OK. My next Halloween post was going to be about the Hob stories by William Mayne. To be honest, I knew nothing about this author when I picked up the first novel, Hob and the Goblins, in 1993. The cover, by Norman Messenger, is a gorgeous painting of a rather eerie house in the snow. That was enough then, and it’s still enough today. I picked up the second book, Hob and the Peddler for the same reason~nice cover, again by Norman Messenger. The third collection, The Book of Hob Stories, employed a different but equally talented illustrator, and unlike the other two novels, Patrick Benson’s illustrations can be seen thoughout the book. A no brainer, it needed to come home with me. A year or two passed before I actually read the books, and I found them to be completely charming. However, I have since discovered some very unsavoury things about William Mayne (see the link), which precludes me from writing a more extensive review of his books in this blog. Suffice to say, the two cover illustrations by Norman Messenger, and the artwork by Patrick Benson are worthy of attention entirely on their own, and their work will be explored in greater detail in future posts.

And now for something completely different. Sort of…

From Curious Pages~A review of Georgie, a ‘vintage’ ghost story from 1944. http://bit.ly/awVfOm

From the Guardian, Why I love Peanuts by Joe Queenan. http://bit.ly/9A8L4P Not the nut, the strip.

How many is a pandemonium of pandas? A tangle of octopuses? Have a look at these very cool, very creative illustrations: http://bit.ly/d4Cg7L

Garth Williams’s cover art for Charlotte’s Web sells at auction for $155K; 42 illustrations sold in total, for $780K. Some pig indeed!  http://wapo.st/9RVMxS

Amazing Book Cover Art  http://t.co/ciB9s5G

Next post: final Halloween book review. And then…Christmas! Just kidding…