The Private World of Tasha Tudor

by Richard Brown and Tasha Tudor

Tasha Tudor has written and illustrated more than seventy-five beloved children's books since her first, Pumpkin Moonshine, in 1938. Now seventy-seven years old, she lives on a farm in southern... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316112925
• ISBN13: 9780316112925
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.9" x 10.9"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

A great pick-me-up!

Absolutely loved this book! Just picked it up from the library today on a whim and couldn't put it down. Talk about a match made in heaven (Tasha and Richard). Tasha must have sensed Richard would do her justice, and he most certainly did. Even though this is a libary loan, I am buying this book for my own personal collection. Tasha's philosophy on life and her love for family, theater, crafts, animals, flowers and art was most infectious. I love how she is honest with herself and alludes to creating a paradise on earth, but also acknowledges that she is human and has made mistakes in life, which keeps it all very real. Use your good china, wear your antique clothing, collect vintage seeds and transport/replant your favorite fruit trees if you so desire. Progress with the new, but remember to go back and learn from the oldest, simplest ways of living, as it can afford many unforeseen treasures. Truly admired Tasha's pure connection with animals to the point where she even took in an infant snake and nursed it until it was too big to keep in the house any longer. Wow! Buy your flower bulbs in multitudes and plant them in clumps. See the beauties in the branches of the trees (clip some and take them indoors to enjoy). Smell the flowers. Buy a dog or several. Buy some birds (or 40). Create your own menagerie. Cook with a talking parrot on your shoulder. It's the little things, folks. Have you ever seen a moon-lit rainbow? I haven't, but will be on the look-out. =)I wanna stick my nose in dove feathers and plant flower bulbs at random -- in large clumps -- wherever I please. I wanna get a dog and feed it homemade soup instead of that trash in those metal cans. Tasha claims that lots of garlic in her soups keeps the dogs flea-free. Never too old to learn. I honestly agree with nearly everything Tasha touched on. Step outside of the box. Live life a little. Get back to basics. Note your likes and dislikes. Learn a new craft. Learn something new. Recite your favorite authors' works or poems. Learn to be self-sufficient. Live life to the fullest! No book has touched me like this in a long, long time. I am going to run out and get me a real nice, old bookshelf and start my own dollhouse rooms on each level. I've always wanted my own canoe, but Tasha has given me the courage to seriously look into it. Look at her skin and body.....if she can carry a canoe and buckets of fresh water on her shoulders, so can I at 35. I wanna use my best China and have a yard full of animals that know I love them and love me back. I just wanna be me and Tasha has helped me to see how important that is. Most of all, I want to pass on to my husband and kids that it is okay to be who you are, but always remain open to the simple, free joys we have been given in everyday life. Thank you, Tasha, for allowing us to enter your oasis and thank you Richard Brown for allowing us to have a sneak peek of Tasha's "paradise on earth".

All her books are great..this one is a gem

This was an early Christmas gift along with four other Tasha Tudor books and I LOVE it. Maybe because there is a bit of Tasha Tudor in me or because we live in a small cottage in the Sierras and have chickens, goats, vegetable, herb and flower gardens and love many of the same things she loves. I like the fact that like Beatrix Potter another author I adore, she lives an authentic homestead life and loves her livestock, painting and making things with her hands. And I found some helpful tricks for catching the occasional mouse that gets in the place. And it is nice to read where someone else uses the good china daily and doesn't save it just for company. Or the joy of wearing clothes that some antique dealer would think are to valuable. And as she notes on page 112 "It satisfies me to spin and knit and weave. I love to be self sufficient, to learn how to make everything I use." She speaks about and there are accompanying photos of the changes of seasons and the joys she encounters along the way. Her goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits and wild birds. Her cooking, spinning and how she plans for the joys in her life. But I guess one thing I liked so much was her philosophy which she says comes in part from Henry David Thoreau and says "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." As she says "That is my credo. It is absolutely true. It is my whole life summed up."

A Vision of Creating the Life You Want

Summary: Ms. Tasha Tudor always wanted "to live on a secluded farm . . . with a garden and a menagerie of household pets and barnyard animals, and to illustrate children's books." And that's exactly what she did. This gorgeous book lovingly displays her life and her illustrations while recounting her personal philosophy of living an 1830's style life. Review: Ms. Tudor's "greatest pleasure is clearly her garden." After seeing the spectacular images of the blooms bursting from that rocky Vermont soil, your views of what can be done with gardens will be transformed forever. For example, she has over 1000 daffodils. The book also features many lovely still lifes featuring blossoms, as well as garden-focused landscapes. Much of her life is home-spun, literally. She spins her own cloth, and makes her own clothes from it. The clothing she wears will remind you of the costumes you have seen at Colonial Williamsburg and Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. But these are her daily garb. She has carefully dressed the rest of her life to match her preferences, as well.Walking barefoot through her home, she enjoys her exotic birds (especially the silly sayings from her parrots) and corgis. The book also shows many fine drawings of the corgis. Cooking is also a great joy, and she makes her own preserves. She sees the opportunity to display "artistry as a cook."As to the 1830's, she says that "I'm drawn to the old ways, convinced that I lived before, in the 1830's." "When I die, I'm going right back to 1830." Seeing her life portrayed here, you'll swear she never left. Seeing her in her home reminds me of Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts where the Alcott family lived in the 19th century. The wardrobe there contains dresses that the Alcott daughters used in their theatrical productions that also evoke the images in this wonderful book. Her professional interest in illustration was stimulated by seeing the drawings in The Vicar of Wakefield. Through the time this book was written, she had illustrated more than 75 children's books. You will enjoy seeing her work in this book.After you finish looking at the delightful images here, and being warmed by the thoughtful expression of a considered life, you should think about what elements would bring perfection to your life if you crafted it as carefully as an artist does a large marble sculpture. What do you need to chip away? What do you need to refine? Where should the sculpture be displayed? Make living a wonderful art!

old fashioned appeal--quaint and absolutely charming!

This wonderful lady is a true inspiration to all. Her artwork is charming and takes one back to a time of gentile simplicity. One can't help but walk back into another time, where there is no rush, no perfection--only puristic life as our great God intended life to be!

What a fantastic lady!

This is an absolutely wonderful book about a woman who lives her life as people did in the 1830s. She grows her own fruits and vegetables, preserves them, wears clothes that are either from the 1800s or like them, bakes her own bread, weaves, has a wonderful and lovely garden, raises birds, goats, and or course Corgis, and paints wonderful pictures for us all to enjoy. The photographs are beautiful, and the text provides some real food for thought. Really did love this book.