Black Books
When Walter Crane’s children were growing up, he invented little picture books for them. Walter would make drawings and invent stories based on what the children had been doing in their daily lives.
He would read the stories and show the pictures to his children before they went to bed. The drawings and stories were written in small books with hard, black covers. This is why the family called them ‘black books’.
Walter would often draw his children in magical places, meeting strange characters and having adventures. Sometimes he would include their pets, other members of the family and himself in the stories.
Often, Walter would make the drawings and the children would colour them in with paint or pencil. Walter would also make pictures for the children to copy. This helped them learn how to draw.
