One, Two, Three with Ant and Bee

I haven't spoken much about books so far, so I would like to present One, Two, Three with Ant and Bee by Angela Banner. If you are a young-ish person, you probably didn't grow up with this book. I am not sure many old-ish people did either. I loved this small counting book as a young child. The story was rather odd about an ant that is injured and nursed back to health by his close friend Bee. Similar to the Dressed Cat postcards, I was fascinated by the illustrations in this book. The simple, graphic style of drawing and the pattern of objects has stayed in my imagination over the years.


Oddly enough I was thinking about Ant and Bee about a year ago while developing one of my own books, when my mother came to visit and pulled my old battered copy out of her bag. "Look what I found in the closet". This was eerie. 


My younger sister did a good job of adding her own illustrative adornments to the book which is missing its cover and a few key pages, but I have since purchased a bright new, (and more expensive) copy. The book is sadly out of print.


Here are a few illustrations: