Personification is the commonly used literary device of attaching human traits and characteristics to animals or inanimate objects. I think of personification similar to the way we think about rhyming – tricky to do well, but so wonderful when it works. Since everyday objects are not often seen as sentient or …
This past weekend I had a fabulous time presenting at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators ‘Prairie Writer’s Day’ in Chicago on crafting an inspired picture book. We talked about what makes the picture book a unique art form, which is the interplay between words and pictures. The …
With Halloween approaching, I thought it would be a fitting time to reflect on Tony Diterlizzi’s fabulous black and white picture book “The Spider and The Fly” from Simon and Schuster, 2002. Many writers and artists dream of creating dark picture books, and Tony’s illustrations perfectly embrace this retelling of …
Fairy tales and folktales are favorites to many, and for some (myself included) they’re what made us fall in love with storytelling from a very young age. They’re often beautiful, haunting, mesmerizing; sometimes bizarre and confounding. One of my favorites is Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”. The protagonist, …