Tasha Tudor

My grandmother gave me Tasha Tudor's A Time to Keep as a Christmas present when I was around 11 years old.  I had never heard of Tudor, but as soon as I opened the book I was absolutely captivated by her beautiful illustrations.  One of my favorite things about her work is the lovely and intricate borders that she often created, such as the one on the cover of A Time to Keep.  I also loved that her work depicted an earlier time in America.  Although she was born in 1915, Tudor chose to live her life as if she lived nearly a century earlier.  I went through a serious Little House on the Prairie obsession in my youth, so Tasha Tudor's illustrations of an 1800s lifestyle were appealing to me.  Several of her books focus on old-fashioned holiday traditions, which I found fascinating.  I also appreciated her interest in dolls and dogs (Corgis).  I absolutely treasured my childhood dolls and have them safely put away in my great-grandmother's hope chest.  And many years after I became a Tasha Tudor fan my family got their first dog, a Corgi mix.

Tasha Tudor circa 1991-- right when I was discovering her work.  I would have died to be the little girl in the photo with her, especially when I was in elementary school and wanted to be Laura Ingalls.

After receiving A Time to Keep, I decided that I wanted to collect books by Tasha Tudor.  This idea predated Amazon.com, or even the internet.  So whenever I saved up enough money, my mum would bring me to a local bookstore, the Children's Book Cellar, which was (obviously) located below street-level and was stacked floor to ceiling with books.  It was heavenly.  Since Tasha Tudor books were somewhat tough to find in stock, I ordered books based solely on the titles and then a few weeks later I would get the call to come pick up my newest addition(s) to the collection.  Since the books were brand spanking new, they smelled fantastic and the spines creaked when I opened them.  Clearly I did not have any clue about what excited the average junior high school student.  An old-timey children's book!  Score!

Since it is nearly Halloween, I have been thinking about the book Pumpkin Moonshine.  Below are covers from a few of my favorite Tasha Tudor books.  She passed away in 2008, but her work is timeless.  I am grateful to my Nana for sparking my interest in her books and to my mum for making the pilgrimages to Children's Book Cellar with me.