Today’s Puzzler came out a conversation I had today with a customer in the store. He asked me if we carried Bats at the Library by Brian Lies (Houghton Mifflin, 2008). I pulled the book off the shelf for him and we talked about how the illustrations of this wonderful book are filled with references to classic children’s books. He opened the book to a double page spread and pointed to a little bat sitting on a flying bed with the word bubble, “No more melted cheese for me, no.” He told me he knew all the references except that one. He just couldn’t figure it out. Luckily we sold the book this illustration paid homage to in our store and together we were able to solve this little mystery. Can you?
The following images are two double-spread illustrations from Bats at the Library. (If you haven’t read the book yet, be sure to pick up a copy! These scans can’t begin to do it justice!) Study them closely and see if you can name the children’s books referenced in the pictures. I’ve found fifteen. How many can you find? List them in the comments below and I’ll be back on Friday with the answers!
Tags: Bats at the Library, Brian Lies, classic children's books, homage, illustration, picture books, reference
How did you do? Here are the references I found:
1. Drummer Hoff by Barbara & Ed Emberley
2. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
3. The Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore
4. Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend by Windsor McCay
5. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
6. 1,0001 Nights
7. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
8. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
9. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
10. The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
11. Little Red Riding Hood
12. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
13. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
14. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
15. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
16. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
How about you? Did you find any more?
What’s the one in the upper left of the first page, with the horse? It’s on the preceding several pages, too, and I’ve never been able to figure out what it is.
Also, am I mistaken, or is that a Hobbit hole behind Arthur and Excalibur?
It is indeed a Hobbit door. And the rabbit on the horse is driving me nuts. I just don’t know which book that is! Also on the preceding two pages all of animals chasing the rider on the horse. Anyone know this book(s)?
The rabbit on the horse… that one was bugging me too. But if you look back to the start of story time, and listen, it sounds like homage to The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, by Longfellow (“And if we listen, we will hear”). Looking closely at the horse, I think it’s the same horse as on the previous spreads.