Other books:
 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood — (1883) Publisher: The life and times of Everyone's favorite thief. Filled with action, villains, and surprises, the legend lives on. Days of old bursting with pageantry, knights, and beautiful maidens return in a superb edition of this favorite classic story.
Pepper and Salt; or, Seasoning for Young Folk — (1885) Publisher:
Pyle is best known for the children's books, which he wrote and illustrated. It is from his famous Book of Pirates that our present-day concept of pirates has come. School children still read his Men of Iron, The Story of King Arthur and his Knights, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, and many other tales. Pyle writes in preface to these delightful tales: One must have a little pinch of seasoning in this dull, heavy life of ours; one should never look to have all the troubles, the labors, and the cares, with never a whit of innocent jollity and mirth. Yes; one must smile now and then, if for nothing else than to lift the corners of the lips in laughter that are only too often dragged down in sorrow. Contents: The Skillful Huntsman; Claus and His Wonderful Staff; How Dame Margery Twist Saw More than Was Good for Her; Clever Peter and the Two Bottles; Hans Hecklemann's Luck; Farmer Griggs's Boggart; The Bird in the Linden Tree; and The Apple of Contentment. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.
 The Wonder Clock — (1888) Publisher: Famous and influential as a preeminent illustrator, Howard Pyle was also a gifted writer beloved by millions — young and old — for his endearing and enchanting fairy tales. The Wonder Clock is a delightful, magical collection of whimsical stories: twenty-four stories for twenty-four hours. And each a timeless masterpiece. Peopled with jolly kings and queens, lovely princesses and evil witches, sly foxes and mischievous ravens, ogres and giants, dashing princes and nasty dragons, these are old fashioned fairly tales in the best and most beautiful sense that can be enjoyed by readers of any age. 
Otto of the Silver Hand — (1888) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Fantastically illustrated tale of motherless son of a valiant robber baron of medieval Germany.
 Men of Iron — (1892) Ages 9-12. Publisher: The price of honor…
Myles Falworth was only eight years old the day a knight in black rode into the courtyard of his father's castle with murderous intent, triggering a chain of events that brought disgrace to the house of Falworth. In spite of his family's disgrace, young Myles quickly wins a reputation for courage and independence while in training as a knight at the castle of the great Earl of Mackworth. Then one day, when Myles is sixteen, he discover that his blind father has been condemned for treason, and is being hunted by a powerful enemy who is close to the King. To challenge the King's champion means certain death. Myles must fight to restore his family's rights, but does he dare to risk battle to win back his family's honor?
 The Garden Behind the Moon — (1895) Ages 9-12. Publisher: In the fishing village where he lives, David sits alone by the shore at night, watching the path of light that stretches across the sea until it almost touches the moon. Wondering, Where does it go? Then one day he hears a voice of the Moon-Angel.
Why not try the moon-path tonight? As David will discover, the glimmering moonlit path leads to a magical world behind the moon-a beautiful garden. And golden riches and a great flying horse to whisk him back to earth. But first he will have to battle a giant.
King Stork — (1973) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Filled with all the things a good tale should have — from fiery dragons and savage lions to a clever princess and a handsome hero — this storyteller's favorite is here paired with spectacular art from Caldecott medalist Trina Schart Hyman. Full color .
Bearskin — (1997) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Betrayed by his own father, the infant son of a lowly miller narrowly escapes death and is lovingly adopted by a faithful she-bear. Raised on her nourishing milk, the boy becomes the strongest man in the land — and the only one brave enough to battle the kingdom's bloodthirsty three-headed dragon. Yet it is wit, not just courage and might, that the hero must employ to win his true desire: the delicate hand of a princess already betrothed to another. Nothing could be more delicious than the marvelous quest  that ensues — a tale of romantic valor, stolen glory, and sweet justice. Caldecott Medalist Trina Schart Hyman has created a pictorial drama that is alive with good humor and splendid characters as forever memorable as Howard Pyle's timeless story. Here is a winning revival from the classic book The Wonder Clock that will surely be savored again and again.
