Sing in Praise! Perfect for a Sunday!

1947 Caldecott Honor: Sing in Praise

Stories of the Hymns and Music Arrangements by Opal Wheeler

Illustrated by Marjorie Torrey

This is the second time we are seeing this pair, they also worked together on Sing Mother Goose which won a 1946 Caldecott Honor.

Fame is a funny, fickle thing. Marjorie Torrey, who as Torrey Chanslor wrote Our First Murder, was one of the major illustrators of children’s books in the mid-twentieth century, achieving back-to-back Caldecott Honor awards, but today she is virtually forgotten. She was born in New York in 1899 but somewhere in the late 1950s, she seems to have quietly passed from the scene.

She wrote a few children’s books herself but she was primarily an artist, whose old-fashioned style was ideally suited to illustrating books for young people. She also did the covers for the two mysteries featuring the Beagle sisters, Our First Murder (1940) and Our Second Murder (1941). Although these covers were uncredited, there’s absolutely no doubt whose work it is when one compares the playful, yet extremely accurate, cover of Our First Murder (reproduced for this edition in a slightly enlarged form) with the delightful illustrations in her 1946 Caldecott Honor book, Sing Mother Goose.

All of her books are out of print today. Even her Caldecott honor books are difficult to find, often confined to rare book rooms or the special collections section of larger libraries. Ironically, she’s perhaps best known today for her two mysteries, which have been mentioned in Carolyn G. Hart’s popular “Death on Demand” mystery series and are sought after by collectors specializing in the evolution of the private eye novel, especially those featuring women sleuths.

The above taken from: http://www.ruemorguepress.com/authors/chanslor.html

Book Summary

A collection of church hymns accompanied by short stories that are titled the same as the hymns.

Illustrations

Traditional.  Simple yet complex?  These are the type of pictures I can seem to recall hanging in my church as a child.  Children are the main subjects of the pictures and they are depicted in religions settings.  The first hymn of the book is “Onward, Christian Soldiers”  (are you singing? J) The illustration next to the hymn is a collection of 7 children walking down a path all singing and carrying a book (hymnal/bible).  There is a sweet, innocent feel about these pictures.  I enjoyed looking at them.

Final Thoughts:

1. Would this be a book I would pick up again? No

2. Would I recommend it to others to search out and take a look at? No

3. Would I spend my hard earned money on the book? No

4. Where did I get the book? Pierce County got a copy from Lamar University-Beaumont