasons and been kind too

www.amazon.com/Lonely-Scarecrow-Tim-Preston/dp/0525460802

Marina - you don't have to be meaning to buy anything to go - they're very explicitly "no obligation". A few years ago we saw an exhibition of children's book illustration at the new British Library & none of us have ever forgotten it - sparked a real interest.

So we're treating this similarly (though if the B Wildsmith squirrel is available in a modestly priced print run we will prob. not be able to resist).

Bink - thanks for the info about the Illustration Cupboard. It sounds fabulous and gives me the perfect hook for a trip to London with my book-mad girls.

Have you ever been there before (or has anyone else)? Is it genuinely child-friendly? The girls are 5.5 and 2.5. DD1 is very into art and wants to go to a gallery, so she'll be OK - not so sure about DD2.

And then over to Regent Street to oggle at the pretty lights!!

DD1 is five and a half and is thoroughly enjoying this puzzle book: www.usborne.co.uk/catalogue/browse.asp?css=1&subject=pz&subcat=pzgs&id=1765

There are lots of things to spot and they are quite challenging. The pictures have loads going on, over and above the things you have to sport. They are also somewhat educational (e.g. cutaway picture of underground station, complete with rats running through drainage pipes, men working down manholes and basement storeys to neighbouring buildings).

There are several others in the series. She also likes the castle one, which has castles of different eras from early history to modern fantasy castles and everything in between.

"spot", obviously, not "sport"

The blue balloon by Mick Inkpen (Not much detail but wonderful surprises on each page)
And also by same author Where oh where is Kipper's bear...A wonderful hide and seek with a fabulous surprise under the bedcovers on the last page... a real light comes on!.

All the Alfie books by Shirly Hughes (And you will enjoy them too.

My dd2 loved the textures in the Lonely Scarecrow.

The Little Bear books (sorry can't remember author)