Thursday, January 17, 2013

Happy Birthday May Gibbs!




136 years ago, January 17th 1877,  Cecilia May Gibbs was born in Kent, England. Four years later she sailed to Australia with her family. Going by the name May Gibbs, she is one of Australia's best known and well loved children's authors, illustrators and cartoonists.





Her creative tales have stirred imaginations and delighted readers over several generations. She lived into her 90's and her works, still in print, now benefit several children's organisations.




I remember reading "The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie", my first "big book", under our pine Christmas tree as a young child. Her illustrations still stir my heart and have encouraged my love of our Australian fauna and flora throughout my life.




My book, printed in 1971, first published in 1946, contains only four coloured pages. The remainder of the book is printed with brown words and illustrations.




You will find many uniquely Australian flowers and fauna sprinkled through her work as the main  characters.




May Gibbs has left a rich legacy. Today Google's Australian home page honours her birthday also. Happy Birthday May Gibbs!




18 comments:

Sylvia K said...

What delightful looking books and thank you for another wonderful and informative post! Such a talented woman/writer/illustrator!! Hope you've had a great week!!

Sylvia

Jennifer {Studio JRU} said...

These are wonderful! Happy Birthday, May!! :)

Gail Dixon said...

Such a sweet post to commemorate a beloved children's author. Happy birthday May!

BernieH said...

The Oz version of the Google home page with its magnificent May Gibbs tribute was a real thrill to see this morning.

I remember reading May Gibb's books when I was a child, and I read them to my kids when they were little. I just adored those wicked nasty-looking Big Bad Banksiamen.

Unknown said...

My two oldest boys had a May Gibbs themed nursery, in two different houses.

Unknown said...

May's illustration and story remind me of my childhood books on fairy tales. They have a refreshing Aussie twist and are absolutely delightful. Thanks for sharing.

tinajo said...

Beautiful illustrations! :-)

Cinzia said...

Happy birthday, May! A sweet post, I like it!
Cinzia

Garima said...

Well I'm not late :)
so happy b'day May...and books by May are obviously very delightful..love them :)
Following !

Giga said...

Pewno tą ciekawą książkę z pięknymi ilustracjami czytałaś swoim dzieciom. Pozdrawiam serdecznie.
This definitely an interesting book with beautiful illustrations you read to your children. Yours sincerely.

Rosemary said...

What a lovely post.
This reminds me of my own love of the Flower Fairy books as a young girl which were written and illustrated by Cicely Mary Barker. They in turn also encouraged my love of British wildflowers.
It is interesting to reflect how influential these little books are on our lives.

Beth said...

A very nice post. The books look like fun. Happy birthday to Ms Gibbs.

flowersandhome said...

Thank you so much for telling us about May Gibbs. I had never heard of her nore of her books. The book looks and sounds terrific, totally inspired by Australian animals and flowers. I'm sure my kids would have loved it when they were little, had it existed in Dutch of course ;-) as they loved (and still love) to read imaginative books very much.

Just took a look at the Australian google doodle for today, so beautiful, amazing how they do it over and over again for different occasions.

Bye,
Marian

Jennifer said...

I agree with you 100%, what a wonderful legacy she left Australian children. The illustrations are simply charming. I especially like the first one. Happy birthday May Gibbs!

♥ Łucja-Maria ♥ said...

Beautiful colorful fairy tales.
Children like it when we read them.
Regards
Lucia

happyone said...

I'm sorry to say I've never heard of her. Her books look delightful and I'm sure children of ALL ages like them. : )

Nikki said...

A beautiful tribute, Karen. I read some of these book when I was a child. What a talented artist.

thefisherlady said...

happy birthday May Gibbs!

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