A celebrated contemporary illustrator and storyteller, Peter Spier hopes that he will not offend anyone by admitting that when he is working, he is initially trying to please only "one person in the world, namely [himself]. The worry about what others will think comes soon enough after the work is done!" Spier's solid research, fecund imagination, piquant humor, and painstakingly accurate drawings have resulted to date in numerous picture books, three sets of toy books, and an illustrated "biography of a country" for older readers, in addition to well over a hundred books he has illustrated for other authors.

Spier's books have not failed to please adults as well as children, which ought to obviate his worry. All twenty picture books are still in print, many of them having garnered prestigious awards. In 1962 The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night (1961) was a Caldecott Honor Book. In 1967 London...