#851 of 1001 · November 29, 2022

If you’ve ever wished for the experience of slipping off among the trees and having a brush with something dark, dangerous, and altogether otherworldly, you can’t go wrong with Barry Moser’s haunting version of The Magic Wood, a poem by Henry Treece. A child meets a mysterious man in the forest who immediately appears entertaining yet unsettling. He can catch a lark and draw a dragon in the air, yet both his eyes are glass and his teeth can be seen through the back of his head. Cleverly, the child provides a false name and ultimately says a prayer to ward off the man’s eldritch influence. Interspersed with the quatrains is the nerve-jangling refrain: “The wood is full of shining eyes,/The wood is full of creeping feet,/The wood is full of tiny cries;/You must not go to the wood at night!” Just who—or what is this man? We may never know. Moser’s art outlines the eerie encounter in dramatic hues of teal and shadowy black. #magic #wood #woods #forest #man #danger #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks