Classic Children's Book Illustrations: "The Phantom Tollbooth," "Curious George," Etc. (PHOTOS)

Just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of Norton Juster's "The Phantom Tollbooth," here's a compilation of magical illustrations from classic children's books courtesy our friends at Flavorpill. Click on for wild things, plenty of bunnies, one serious little prince and more.

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[moflard]

10:32 AM on 11/09/2011

Apart from Dr Seuss, Sendak and Shepard, I´m afraid I don´t really rate anything here. Even as a kid I found so many of the illustrations aimed at children simplistic and condescending (especially those in Roald Dahl books), as if we couldn´t cope with the quality of work put out for the grown-ups. Back then I just called it boring. For me the best illustrations for children still come from people like DuLac, Rackham, Nielsen etc. back in the so-called "Golden Age."

And I don´t blame the illustrators. I once spoke with a book publisher and she told me that Arthur Rackham, ARTHUR BL@@DY RACKHAM!, wouldn´t have been able to get work today because publishers were terrified of scaring off parents with anything even vaguely challenging. Now that is scary!

[First namepat Sharp]

10:37 PM on 11/09/2011

Yes, And the newest book published was 1972......a lot of starving illustrators since then.

[thebigbike]

06:35 PM on 11/08/2011

Leonard Weisgard, not so much, and especially taking his picture over Beatrix Potter's Original Peter Rabbit? fehh...

[frank day]

09:16 AM on 11/08/2011

I have three sons and Where the Wild Things Are is one of the very few books I could

get them to sit still for.

[Loffee]

03:20 AM on 11/08/2011

Cinderella, Pooh Bear, Three blind mice, Humpty Dumpty, Jack and the Bean Stock, Curious George... the list goes on and on.

[sayrock]

02:48 AM on 11/08/2011

Oh, you left out the illustrations from Father Fox's Pennyrhymes.

[MountPanic]

01:51 AM on 11/08/2011

Uh, yeah, neat flickr dude...

[CathyDee]

01:24 AM on 11/08/2011

Why even bother with a copy of Peter Rabbit by another artist? Beatrix Potter's original pen & ink/watercolors set the standard; any other "re-interpretation" is simply a pale comparison.

[Rich Cash]

12:37 AM on 11/08/2011

The only things I ever read under the covers had a rabbit head or a key on the cover...

[KeepLeft]

12:25 AM on 11/08/2011

No David!

[Gronkie]

10:19 PM on 11/07/2011

Some were great (Dr. Seuss, Sendak, Silverstein) and others were fairly pedestrian. My favorite illustrated children's books of the last few years have been Brian Selznik's beautiful pencil drawings for Hugo Cabret and David Weisner's books, many of which don't even contain words, just gorgeous illustrations that tell a detailed story.

[jparso3]

10:03 PM on 11/07/2011

How about Steven Kellogg whose books on Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed were very well illistrated and how about the book why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears

[thebigbike]

08:08 PM on 11/07/2011

In the last 20 years there have been a large number of of incredibly imaginative illustrated children's books that are worthy successors to the best of those shown here. j.otto seibold, Lane Smith, John A. Rowe, Vladimir Radunsky, Olga Duginaand Andrej Dugin, Sergei Goloshapov, Maira Kalman, Oliver Jeffers, Petra Mathers, David Weisner, are some of my favorites.

[darkmark]

06:44 PM on 11/07/2011

most of them were boring and unimaginative.

[macgyver51]

01:27 AM on 11/08/2011

Look in the mirror

[darkmark]

01:39 AM on 11/08/2011

hey Joe Frazier died, now there was something real. and i just looked in the mirror. what a handsome, creative, intelligent and wise looking fellow, very impressive.