another incredible book from the shelves of ms peta pledger.

the milk box mystery

written by: gina ingoglia

illustrated by: jerry smath

published: macmillan, 1975

the story follows alice and willi who go to stay with their aunt. they explore her small town and find an abandoned house containing a mysterious milk box…

i love the illustration in this book. its not often you see such vibrant, graphic work done with watercolour. it looks great, don’t you think?

the pattern and textures in the illustrations are really great too, i think. isn’t the woodgrain of the porch nicely done? and let’s not even get started on those fabulous flares!

ooh i love all the bubbly textures in this illustration. is it making you want to get the water colours out too?

inside of the mysterious milk box is a glass lion.. each day the children return to the house to find another glass animal is in the box.

the lace! ooh the lace.. here we see alice at the abandoned house, meeting a strange new boy.

such great composition on this page. everything is dynamic, isn’t it? i wish my grocer had a monkey. and some hand sanitizer too.

a quick google shows jerry smath to be a prolific illustrator, though i couldn’t see much in this similare style. are you familiar with his work? buy your own copy of the milk box mystery.