Great illustration? Any chance I you could post a big version? I looked for the book online and all the copies were over $100.

+silvergirl

It's so ironic that your post was made just a few weeks ago. I also grew up reading The Tall Book of Make Believe, the wonderful illustrations fueling my imagination. I read it to all of my daughters who also love it and am now reading it to my six-month-old grandson who stares at the pictures and listens raptly to the poetry (I swear). A search for extra copies for all of my kids lead me here. I enjoyed reading about your love for this great book.

Just thinking the very same thing ...

I had no idea that this book was called "The Tall Book of Make Believe even though I grew up loving it. It was a hand-me-down book and had no covers when I got it. I loved Bad Mousie, and as I was the sickly child in the family I could understand the boy in the "Land of Counterpane" very well. Thanks for giving me a title and hopefully I will someday be able to afford (!) a copy of my very own.

I am looking at my copy right now! I remember going to the book store with my mother when I was 5 years old. She told me I could pick out any book I wanted and The Tall Book of Make Believe was the one I chose. I am an artist and I believe that this book was a huge influence and inspiration all my life. As a matter of fact, I have a line of dolls (faeries) that I make and interestingly enough, they look like the little faeries on the inside cover of the book. I am 54 and my children loved it and now my grandchildren. I wish someone would reprint it so future generations could enjoy it.

I was asked to bring my favorite childern's book as a baby shower gift. I could not remember the name except tall book. Thanks to Google, I was led here. Oh, my joy to see the title and "The Land of Counterpane". I spent hours with that book even as a teenager rereading and looking at those pictures. Those beautiful pictures. And oh, how disappointed I was to find that it is no longer in print. The copy that rapt my attention was at my grandmother's home and through her moves has been lost to me. Oh I remember the Bad Mouse and the Never ending Lollipop and the Gingham Dog and Callico Cat. If the prices were not so high I would enjoy it again. At least the memories are clear.

I am so happy to learn of others who grew up loving this book! I nearly wore it out myself, and I read it to all three of my children, and now my first grandchild has arrived... and I need a copy for him. Alas, mine has fallen completely apart. By the way, the "counterpaine" illustration is one of my very favorite. This book has inspired my creativity and art all of my life!

I am so happy to learn of others who grew up loving this book! I nearly wore it out myself, and I read it to all three of my children, and now my first grandchild has arrived... and I need a copy for him. Alas, mine has fallen completely apart. By the way, the "counterpaine" illustration is one of my very favorite. This book has inspired my creativity and art all of my life!

It's just been driving me crazy! This and another one of the Tall Books were my absolute number 1 favorites as a child and, like many of you, even later on. A former friend (who should be shot!) says he has a couple of boxes of mine which is where I believe my copies are. Some sick impulse of his (I can only surmise) now has him withholding the boxes (I've now moved across the country); probably because I made the mistake of telling him that I believe these treasured books of mine are in them. What can we do to get the publisher to re-print them? Has anyone any thoughts on this? They sure don't make books like these anymore! I always loved all the illustrations which seemed to be so evocative of what we would imagine ourselves. Everything was so different; even the hues used in the coloration! I also had a Hans Christen Andersen book of fairy tales that was wildly illustrated and another favorite. Has any of you seen those old multi-colored "Junior Classics?" My mom has a set of those somewhere and I remember a dark story about "Hobbiyahs" which were little gremlin-like, mischief-making creatures. Those were great too!

Let's make a deal that if anyone finds copies of these that we'll post the source here!

Re the Tall Books. The Tall Book of Make Believe was reprinted a couple of years ago but it does seem to be out of print again. If you look around on ebay or Amazon it does come up from time to time. While copies of the original book are pretty expensive the reprint usually sells for around $20.

The other Tall Books from that era are The Tall Book of Fairy Tales, The Tall Book of Mother Goose, The Tall Book of Nursery Tales, The Tall Book of Christmas, and the Tall Book of Bible Stories. The Nursery Tales book is probably the other one you are referencing... it is particulary wonderful... one of my favorite things about the book is the table of contents which shows little pictures from each story. My son loves carefully selecting which one I’ll read him each night. All kids books should have table of contents pages like this.

If you’re into Garth Williams there are some other books I’d recommend. One is called the Whispering Rabbit. There are two editions, one illustrated by Williams and put out by scholastic and one by someone else, so don’t get the wrong one. The other recommendation is a little series of books called the Tiny Nonsense Stories. They’re all a little bit weird and wonderful.

I too have a very special place in my heart for The Tall Book of Make-Believe. Recently while cleaning out my parents attic, I found my copy that was given to me by my father in 1963. He gave it to me when I was 4 after I had a bad week with our new living room rug and an opened gallon can of oil base paint. I still remember my mother being very upset and I just felt awful for several days. My father returned from a trip and gave me this very special book with a beautiful inscription that he had written. I can't begin to tell you how comforting that book was to me. It was the perfect vessel for him to tenderly say it was OK and that he loved me more than anything. I felt that love every single time I read it. When I found it in the attic at 49, the cover was gone but the pictures and verse were like finding comfortable, dear old friends. I only hope that Jane Werner and Garth Williams realized what a treasure they created! I can't wait to share my special book with everyone!