My Wonderful
Christmas Tree
Story and Illustrations by Dahlov Ipcar
$16.95
Hardcover, Children's Picture Book
ISBN: 978-1-934031-22-3
ABOUT THE BOOK
From the snowy, wintery window of her art studio, Dahlov Ipcar sees a wild and wondrous
world. With vivid imagination and vibrant colors, she captures a lively part of the Christmas season at her farm in Maine. From one shining star that graces the top of a living outdoor tree, she envisions many captivating creatures of the field and forest who come to visit.
From young black bears to snowy owls, from evening grosbeaks to happy chipmunks,
this book presents a lively panorama of wild creatures she has seen and enjoyed. My Wonderful Christmas Tree by the legendary Dahlov Ipcar is a holiday classic that conveys the feeling of the Christmas season outdoors in New England.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dahlov Ipcar was born in Vermont, raised in Greenwich Village, and summered in Maine after her parents (the famed sculptor William Zorach and artist Marguerite Zorach) bought a farm on Georgetown Island in 1923. Thirteen years later, eighteen-year-old Dahlov, an aspiring artist, married Adoph Ipcar. The young couple left New York City in 1937 to live on the Maine farm where they first met.
By the early 1940s, Ipcar had nearly given up thoughts of writing and illustrating books, but was contacted by a New York publisher to illustrate The Little Fisherman. The struggling young artist jumped at the chance, and this charming title helped launch a four decade run that saw her write and illustrate more than thirty children's books of her own. My Wonderful Christmas Tree, originally published in 1986, marked her final book and provides a beautiful bookend to her inspiring career.
Today, Ipcar's distinctive artwork is known worldwide, with pieces of her work in the collections of numerous renowned museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Meanwhile, Ipcar still lives and paints in the 1860s farmhouse that she shared with Adolph for nearly seventy years. She once said she didn't want celebrity or fame; she just "wanted to be recognized." In retrospect, a fairly modest statement for a Maine – and American – treasure.
EXCERPT
“
I looked out my window
On Christmas night,
And there I saw
A most wonderful sight –
One shining star,
One brilliant light,
Sparkling, glimmering,
Gleaming bright,
High in my tree
On Christmas night,
One shining star. ”
Farmyard Alphabet
