Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown & illus by Garth Williams

This is such a cozy sort of book. And this is a terrible picture.*

Margaret Wise Brown and Garth Williams are a dream team for children's books. When I was younger-ish I thought a lot of Margret Wise Brown's books were... I am not sure if I had a coherent thought about them, I just didn't like them. But as an adult and cozy aficionado, I am revisiting or visiting them for the first time. And they are super. I find that I need to read them a few times before loving them. Don't ask me why. Just one of those facts of life. 

*Sometimes I feel like I might be better off just doing one or two blog posts a week and make them really good. But knowing me, I would then think they had to be so great that I would feel too pressured and my blog would languish and die. So I make myself take pictures and post (almost) every day. In theory I like to think that this will make me a better photographer and writer. And then some day every day will be perfect. 

In reality, it just results in some bad pictures. 

Do you see his furry little tummy to rub? Apparently there was an edition of this book that involved a real rabbit fur cover. As in an animal died for your cover. This was back in a time when fur was still acceptable. It wouldn't fly today.

See? the furry cover. And when you are done with it, you slid it in the nifty little book box and the fur pokes out his wee tummy. It must have been so delightfully soft. You can buy your very own one for... between $500-$1000. 

That is a lot to pay for softness.

The little fur boy is contemplating the squirrels. 

Those are not fur animals. Why is someone attempting to pass them off as a fur family? 

The Fur family.

Part of the reason I didn't like MWB books when I was little is because they are sometimes jarring. If there are two rhyming lines, I expect more rhyming. And there isn't. Maybe that is why it takes me a few reads to really get the rhythm and enjoy the book. 

Fur Daddy.

His mummy washes him up and sends him out to play.

Look at the wildflowers and teensy door!!

He goes to see his grandfather, who sneezes. 

Then he checks out the fishies. 

I love this little fur child sitting there watching them for a long time. So contemplative of him!

Up close and personal.

Then he sees a little tiny fur animal, which is a smaller version of himself.

Then he caught a little tiny tiny fur animal, 

the little fur animal in the world.

It had a warm silky fur and even a little fur nose.

So he kissed it right on its little fur nose

and put it genly back in the grass

and the little tiny tiny fur animal 

ran down a hole into the ground. 

Any book with tiny, tiny delights Elsie. And me. 

As the sun sinks lower, the little fur child heads for home. 

Where his tummy is filled with warm food.

And his Daddy piggy backs him up to bed.

Where his mummy and daddy sing a little song to him. See that last line? This is a song. That is another jarring thing. It seems slightly random and pointless. 

But Elsie, my four year old loves this book, so one line clearly doesn't make or break it. Or maybe it is a brilliant line and I just don't get it. Entirely possible.