Anno

This was supposed to be an occasional series, but it has been a dismal, wet day and it seemed like a good idea to add another one to my favourite picture book list.

If you haven’t come across Mitsumasa Anno before, then you are in for a treat. He is a Japanese creator of amazing books. We have had two of them in our family for many, many years. In fact I assume that I bought them in the 70s when they were first published and our two children were born.

Anno’s Counting Book is far more than just a book of numbers. Each double page spread has a detailed drawing with lots of things in it. Yes, there will be the right number of everything – three trees, three children etc. but each page depicts a different month and there are so many little stories on each page. Endless fun for a young child. (Why is it assumed that young children need everything to be big? They just love tiny figures.)

It needs an older child to appreciate Anno’s Journey, from which this picture is taken. Our 8 year old granddaughter spent a lot of time with this book when she was here a month or so ago. The book has no words. It is a pictorial journey through Europe – through time and place. The reader follows Anno as he journeys through each scene – you can see him here on his horse just coming into the picture. But all around him life goes on. There are little stories in every corner; something new to be found every time the reader comes to the book. Some stories follow on through several pages, e.g. you see the start and the end of a race; you can follow a family as they move house. You also encounter scenes from famous paintings – I still keep coming across these – and characters from well-known stories. My granddaughter spotted the Pied Piper – I had never seen him before! We laughed when we saw a prisoner escaping down a rope from a castle and wondered whether he would get away.