old book. new art.

So I found this book at a yard sale last weekend- The Golden Book of Camping and Camp Crafts. The cover art and title immediately caught my attention. I knew that Nicolas would adore this book- the subject, the illustrations and the theme in general.


The book was printed in 1959- that's fifty years old!- and cost me a mere 50 cents. I knew that it would bring hours of enjoyment for my boys and spark their imagination with new ideas of how to enjoy the great outdoors.

This is the page that I knew they would be drawn to once found. I was right. Of course it sparked an entirely new series of inquisitions about just when they were old enough to carry their own pocket knives.

Nicolas spent the entire weekend drawing scenes inspired by his new book. He asked me to make them into a real book for him. He stacked the drawings and I simply stapled them together for the mean time. I would eventually love to turn this into a real real book for him someday.

Here are some of his drawings...

His attention to detail has amazed me. He actually described to me how an arrowhead has nicks and notches on it while he was drawing it. Fascinating.

I let him use my set of colored pencils for his project. They are not top-of-the line, but they are a few steps above a typical child's set of colored pencils. He calls them artist's pencils and really took pride in using them during the times when he was trusted with Mommy's special pencils. I think it let him know how much I value his work and trust him.

What books have inspired your family lately?