Books published by publisher Laughing Elephant

We at The Laughing Elephant believe that Christmas, like other celebrations and holidays, is – in addition to its other roles - a complex set of feelings built on our memories of a shared cultural heritage. Few of us in the 21st century have seen a flaming Christmas pudding or Yule log or ridden in a one horse open sleigh, and yet these, and other holiday icons, have become embedded in our collective ideal of Christmas through culture and tradition. In The Big Book of Christmas we attempt to bring to vivid life – through a montage of vintage images and appropriate words – the most treasured ideals of Christmases past. This book presents more than a hundred wonderful images celebrating various aspects of Christmas. Themes includes: Santa’s workshop, Letters to Santa, gift shopping and wrapping, decorating the house and tree, Christmas Eve, carol singing, the nativity and animals at Christmas. Though principally visual, The Laughing Elephant's Book of Christmas includes poems and quotations celebrating the Yuletide including “The Night Before Christmas,” “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and some less well-known, but no less wonderful, Christmas verse.

Reading is primarily a solitary joy, but this book reminds us that it can also be pleasurably shared. The most common sharing is a parent reading aloud to a child, a deeply meaningful ritual for both partners, but there are many other ways in which books are mutually enjoyed--children reading to their parents or to each other, or people looking at a book together. This volume explores these and other forms of this wonderful activity. The Blue Lantern Studio has a very large library of antique children's books, and this book is the first of a series in which an aspect of life is explored through a compilation of images and words from their collection. The words in Sharing the Pleasures of Reading are either reminiscences of those who were read to, or reflections on shared reading.

After taking her children to visit Shakespeare’s house, E. Nesbit – one of the greatest of children’s novelists – was faced with a conundrum: “I can’t understand a word of it,” said Iris. “And you said it was so beautiful,” Rosamund added, reproachfully. “What does it all mean?” “Yes,” Iris went on, “you said it was a fairy tale, and we’ve read three pages, and there’s nothing about fairies, not even a dwarf, or a fairy god mother.” “And what does ‘misgraffed’ mean?” “and ‘vantage,’ and ‘austerity,’ and ‘belike,’ and ‘edict,’ and—“ “stop, stop,” I cried; I will tell you the story.” And she did, eventually publishing her retellings of 20 of Shakespeare’s plays, of which we have included ten. We have selected for each play images from such great illustrators as Walter Crane, Charles Folkard, Lewis Rhead, Charles Robinson W. Heath Robinson, and Hugh Thomson and, of course, Arthur Rackham. Though less well known than Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare, E. Nesbit’s retellings of these plays are concise and straightforward, yet retain the magic of the Bard’s language. The Green Tiger’s Illustrated Shakespeare will make a delightful introduction to this essential body of literature.

The nursery rhymes which we attribute to a mythical Mother Goose are the anonymous poems which have survived hundreds of years because of their popularity with small children, and the ease with which they can be memorized. There is no fixed list of Mother Goose rhymes. There are many hundreds, and many variant forms. We have selected our favorites, which include almost all of those with wide appeal. We have illustrated each rhyme with favorite pictures from our huge library of nursery rhyme books. More than 70 illustrators are used, including Arthur Rackham, Lois Lenski, L.L. Brooke, Kate Greenaway, Frederick Richardson, Margaret Tarrant and E. Boyd Smith. We believe this edition is one of the most remarkable ever made from this still vital body of poetry.

This book explores the golden rule, an ethical formulation which occurs in some form in most of the world's religions, and which reached its most perfect formulation in the words of Jesus, ""Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."" Included are many of the different ways in which the rule is expressed by both religious and secular thinkers. This book also features succinct summaries of arguments for and against the golden rule as a guide to behavior. The Golden Rule is unique in its form. It is only two inches tall and eight inches in length - similar to a ruler - and is printed in golden ink so that it is both a book on the golden rule, and a golden rule itself. Unusually for Laughing Elephant this title is not illustrated; rather the words stand powerfully alone.

In his years of collecting and cataloging the vast Green Tiger library of classic children’s picture books, editor Welleran Poltarnees has singled out scenes containing particularly unusual images and situations and he has compiled the best and rarest of these discoveries in Weird and Wonderful. The results are both engaging and delightful and reveal a world of children’s books where imagination is given free rein. Artists and authors include Frank Baum, Edward Lear, Gelett Burgess, Peter Newell, John R. Neill and Charles Doyle.

The Truth About Easter Rabbits, which we published in 2005, was so attractive and so popular that we follow it up with this survey of snow men, snow women, snow children and snow animals. Like the Easter Rabbit book it uses a great variety of illustrative sources to provide a comprehensive view of how snow people are created, how they vary in personality and appearance, their recreational preferences, their family lives, and what happens to them after they melt. Most of us love snow people already, but after looking at this book one will enjoy them in a more profound way. Sources drawn upon for this project include: old postcards, Victorian scraps, children's readers, antique picture books, and magazine covers and illustrations.

This title describes the many Easter Rabbits that live all around the world, their family life, the decorating of eggs in preparation for Easter and the methods they use to deliver them as gifts to the world's children. Illustrated with a rich abundance of imagery from old children's picture books and Easter postcards, ""The Truth About Easter Rabbits"" is sure to delight all children and the many adults who appreciate the simple pleasures and customs of the Easter season.

Originally published in 1979 by The Green Tiger Press, The Starcleaner Reunion is one of bestselling author/illustrator Cooper Edens most unique and compelling works, so much so that it is currently being adapted into a ballet. It is a book which takes us into a child's dream of the past in which the stars had become darkened and forgotten. We are led on this visionary adventure by a fancifully dressed angel, and together with the aid of the starcleaners - who carry buckets of soapy water and balance atop ladders - the brilliance of the night sky is uncovered as well as deep truths about separation and loneliness and the remedy for darkness of all varieties.

Laughing Elephant's board book version of Mother Goose is a thoroughly charming introduction to the famous nursery rhymes beloved by generations of children. Presented in a sturdy board book format that is perfect for little hands to handle without worry of tears. This newest edition is based on a classic, beautifully illustrated, 1917 version, with charming full color illustrations for every rhyme. The text of the rhymes has been modernized where needed and is suitable for beginning readers. Young children will delight in being read to, or reading for themselves, from this attractively produced volume. With a pleasing die-cut shape, foil embossed cover elements, cloth accented spine, and double thick pages, Mother Goose harkens to the tactile and well crafted books of an earlier time. The rhymes included are: Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son, Rock-a-Bye Baby, Little Miss Netticoat, Goosey Goosey Gander, The Queen of Hearts, Little Tommy Tucker, Baa, Baa, Black, Tommy Snooks and Bessie BrooksSheep, Little Boy Blue, Humpty Dumpty, Pussy cat, Pussy Cat, Little Bo-Peep, Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, Jack and Jill, and Simple Simon.