Randolph Caldecott and How the Heather Looks Research

Ceesa and I have been reading How the Heather Looks by Jean Bodger. It is a delightful book about a family's quest to track down the inspiration for many authors' writings. It has been a joy to read and we have been blessed to have read so many of the wonderful stories that Bodger references.

One thing that occurred to me as we were reading the chapter called Caldecott Country. I have never read or even seen a book by that most famous artist. As that realization set in, I decided that it was necessary to right that wrong. After all it has been said that:

"The humour of Randolph Caldecott’s drawings is simply irresistible, no healthy-minded man, woman, or child could look at them without laughing."

So that put us on a quest to discover Caldecott's charm for ourselves.

We ordered as many as our library owned and got set ourselves to most joyful work.

So for those of you that may not be familiar with this great, here are some of the jems we found as we dug through our pile and discovered what Bodger and her family provided for us. I have referenced the pages and topic from How the Heather Looks with each picture.

The Establishment of Mrs. Mary Blaze on page 7

Hunting a favorite past time in Whitechurch pg 8

Old porch of Blue Bell Inn on page 12

Old goffers on page 12 and fields on page 13

Local inhabitants for the Graphic on page 5

What! No Soap! on page 10

Horse from A Farmer went Riding on page 6

The house that Jack Built on page 

Cat from the House that Jack Built on page 10

Dog from the House that Jack Built on page 10

The maiden all forlorn on page 12

The farmer that sows the corn on page 5

John Gilpin on his runaway horse on page 2 and lanes on page 13

The Great She-Bear walking down High St. on page 9 and the church and shops on Main St. on page 12

Farmer on page 14

Cows on page 14

Cows on page 14

Round, firm arms on page 10

The Angel Inn on page 7

I hope you have as much fun looking at these illustrations as we have! To see our favorite book list, you can click here. Both Randolph Caldecott's books and How the Heather Looks are on it!

Wishing you homeschool blessings,


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