 Bearskin
Howard Pyle is best known as the writer of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, a book that's widely considered to be the definitive compilation of the Robin Hood ballads into a cohesive whole. Though that's his most famous work, he also wrote two anthologies of fairytales: Pepper & Salt and The Wonder Clock. This adaptation of Bearskin is from the latter collection, and Pyle's love of fairytales and legends is apparent, for it reads like a composite tale of several other familiar stories.
A king is traveling through the country when he stops to rest and dine at a mill. For fun, he orders his wise man to read the fortune of the miller's newborn baby, but to his displeasure, the king is told that the infant will one day marry his own unborn daughter. To avoid this insulting fate, the king buys the infant from his father and gives the boy to one of his foresters to dispose of. Unable to go through with harming the boy, the forester instead hides him in a wicker basket and sends him downstream where he's adopted by a great she-bear.
Growing to manhood, the youth finally decides to leave the forest and explore the human world, taking with him a small horn from his foster-mother that she promises will call on help if he ever needs it. Hearing news that a dragon is destroying the land, Bearskin (named so for the bearskin that he wears wrapped around his shoulders) takes it upon himself to kill the beast and save the princess. Not all goes according to plan, as the dishonest steward of the king takes advantage of the situation, taking the dragon heads back to the castle in order to take credit for the kill himself. With his reward being the hand of the princess in marriage, Bearskin must call on his cunning and wit if he's to save her and claim his destiny.
The story is full of "borrowings" from other fairytales, Biblical stories, mythology and legends: the prophesy that endangers a child, a huntsman who doesn't do his job, a baby set adrift on a river and raised by a wild animal, a magical gift that endows the hero with power, a dragon that needs slaying, a threefold trial, a sacrificial princess, and a secret test of character in which Bearskin reveals definitive proof that he and not the steward was responsible for the death of the dragon. Essentially, there's everything but the kitchen sink, making "Bearskin" both familiar and muddled.
Illustrator Trina Schart Hyman seems well aware of this, and the patchwork quality of the story is matched in the variety of ethnicities apparent in the story. One can only imagine what Pyle would have thought of all this, and at first glance it may seem to be a strained effort to be politically correct, but the warmth and vibrancy of Hyman's illustrations make this just a passing notion. Therefore, we have an Asiatic hero and an African princess in a European setting, made even odder by the fact that these characters have white biological parents. Of course, it doesn't stand up under close scrutiny, but in this case it's best just to embrace the general craziness of the story and the warped fairytale world in which Hyman sets it.
Human figures are always Hyman's strong point, capturing mannerisms and facial expressions as though they were real people; even posture differs from character to character. Here Bearskin makes a fascinating hero: effeminate and manly at the same time, with good humor and intelligence in his face, as though he finds the whole world to be a rather amusing place. The princess is spritely and lithe, and though she's quite passive in the text, Hyman makes sure that she's no wilting violet.
There are some hilarious illustrations here, such as the "portrait" shot of Bearskin and his adoptive mother proudly looking out at the reader, or the outdoor picnic that Bearskin and the swineherd enjoy as the pigs mill around them. Unfortunately, the dragon looks a little cartoony (a similar thing occurred in Hyman's “Saint George and the Dragon”), and the human element that isn't accorded to the she-bear doesn't quite meld with the straightforward depictions of the other animals present.
All in all, this is a rather strange story, with even stranger illustrations (with regard to style), but together Pyle's lyrical prose and Hyman's whimsical pictures somehow make it work. —Rebecca Fisher
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Howard Pyle illustrated books for children. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy.
In 1894 he began teaching illustration at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University), and after 1900 he founded his own school of art and illustration.
He also illustrated historical and adventure stories for periodicals such as Harper's Weekly and St. Nicholas Magazine. Pyle travelled to Florence, Italy to study mural painting in 1910, and died there in 1911.
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