Friday, July 11, 2014

Pastel Syrup

Crow commented that the greetings cards I posted a few days ago reminded her of art by Joan Walsh Anglund.

That reminded me of this book by JWA that I loved when I was little,
What Color Is Love? (1966).  >


Every once in a while, my mother would take my sister and me to a bookstore and let us choose a book ourselves.  
I'm not sure how my mother expressed it exactly, but I remember really well that she disapproved of me choosing this book.

My mother was a snob. She tried to get me to prefer Victorian illustrator Kate Greenaway (left).
But to her credit, she did let me buy the one I chose.

I'm sorry, but to this day, I do not see why Greenaway's syrupy version of childhood is any better than Anglund's. They both seem to think the color of love is pastel.

5 comments:

The Crow said...

To me, love is intense colors, passionate, deep, strong, overwhelming...wait, maybe I'm confusing love with sex. I'll have to think about that for awhile.

Zhoen said...

Parents really need not to insist on matters of taste as if they were Moral Imperatives.

I had pastel shoved at me, when I much preferred intense, dark colors. Mercer Mayer is my favorite illustrator.

Fresca said...

CROW: I didn't even think, what color do I think love is?
I think it must change color depending on the kind of love it is.
Like, I feel a space-age orange and blue love for my blog. :)

ZHOEN: I know! Geez, it isn't a moral issue if your favorite is "Frog and Toad Are Friends" (as an adult, Frog totally is mine too!).

Bookworm said...

I had one of her books "A friend is someone who like you. it was a dinky hardback book full of very cute pictures. I loved it!

My mum disapproved of various authors, including Enid Blyton. i felt very guilty reading the Faraway Tree, but I read it anyway (several times!)

Fresca said...

I'm glad someone else loved their dinky cute JWA book!
I truly cherished mine.

I've never read Enid Blyton. Should I?