Suppose You Met A Witch (1973, Ian Serraillier and Ed Emberley)

Pick any date landing somewhere in my first year of grade school and chances are I had "Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals" (1970) on loan from the school library that day. "...Animals" was just one of many books by Ed Emberley that taught children how to draw cute, cartoonish characters using just a dozen or so simple shapes and lines.

The truth is, by first-grade standards I was considered, in the parlance of the schoolyard, a "pretty good draw-er" and could scribble a decent illustration without relying on Emberley's sequential instructions. Rather, it was Emberley's appealing  style and whimsical imagination that caused me to hoard his books like buried treasure.

Where else was I going to see a turtle roller-skating in the rain?

"..Animals" focuses exclusively on the animal kingdom, but also includes a useful facial-expressions sampler, as well as an example of how his simplistic, shape-based creations could be easily embellished into something a little fancier.

Step aside, Block In Bird, here comes Embellish!

Later entries in Emberley's instructional series included "Make A World" (1972) and a string of color-themed books ("Purple", "Green", "Orange", "Red") which, collectively, established an alternate Emberl-iverse of characters, vehicles and fantastic creatures. (I previously posted on his monster-themed  "Book of Weirdos".) Many of these books are still in print.

Emberley also produced absolutely charming woodcut illustrations for the 1965 book "Yankee Doodle" (Dr. Richard Schackburg). 

But perhaps his most striking work is found in the 1973 book "Suppose You Met a Witch". Illustrating a fairy-tale story by English poet Ian Serraillier (originally published in 1952), Emberley's work here (sixteen two-page spreads, plus front and back covers) is almost psychedelic.

Presented below in its entirety.

The above beautiful illustration of two swans on the water is done in very light, low contrast colors that is hard to appreciate from a scan. Below is the same spread with the contrast cranked up to eleven to reveal the line work.

"Suppose You Met A Witch" is out of print as of this writing.

Monsters: Fiendish Facts, Quivery Quizzes and Other Grisly Goings-on (A Golden Family Funtime Book, 1977)

This entry in the "Golden Family Funtime" series is called (take a breath...) "Monsters: Fiendish Facts, Quivery Quizzes and Other Grisly Goings-on", a collection of essays, puzzles, games and trivia revolving around all things monster. Written by Donald F. Glut (he also wrote, interestingly, the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back, among other comic and horror titles for kids) and illustrated by Dennis Hockerman (cover only) and Carole Jean Bourke (interiors), "Monsters" offers a fairly comprehensive overview of the monster genre with an emphasis on their presentation in books and films, padded out with a little cryptozoology for good measure.

Categories of monster reviewed here include the literary (Frankenstein's Monster, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde)...

...traditional/folklore (Werewolves, Vampires, Mummies, Voodoo Terrors)...

Werewolf indicators. Keep the tweezers handy if you want to pass for normal.

A depiction of the burning at the stake of accused werewolf Stubbe Peter, Germany, March 31, 1590.

...and cryptozoological/extra-terrestrial "real world" monsters (Prehistoric Monsters, Monsters From Outer Space, and Abominable Beasts).

The quizzes revolve around monster movies and are actually kind of fun and require some knowledge of the genre. "Creature Color Contest" asks you to complete the movie title with the correct color name.

"Dracula's Countdown" is the same concept, but using numbers selected from a list.

Simbar the Werelion (a character from the comic book "The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor") challenges you to match the actor to the monster they portrayed.

There are a few visual puzzles as well, challenging you to find hidden animals in a drawing (The 13 Black Cats and Find the Missing Werewolves)...

...plus the party game where you stare at a picture for a period of time and then are expected to answer questions about details of the picture from memory (No Hyde-Ing Place).

Optical illusions and magic tricks are found here as well, including the severed-finger gag I remember from Spooky Tricks (presented here as Frankenstein's Finger).

There's a board game "Escape To the Castle" that takes up a two-page spread...

...and finally, Sinister Shadows demonstrates how to make Godzilla, a werewolf, vampire bat, and other monsters with your hands.

Other entries in the Golden Family Funtime Books series focused on crafts, games, magic, and riddles. Take a look at that funtime family!