Thoughts on Today's Picture Books

After attending a weekend soccer tournament in LA, I was dying to get to a bookstore. There had been a really big Barnes & Noble next to the hotel, but I had no opportunity to sneak over to browse. So after driving over 2 hours home and making dinner, I jumped in the car again and drove 45 minutes to the nearest Barnes & Noble in SLO. Now, it’s not one of the bigger stores, but it was a bookstore nonetheless.


I grabbed a stack of picture books - old and new - and read through them, uninterrupted, peaceful. Of course, I selected most of the titles because of illustrations that appealed to me and a few others because of authors/illustrators. Unfortunately, they did not have the most recent Caldecott winners on the shelf.  And, honestly, I found myself a little disappointed by several of the books I read.  I won’t say that the stories were “bad.” There just seemed to be something missing, or they just fell flat in the end.

I've always enjoyed Karma Wilson’s "Bear" books, so I was interested to check out The Cow Loves Cookies.  While I thought it would make a great storytime book, it seemed reminiscent of many other sweet humor featuring repetitive phrases - almost formulaic, now. So, although it was enjoyable, it was quite familiar.

The illustrations and the concept for Children Make Terrible Pets grabbed my interest right away. It started out promising, but it really fizzled toward the end - this fun and clever idea deserved an equally creative conclusion. Instead, I found it rather uneventful - anti-climactic.

On the other hand, I read some Caldecott winners from years past - the stories really stood apart. Zelinsky’s Rapunzel attempted to retell the original tale complete with the story’s unpleasant or tragic aspects - there was drama. And Wisniewski’s Golem dealt with a very intense situation, difficult questions, and with characters from Jewish history and tradition. I was completely engaged throughout both of these stories (unlike with any of the new releases I found).

Thinking back on my years at the bookstore, it seems to me that A LOT of the picture books these days lack even a crumb of drama or intensity.  Of course, I know that Golem would not make a nice bedtime story for a small child.  I just wonder why publishers seem to be putting out the same type of book again and again. There is definitely a place for books about cows that eat cookies, but the vast majority of picture books that I’ve read in recent years are rather superficial, sugar-coated stories devoid of any real depth, excitement, surprise, emotion...


I do enjoy reading the sing-song rhyming stories to my kids - they’re fun and appeal mainly to young children.  I've even had some illustration ideas for my own picture books that would fall into that category. However, picture books can appeal to a wide variety of ages - even adults - and I think it's a subject worth considering.  If the introduction to books that we offer our kids repeatedly consists of cute critters looking for hugs, making friends, learning manners, etc., then it’s really no wonder that children quickly turn to exciting, adventure-packed video games (especially boys). 


Like I said, I do enjoy many of those books.  But, perhaps the picture book market is over-saturated with them.  But, maybe I’ve just missed those titles (the bookstore has been closed for over a year now). Maybe they just hadn't made it to our smaller-town shelves. I’d love to hear about any recent picture book recommendations that you all have where the stories have some degree of “impact” on the reader.

Checking In With An End of Summer Update...

Wow!  Where has the summer gone?  I thought I was going to have a nice relaxing "time-off," but I guess there's no such thing when you have a toddler (a VERY mischievous one - can you tell?).

I've been spending time planning for the upcoming school year, as I only seem to be able to string together minutes and not the hours I need.  Then, to throw more into the mix, it looks like I will be offering art classes to homeschoolers in just a few weeks.  I decided to go for it since it looks like there will be no bookstore opening in place of the one that closed.  I need to do something to help bring in some $$$ for the family, and this seems like the best idea.  I'll be able to be home with the family at night.  However, it means I've double my planning needs right now - YIKES!

Some of my students from a previous "History in Art" Class

I hope to get an illo or two done before the school year begins in a couple weeks.

Finds at the Bookstore...and some much-needed color on this blog!

As we get closer to the date of store closure, I've found a couple little gems among the picture books on the shelf. I remember seeing a couple of them when they arrived, but they're a little smaller in size and, I think, got a little lost among the bigger books.

Anyway, I picked up "Binky the Space Cat" by Ashley Spires. I just loved this little cat and it's plushy pal. I'm not normally a fan of the graphic novel, but I really like the characters and the way this one's done! I tend to enjoy the limited color palette and the - very artfully done!

Another find is "Red Ted and the Lost Things" written by Michael Rosen and Illustrated by Joel Stewart. Again, it's a creative approach to the graphic novel/picture book. I like the bright, well-defined characters set against the muted background.

The third book I brought home last night was "Sky Tree" illustrated by landscape painter Thomas Locker. It's simply shows a tree as a changes throughout the year with 14 BEAUTIFUL paintings and limited text.

I hope to be able to add MY OWN color to this blog soon, but I still have to dig some of my supplies out of boxes from the move. Maybe now that the holidays are over, things will settle down a little. Of course, we start back to school on Monday...oh well.

More Big Changes (Sure, why not?) - and a couple sketches

Wow! It's taking a lot longer to get "back to normal" than I thought. I've almost got the studio set up. But then we'll be getting some new windows which means I have to move some things out of the way. Of course, I wouldn't exactly have time right now to get out there to work.

I'm still working on a doodle in my sketchbook, but it's taking a long time. I was able to doodle a little last Sunday - just a little fun. I suppose it's some sort of little magical dwarf and his elegant horse.

With the move and the home improvements that have followed, catching up on homeschooling record-keeping, and the running-around during soccer season, I'm lucky to have gotten this done.

Things will change, though. Especially since I just found out that I will be out of a job after the new year.

Maybe I could teach some art classes. I don't know.

Of course, this has definitely been a year of changes: my dad passed away in January, baby arrived in March, spent months fixing up the old house and house-hunting, son started high school in August...might as well change jobs, too (I guess).