This beautiful book John Lennon wrote for his son Sean is signed by Yoko Ono for our auction.  John Lennon as a cat lover and several of the pictures in the book are of cats.

John Lennon was many things to many people, but to his son Sean, he was Daddy, a role he approached with humor, affection, and creativity.

One of the ways John expressed his love for his son was by drawings animals, flowers, and people, and then captioning these sketches with endearing and amusing phrases that he and Sean would come up with as they looked over Daddy’s art. The charming results of these playful collaborations are collected in Real Love: The Drawings for Sean, a book bound to delight both young children and whimsical adults.

A testament to the deep bond felt between parent and child, Real Love is also a record of one of our most gifted creative minds at work. Featuring six never-before-seen pieces of art from John and Sean’s father-son jam sessions, this edition of Real Love is an exclusive collector’s item.

Annotation

Full-color pictures with captions that John Lennon did for his son Sean.

amazon.com Review

John Lennon had two opportunities to be a father. His first son, Julian, was born in 1963 at the dawning of Beatlemania. The impact of the Beatles' success on John and Julian's relationship? Suffice to say Paul McCartney wrote "Hey Jude" as a gesture of sympathy to a forlorn young Julian. Fatherhood fit John Lennon far better the next time around when the indulgent daddy, then in his late 30s, put his musical career on hold to indulge his second son, Sean. Evidence of Lennon the doting dad can be found in this 48-page collection of sun-drenched illustrations sketched out to entertain a toddling offspring. The once-caustic ex-Beatle betrays not a hint of his scathing side in these vivid drawings. Rather, the witty punster who was dubbed the "smart Beatle" after he published the prose collection In His Own Write in 1964 is in full flower here. An illustration christened "Collieflower" shows a budding plant with the face of a canine; "A Frog Pondering" displays a reflective amphibian overlooking a puddle. Real Love is the kind of book that will capture the attention of Beatles collectors, but it should also spark the imaginations of its intended audience--little Lennonists in the making. --Steven Stolder

From School Library Journal

K Up-John Lennon and his son Sean spent time together drawing and creating captions for their works. The child's drawings have been transformed into a small picture book with a brief introduction by Yoko Ono. What may be a priceless treasure to a son or a cherished memento to an avid fan does not have a tidy spot in children's literature. These engaging, colorful drawings with pert to witty captions don't fill the bill as art, poetry, or biography. It is not revealed how Naclerio "adapted" the drawings; nor is the medium easily identified-pen, ink, felt tip, airbrush, watercolor, chalk, crayon-anything's possible, though it is hard to imagine father and son sharing an airbrush. Best suited to libraries with serious Beatles collections.
Jody McCoy, The Bush School, Seattle, WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Meet The Author

John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool, England, on October 9, 1940, and raised by his Aunt Mimi. At the age of six, he wrote and illustrated his first book. When he was 20, he and some friends started a rock-and-roll band called the Silver Beatles, which was later shortened to The Beatles. As everyone knows, The Beatles went on to become the most famous musical group of all time. While still a Beatle, John wrote and illustrated two books of poems: In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works. Of the former, the Times Literary Supplement wrote: "It is worth the attention of anyone who fears the impoverishment of the English language and the British imagination." John died on December 8, 1980. His thoughts, his music, his poetry, and his art live on.

Read an Excerpt

Dear Reader:

In 1975, John became the father of a very special boy: Sean. John was ecstatic. "I'm going to raise this baby, Yoko. You do the business," he said. It was that simple.

John was a great daddy. He tried to do everything so right. I would come back from a hard day of work and find John waiting for me to report what took place that day.

"Sean was sneezing this morning. Maybe he's getting a cold."

"Sean needs more winter things. We have to go shopping."

Then pretty soon it became, "Sean did this all by himself." And John would proudly show me some squiggly lines Sean had drawn on paper. They were Sean's first drawings.

John had every one of Sean's drawings framed. We suddenly had many, many framed drawings by Sean adorning the walls of our Dakota apartment. Then I began to find John and Sean drawing together. John would draw something and explain to Sean what it was.

"This is a cat catnapping, Sean."

"Oh."

Then it was Sean's turn. He would show his drawings and explain, "This is a bus, and these are the people who want to get on the bus, but they can't because the bus is too small...so they're crying."

John would write what Sean had said underneath the drawings as titles. They became long, beautiful, and imaginative titles. Sometimes, John would ask Sean what he thought John was drawing. Sean would say, "That's a horsey," and that would become the title of John's drawing. They would make each other laugh, and that is how Sean leaned the fun of drawing, the fun of doing things together with his dad, and the fun of life.

I hope you enjoy this book. It was done in the spirit oflaughter...and lots and lots of love.

-Yoko One, 1999