Questionable Creatures: A Bestiary

by Pauline Baynes

Bestiaries are the most gloriously entertaining books to have come from the Middle Ages. Written and illuminated by monks, they describe every creature thought to exist in the medieval world and include all manner of fish, fowl, and mythological beast, however far-fetched.

Pauline Baynes, whose original line illustrations for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are known to millions, has revived twenty medieval and mischievous beasts, basing her tongue-in-cheek descriptions on various English bestiaries. Her delightful recreations of these fabulous beasts -- from phoenix to manticore, from bonnacon to yale -- hop, swoop, and gallop through the pages in antique splendor and will charm today's readers as readily as they astounded audiences centuries ago.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Mythical Creatures, Animals

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Pauline Diana Baynes was an English book illustrator, whose work encompassed more than 100 books, notably those by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Pauline is probably best known for her illustrations in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. She was also J.R.R. Tolkien's chosen illustrator: her drawings appear in Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Smith of Wootton Major, Tree and Leaf, and after Tolkien's death the poem Bilbo's Last Song.

Pauline Baynes began her career with little formal training. After spending her early years in India, where her father was commissioner in Agra, she and her elder sister came to England for their schooling. When their father retired, their parents settled near Farnham in Surrey and Pauline, as the unmarried daughter, found herself looking after them during the day and trying to illustrate at night.

Pauline attended the Slade School of Fine Art, where her sister was completing a diploma course, but after only a year she volunteered to work for the Ministry of Defence, painting camouflage. However, since her kind of attention to detail and accuracy were skills essential for map-making, she was soon transferred to another department to draw maps. This experience was very helpful when she later drew maps of Narnia for Jack, and of Middle-earth for his friend J.R.R. Tolkien.

Over the years Pauline Baynes created many new illustrations for use on book jackets, as well as colouring the original illustrations. In 1989, she made a series of full-page colour paintings for two books, one called The Land of Narnia, and the other a beautiful, deluxe version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

She was awarded the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in 1968 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to children's illustration.

Reviews

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baynes's bestiary explores creatures real and mythical from the perspective of the medieval world. I enjoyed how she noted varying accounts and beliefs, and noted medicinal ideas when relevant. This is not really a book for children, in my opinion. It's fairly mature and earthy, just like the middle ages; think The Miller's Tale from The Canterbury Tales.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of odd and unusual "facts" about a hotch-potch of beasts, both real and mythical, culled from various medieval bestiaries and plonked on the page with about as much panache as a dinner lady serving mashed potato at an infant school.

Ah, but the illustrations are little jewel-like confections, lovingly crafted by a Michelin-starred pâtissière. I love you, Pauline Baynes!

[Jean Bowen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations by Pauline Baynes but her text was rather cynical. I wish she just let the whimsy of a Bestiary shine through.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool picture book in the style of bestiaries- books written and illustrated in the Middle Ages by monks depicting animals both real and fantastic. Pauline Baynes illustrations are wonderful of course.

[Isaiah (aka Isaiah Ward) Herrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite, if you want better understanding on how medieval besiaries worked back then and the symbology behind them this is definitely one of the books you should get your hands on. Truly exceptional!

[Carfig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting facts and illustrations

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, brief picture book of beasts based on medieval bestiaries.

Note: some mature content.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for gr. 4-10. This book modernizes the concept of a bestiary, a description of real and mythological creatures. The author/illustrator takes 20 creatures from the lion to the phoenix and gives the reader a fanciful illustration and a single page description of how these creatures were described in older bestiaries along with ideas about whether the mythological creatures were based on actual animals. Short but interesting.

[Melanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

The little bits of folklore gleaned from ancient bestiaries were really interesting - particularly the descriptions of what the scholars of yore thought various animals looked like. Can you imagine a blue or red leopard?

I wasn't that enthralled with the pseudo old fashioned illustrations. One of these days I'll have to track down some reproductions of bestiary illuminations -- they're probably fascinating!

[Holden · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was like the bible for some real and mythical creatures, not that good.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish there had been pictures p what was thought to be an exaggerated animal. A glossary with pronunciations would have been nice.