The first step when beginning a picture book project is to go shopping. I have only recently acknowledged this because I seem to be amassing quite a collection of, “stuff”, all in the name of my “craft”. I don’t recall learning this step in art school, so I began paying attention, noticing, contemplating this …
RED, A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall is wonderfully witty and clever and I’m excited to point out some of the smart choices that this author/illustrator has made. First, notice the cover (above), the crayon’s wrapper is red, but its color is not. Uh oh.. here-in lies the problem.
Meet the Dullards by Sara Pennypacker and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri is very dull. It’s also very funny. Meet the Dullards — they are a family who loves things dull and boring. But, the Dullard’s three children, Blanda, Borely, and Little Dud are straying from their parent’s quest for all …
You Nest Here with Me is a beautiful, lyrical picture book by the mother daughter team of Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple. Illustrated (perfectly) by Melissa Sweet. It’s a book about birds. What? You say that’s not enough? Okay then— It rhymes. It rhymes brilliantly. The back flap copy …
I’ve been reading and thinking about non fiction picture books a lot lately. One reason is that there seems to be quite an abundance of them. Which, I think is a good thing. But, getting a non-fiction story to work has added hurdles. Its subject matter is usually known to …
I don’t remember the last time I laughed out loud reading a picture book. So I bought it. Then I made my 20 year old and 17 year old read it. They chuckled and I laughed again and again. Sparky! By Jenny Offill and illustrated by Chris Appelhans is my idea of …
The medium in which an illustration is executed has an enormous impact on the style and feel of the entire book. Claudia McGehee is an illustrator who works in scratchboard. Her finished illustrations have the look of a woodcut, or linocut print, but the process is very different. Claudia begins …
It seems ‘normal’ to me to begin an illustration with a piece of paper on which I transfer a sketch and then begin to draw and paint. When I’m done, I have my finished illustration. So, the thought of constructing all the tiny parts and pieces of a picture and …
I just read, “And Two Boys Booed” by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, published by Margaret Ferguson Books. I really enjoyed the repetitive story, narrated by the young boy who is waiting his turn to perform at the class talent show. The repetition builds and builds just …
We all have favorite picture books. They bring back memories, they remind us a time in our lives, they enchant us. There is one book that has impacted, affected, and influenced me more than any other. And it happens to be a Christmas book. It is The Night Before Christmas,