The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Nancy Willard - Leo and Diane Dillon - First Edition Child Book, Kids Book - Book About Magic, Fables, Poetry

First edition of The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Nancy Willard, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. Sophie, a red-haired sorceress-in-training, apprentices to Sorcerer Tottibo and learns that practice makes perfect.

Written by Nancy Willard. Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. 1993 first edition, first printing. Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

"Mount Dragon's Eyes? It's very near,
yet no one travels it for fear
of beasts that mutter, huff, and blow,
round the magician Tottibo.
Beyond his house the earth looks dead.
"Take heart, you beasts and bugs," he said.
"Let spiders sing and panthers play.
My new apprentice comes today!"

Her bike was blue, her hair was red.
The road turned wicked, sharp, and sly.
The footpath ended in a sigh.
Sylvia dismounted, combed her hair,
took a deep breath and climbed the stair. ..."

A brief history of this ancient tale is provided in the back of the book. Most of us know the story of The Sorcerer's Apprentice from the classic Disney movie and numerous modern children's books but its genealogy extends to a much older Greek dialogue by Lucian that was popularized in the 18th C by the great German writer Goethe. The timeless lesson is that practice makes perfect, even for wizards and witches.

Nancy Willard's (1936 - 2017) distinguished writing career, in poetry and prose, included a Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake's Inn and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for the first two books in the Anatole Trilogy.

- Sailing to Cythera, and other Anatole Stories (1974)
- The Island of the Grass King: The Further Adventures of Anatole (1979)
- Uncle Terrible: More Adventures of Anatole (1982)

Learn more about Willard's work.
Poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/nancy-willard

Leo (1933 - 2012) and Diane (1933- ) Dillon met at the Parsons School of Design and worked together as artists and illustrators for over 50 years. Together they created some of the most memorable commercial illustrations of the past century, including children's book illustrations and science fiction book covers. Leo's NY Times obituary described their work together as "a seamless amalgam of both their hands".

Learn more about the Dillons' work.
Tor.com/2014/11/25/the-art-of-leo-and-diane-dillon/

Condition*: Near Fine/Fine. There's an inscription from parents to their children on the front endpaper.

*Based on guidelines of the Independent Online Booksellers' Association.

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