After taking ill in winter, young Rosie remains confined to bed even when spring comes. Her friends thoughtfully paint pictures of the carousel figures she adores, and her brother buys her a musical merry-go-round toy. That night, Rosie dreams her carousel toy transports her through the night and into the wondrous realms represented by each of the carousel's beloved figures. In the morning Rosie awakens, her fever finally broken.
Author
Brian Wildsmith (1930-2016) was raised in a small mining village in Yorkshire, England, where, he says, "Everything was grey. There wasn't any colour. It was all up to my imagination. I had to draw in my head..." He won a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art where he studied for three years. For a while he taught music at the Royal Military School of Music, but then gave it up so that he could paint full time. He has deservedly earned a reputation as one of the greatest living children's illustrators. In 1962, he published his first children's book, ABC, for which he was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal, Britain's equivalent to the Caldecott Medal. He was also a runner up for this medal for The Owl and the Woodpecker. Wildsmith has said: "I believe that beautiful picture books are vitally important in subconsciously forming a child's visual appreciation, which will bear fruit in later life." In 1994, the Brian Wildsmith Art Museum was established in Izukogen, a town south of Tokyo, Japan. Almost one and a half million people visited a traveling exhibition of his work in 2005. Eight hundred of his paintings are on loan to the museum. Brian is married, has four children, and currently lives in the south of France. — Source
