A happy shoemaker - who sings beautifully while he works - is stopping his wealthy but miserable neighbour from sleeping. So the rich man hatches a plan to put an end to the shoemaker's sunny disposition. But how can a bag of gold coins steal the music from the shoemaker's life? The simple message of this La Fontaine fable - that cheerfulness is worth more than any amount of accumulated riches - is gloriously told in this lovely picture book from Brian Wildsmith, an internationally acclaimed writer and artist for children. His simple words and sumptuous illustrations bring a freshness to this timeless fable and the stunning new cover design and imaginative interior typography will delight a whole new generation of young Wildsmith fans.

 

There are 32 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 2008 by Oxford University Press .

Brian Lawrence Wildsmith was a British painter and children's book illustrator. He won the 1962 Kate Greenaway Medal for British children's book illustration, for the wordless alphabet book ABC. In all his books, the illustrations are always as important as the text. Wildsmith is considered as one of the greatest children's illustrators. The British Library Association recognised his first book, the wordless alphabet book ABC (1962), with the Kate Greenaway Medal for the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. Four of his works were subsequently commended runners-up for the Medal, all published by Oxford University Press: Oxford Book of Poetry for Children, edited by Edward Blishen, 1963; The Lion and the Rat: A Fable, by Jean de La Fontaine (1668), adapted from Aesop, also 1963; Birds, 1967; and The Owl and the Woodpecker, 1971. The biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award conferred by the International Board on Books for Young People is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books. Wildsmith was one of two runners-up for the inaugural illustration award in 1966 and one of three runners-up in 1968. Find out more here https://www. brianwildsmith. com/.