Hidden things

Hidden Things

Ahlberg, Allan. Ahlberg's Each Peach, Pear, Plum is yet another. Fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters hide on the pages.
Anno, M. Anno's Journey--M. Anno--has lots of things to look for in his illustrations, such as fairy tale characters. Anno's books (Anno's Journey, Anno's USA, Anno's Italy) all have the man on a horse in every scene along with lots of optical tricks, hidden paintings and literary scenes.
Appelt, Kathi. A nut is hidden in each illustration of Elephants Aloft by Kathi Appelt, Keith Baker (Illustrator).
Baker, Keith. Keith Baker's book, Hide and Snake is rather intricate as there is 1 item from each page that 'migrates' to the next page...hard to explain without having the book in front of me, but it is a great book for visual richness. His Who is the Beast has a snail on each page
Baracca, Tony and Susan. They started with a book about an abandoned dog in New York City, "Taxi Dog" - there are two sequels I think- and they also did the black cat (though not in every spread) in "Fannie's Dream" which was a Young Reader nominee in California last year. A cat (usually black) of some type (not identical) is on each page of Taxi Dog. One of them is a white cat in the clouds, another is the "Felix" cat clock, etc...
Base, Graham. Graham Base - In Eleventh Hour there are interesting clues to help solve the mystery of the story. Anamailia is an alphabet book with hundreds of pictures on each page for each letter. But also on each page he has hidden a young boy in blue pants and a striped shirt (its supposed to be him as a child).
Brett, Jan. Jan Brett hides a hedgehog in all her stories, sometimes one on each page. Once it was the French name for hedgehog, usually it's a 'real' or toy one. Jan Brett always has some activity in her margins--some more obvious than others.
Brown, Marc. Marc Brown hides his children's names in his illustrations. It started with Tolon and Tucker and now includes his daughter Eliza. Their friends names appear in some, too.
Brown, Margaret Wise. There is a mouse in all the colour illustrations in Goodnight Moon. Also, the mouse moves all around the room, and the clock changes time (it takes an hour to get that bunny settled down!)
Browne, Anthony. Anthony Browne's PIGGYBOOK-- As you get deeper and deeper in the story, more and more pigs are integrated into his pictures.
Buehner, Mark. Mark Buehner (Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm, A Job For Wittilda, My Life With the Wave, etc.) hides animals in his illustrations. Usually you can always find a black cat, a dog, a rabbit and various other animals.
Crews, Donald. Donald Crews hides the year the book was created in his books. Look on license tags, and other places. Also, in _Night at the fair_-- he has put a picture of himself in the book--looks just like the author picture on the flap.
Cuyler, Margery. "The Biggest Best Snowman" by Cuyler, has the animals roll the snowball and it spells out snowman in the snow.
Edwards, Pamela Duncan; Henry Cole (Illustrator ) Some Snug Slug has S shapes in the illustrations.
Egan, Tim. I just saw Tim Egan speak on Saturday and he said he likes to hide things in his illustrations. He hides different family names, spoofs on famous art, etc.
Fox, Mem. The person who wrote TIME FOR BED and GOODNIGHT GORILLA, references his other books in his pictures.
Hirschfield, Al. More adult is Al Hirschfield who hides his daughter's name-Nina-in his media artwork for Broadway shows, etc.
Hyman, Trina Schart. Trina Schart Hyman hides stuff in her pictures. Sometimes it is wildly inappropriate (King Stork).
Jackson, Ellen. Ellen Jackson's newest book, Turn of the Century, is illustrated by Jan Davey Ellis. Ellis has put a cat and a mouse in every 2 page spread. Also, although not hidden pictures, the borders of the spreads are significant to the text on those pages.
Kellogg, Steven. Steven Kellogg usually hides Pinkerton in his illustrations.
Knight, Hilary. Find Hilary Knight's Wallace in "Where's Wallace."
Livermore, Elaine. Elaine Livermore has 4 books (Find the Cat (op), Looking for Henry , Follow the Fox, and Three Little Kittens) in which you have to search for different things--but the books are similar in idea to the "I Spy" books. (Still fun for kids.)
Marsh, T.J. Way Out in the Desert by Marsh and Ward. It's a counting book (7 scorpions, 8 somethings, 9 coyotes, etc.) with beautiful, bold illustrations of the animals. On each page, the number of animals is hidden somewhere in the picture (on the 9 coyotes, one of the puppies' tails curves into a very recognizable "9"). Also, the text is rhyming and rhythmic. "Way out in the desert ..." is spoken to the cadence of "Over in the meadow." The text is factually accurate and there is a glossary in the back of all the animals in the book.
Marshall, James. James Marshall hides the flag of Texas in his books.
Mayer, Mercer. Mercer Mayer has a cricket/grasshopper/mouse/spider in the illustations of his Little Critter books.
McGeorge, Constance. Look for a scarecrow hidden on each page of the Waltz of the Scarecrows by Constance McGeorge.
Pallotta, Jerry. We had Jerry Pallotta come last year and present his alphabet books to us. He often has Ralph Masiello do his illustrations and Ralph hides pictures of Jerry and others in his artwork. I don't remember which of the books has the hidden photos but I think most of them do.
Root, Phyllis. One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root, there is a branch with a leaf that gets closer and closer to the duck until he is finally able to step on it and get out of the muck. Phyllis Root herself pointed this out to me.
Rupunzel. In the Caldecott version of Rapunzel, the cat is on every page and it grows as the book progresses.
Scarry, Richard. In Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, Goldbug is hidden in every picture (2 page spread).
Sendak, Maurice. Maurice Sendak always puts his scottish terrier, "Scottie," somewhere in his books.
Slobodkina, Esphyr. After many years of reading Caps for Sale one of the children said "look at the big hand" -- I had to take a second look and sure enough the tree trunk looks very much like a hand. I don't know if the illustrator did this on purpose or not but it is definitely there.
Trivizas, Eugene. The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, has the teapot on each page when the wolves are escaping.
Van Allsburg, Chris. There is a white terrier (white dog with a black patch on one eye), named Fritz, somewhere within Chris Van Allsburg's books. The dog was a character in his first book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. In one book he is a puppet, in another, a pull toy, and in one book he is the label of a bottle! (Mary Buitendorp noted: It was the dog of one of his relatives. I saw him several years ago in Grand Rapids, MI, for an appearance in his home town and he had the dog with him.
Wilks, Mike. Mike Wilks, whose books are puzzle type anyway (eg The Ultimate Alphabet Book, the Ultimate Noah's Ark) always includes a picture of himself and a snail in every picture. In the Ultimate Noah's Ark, which has one picture broken up into a number of panels for the illustrations, his picture is only in one panel, but the snail is in every one.
Wood, Don and Audrey. Don and Audrey Wood put their son in every book.

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