A charming gentleman called Charley Harper is my precious find this week. The illustrations below are taken from a Biology book he illustrated, The Giant Golden Book of Biology: and introduction to the science of life (ranking high on my wish list, if I had one). I love his work, which he used to call 'minimal realism'. The word that comes to my mind is 'whimsical'. 

This was the first illustration by Mr Harper I came across. The caption said 'from an 1960's Biology book', which is quite misleading, for it implies came from a textbook... boy, were there really children studying Biology in the 60's with a book full of illustrations like these?? Oh wow...

But that is not quite the truth. The Giant Golden Book of Biology: and introduction to the science of life is NOT a textbook regularly used in schools anywhere.

Breathing Process - squirrel