"The Soul of Little Golden Books"

 One of the things I love about Goodwill Buy the Pound is the bins full of books. I found this book recently, and for some reason, the face of the girl on the cover looked familiar. I couldn't quite place it, but obviously I had to find out, so I put the book in my pile.

A few days later when I had some time, I did a quick Google on the illustrator and realized that she hadf illustrated a number of the Little Golden Books, including one I specifically remembered from my childhood: We Like Kindergarten.

I don't have my copy anymore, but I immediately found one online and bought it, as well as a few of her other Golden books.

 I did have Baby's Christmas on my shelf so I pulled that down to look at it.

 Wilkin's style of illustration is like a romanticized realism; her children have apple cheeks, bright eyes cupid-bow mouths and wispy hair.

 

 Eloise Wilkin is also a Rochester, NY native! I had no idea but I was glad to find that out. She was born in Rochester, NY in 1904. She moved to NYC at the age of two, but spent many summers with relatives in Western New York, which was the inspiration for her idyllic pictures of family life.

  

She graduated from the Rochester Athaneum and Mechanics Institute, which is now the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), in 1923.

She opened an art studio in Rochester with a friend, but after struggling to find work she returned to NYC.

Over the course of her life, she illustrated a number of Golden books, and would re-do illustrations to reflect shifts in societal and family values. For example, her 1954 cover illustration for "The New Baby" shows a baby sleeping on its tummy, but she changed it for 1975 because of the increasing awareness of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Similarly, the 1956 book My Little Golden Book about God only depicts white children,  but she re-did several illustrations for the 1974 edition to be more inclusive.

She also designed several baby dolls for the Vogue and Madame Alexander companies.

 

(Photos of dolls are not mine)

She died in 1987 and is buried in Holy Sepulchre cemetary, which is also where silent film star Louise Brooks is laid to rest. I guess next tie I am visiting home, I'll have to locate it.

Jane Werner Watson, author and editor of hundreds of Golden books, called Wilkin "The Soul of Little Golden Books" and I can definitely see why now; her colored pencil and watercolor illustrations reflect the quiet moments and gentle words adults cherish when they have young children in their laps, looking at books together.

I will leave off with two of my favorite illustrations from my new little collection.