Are you familiar with Mary Azarian's beautiful artwork? Mary is a Vermont woodcutter whose illustrations adorn over forty picture books. Her woodcut illustrations for Snowflake Bentley won the Caldecott Medal in 1999.
Mary sells flower prints, greeting cards and alphabet prints as well as a number of other prints, both colored and black and white, on her website.
Azarian's illustrations are comforting reminder of slower paced life. While that pace still exists in some areas of our country, things have sped up over the years for most of us. Mary Azarian has a knack for slowing us down and showing us all that is good in life: vegetable gardens, rocking chairs, zinnias growing in the flower beds, canning jars on the counter, smoke streaming from the chimney on a snowy winter's day.
My family thinks that A Gardener's Alphabet and A Farmer's Alphabet are must haves for any preschooler. These alphabet books are an old fashioned breath of fresh air. There is no "G is for Gameboy" within their pages. :)
The little ones have also enjoyed Barn Cat, which is a counting book.
For any of you who love to knit, crochet or enjoy fiber arts, A Symphony for the Sheep is a fun read. Set in Ireland, this book describes and gives a rhythm to each part of the sheep to shawl process. Mary's illustrations along with lively text by Cynthia Millen make you want to learn to card, knit, weave and spin.
Some other books you might want to consider written and/or illustrated by Mary Azarian:
Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau's Flute
The Four Seasons of Mary Azarian
