Quirky humour in children's picture books is a nod to the past

What we read to our children changes through the generations, as does how we dress them. When it comes to classic picture books, other than the date of publication, I have firm notions about how they differ from modern works. In my mind, the old classics use soft watercolours and gentle prose to tell stories that warm the heart.

Today's bookshelves are filled with picture books containing laugh-aloud text and eclectic art styles; words often seem to be coming straight from a wacky comedy show, and cartoon illustrations use bright colours to create emotional interpretations of the text.

The epitome of an old classic is Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon, and many other picture books from that mid-20th century era were created in a similar vein. However, when I went back a little further in time, to before the second world war, I discovered a treasure trove of stories full of magical realism.

In The Story of Ferdinand, written by Munroe Leaf in 1936, Ferdinand the young bull spends his days smelling flowers under his favourite cork tree, impervious to his peers jumping around and butting heads in macho showdowns.

When this pacifist bull is accidentally selected to fight at the important bullfights in Madrid, the reader can't wait to see what happens in the ring. Pages and pages about the lead up to the big fight include a parade of banderilleros and picadores, and the arrival of the matador, before Ferdinand is brought to centre stage.

This is an unconventional story about a bull that doesn't act like a bull, but still stays true to itself. Illustrator Robert Lawson complements the story with uncluttered black-and-white vignettes. It wasn't until my 10th reading that I noticed Lawson had cleverly drawn Ferdinand's cork tree with actual wine corks hanging from it.

Marjorie Flack's The Story about Ping was published even earlier. Ping is a duck who lives on his master's houseboat on the Yangtze River.