Hosie's Alphabet

Hosie's Alphabet
Leonard Baskin ~ words by Hosea, Tobias, and Lisa Baskin ~ Viking, 1972

American artist, sculptor, print maker and friend to the Plath/Hughes family, Leonard Baskin was known for his dark and sometimes strange etchings and paintings. Here, at the urging of his family, he created an alphabet book (his first work for children) in collaboration with his wife and sons. A Caldecott Honor book, each spread pictures a single illustration with appropriate alphabetic explanations, as the "mole in a hole" pictured above.

Also featured are such eclectic delights as...

A ghastly garrulous gargoyle

The rhinoceros express

A Scholastic Toad

and the invisible unicorn

Some everyday. Some outlandishly twisted. All very much the sons and daughters of an artist who once said, "Art is man's distinctly human way of fighting death."

Looks like in this case, Baskin's legacy has won the battle for him.


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