Ingri Mortenson and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire met at art school in Munich in 1921. Edgar's father was a noted Italian portrait painter, his mother a Parisian. Ingri, the youngest of five children, traced her lineage back to the Viking kings.

The couple married in Norway, then moved to Paris. As Bohemian artists, they often talked about emigrating to America. "The enormous continent with all its possibilities and grandeur caught our imagination," Edgar later recalled.

A small payment from a bus accident provided the means. Edgar sailed alone to New York where he earned enough by illustrating books to buy passage for his wife. Once there, Ingri painted portraits and hosted modest dinner parties. The head librarian of the New York Public Library's juvenile department attended one of those. Why, she asked, didn't they create picture books for children?

The d'Aulaires published their first children's book in 1931. Next came three books steeped in the Scandinavian folklore of Ingri's childhood. Then the couple turned their talents to the history of their new country. The result was a series of beautifully illustrated books about American heroes, one of which, Abraham Lincoln, won the d'Aulaires the American Library Association's Caldecott Medal. Finally they turned to the realm of myths.

The d'Aulaires worked as a team on both art and text throughout their joint career. Originally, they used stone lithography for their illustrations. A single four-color illustration required four slabs of Bavarian limestone that weighed up to two hundred pounds apiece. The technique gave their illustrations an uncanny hand-drawn vibrancy. When, in the early 1960s, this process became too expensive, the d'Aulaires switched to acetate sheets which closely approximated the texture of lithographic stone.

In their nearly five-decade career, the d'Aulaires received high critical acclaim for their distinguished contributions to children's literature. They were working on a new book when Ingri died in 1980 at the age of seventy-five. Edgar continued working until he died in 1985 at the age of eighty-six. »

The Two Cars

Written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire

In The Two Cars the celebrated husband and wife team of Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, famous for their illustrated versions of Norse and Greek myths, offer young children a playful modern twist on the ancient fable of the tortoise and the hare.

Two cars sit side by side in the same garage. One is fast, shiny, and ready to go; the other is a comfortable old jalopy, a little worse for wear but as reliable as can be. On a magic moonlit night, the doors of the garage swing open and they head out for a spin, each determined to prove that he is the "best car on the road." Over hill and dale and roundabout they go, encountering—and narrowly missing—trains, trucks, wildlife, and even, in the form of a policeman on a motorcycle, the long arm of the law. Before the two cars' nocturnal caper is over, each will have discovered the being the "best" is not so simple as you might suppose.

Reviews

The Two Cars by the distinguished author/illustrator team of Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire is a modern adaptation of The Tortoise and the Hare, in which safe and courteous driving wins the day. Delicate pencil illustrations and a plot delivered at a pace fit for a turnpike should prove as enchanting to today's automotively inclined children as when the book was first published in 1955.
— Publishers Weekly

The d'Aulaires now add to their list of distinguished picture books a fable about two little cars...It's a jolly little tale witha surprise ending which is a good lesson for us all.
— The Chicago Tribune

[A] just right picture story...The pictures are amusing and the personification of the automobiles is done with a masterlyuse of mechanical detail.
— The New York Times

Also see:

D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths By Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire Preface by Michael Chabon The Caldecott medal-winning d'Aulaires once again captivate their young audience with this beautifully illustrated introduction to Norse legends.

D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls By Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls, the spectacularly illustrated and delightfully entertaining companion volume to the much-acclaimed D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths.

D'Aulaires' Book of Animals Written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire This remarkably beautiful volume unfolds into an 8-foot long two-sided panoramic work of art on which the animals of the world are rendered in vibrant color and the moonlit shades of night.

The Terrible Troll-Bird Written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire One summer's eve Ola, Lina, Sina, and Trina leave their village to gather firewood in the forest, when they're surprised by the hideous call of the terrible troll-bird, a giant rooster who pops up out of the treetops and swoops down to devour their beloved horse Blakken. Little does the terrible troll-bird know that he has finally met his match: his terrible days of terrorizing are over.

Picture Books Collection The Backward Day, D'Aulaires' Book of Animals, Jenny's Birthday Book, and The Two Cars

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