The Challenge of No Words Wasted

I’ve always wanted to chat with picture book author Linda Ashman. She’s written a big stack of well-crafted picture books I’ve enjoyed over the years with my own children, as well as the students with which I worked as a school librarian.

Now’s my chance, I decided, at the recent release of two new books she’s written. In Rain!, illustrated by newcomer Christian Robinson, Linda—as Kirkus’ starred review notes—chooses just the right words to tell an exuberant tale of kindness. And in Peace, Baby!, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff, she offers children a gentle ...

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A Picture Book That Packs a Punch

Some picture books really pack a punch.

Matthew Olshan’s The Mighty Lalouche is one. It tells the eccentric story of a slight (but nimble) postman who is fired from his job in Paris “one hundred and a few-odd years ago,” all thanks to the introduction of electric autocars. Lalouche takes up boxing and meets a host of colorful characters in the ring (Old Shatterhand and the Misanthrope are but two), fighting in the name of “country, mail, and Geneviève,” his pet goldfinch. Fame and victory are sweet, but stationery stores still make him sad. Turns out those autocars ...

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A Couple of Odd Ducks

I have elementary-aged daughters, and I often tell them how much I like weird people. I think most of us adults tend to think of childhood as this romantically quirky time, during which children readily accept the eccentricities of other children. And, yes, this happens sometimes (the younger they are, the more likely it is), but I’m also struck by how often it doesn’t happen in the elementary years. It’s remarkable to me at what young ages children identify the odd ones out and how they subtly exclude those a bit left of center, so to speak ...

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Rotters Through and Through

Recently, I gave a talk about children’s literature in an academic setting, and a student who plans to work in education one day told me he struggles with the ending to Jon Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back. Personally, he told me, he enjoys the story, but he wondered how he could reconcile that with reading the violent ending to a child. The ending is ambiguous, but clearly this person had decided that the bear in the book kills the rabbit, and he was worried about what type of message that sends to a child.

I don’t ...

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Let's Play Ball!

Just this week, illustrator Don Tate wrote at The Brown Bookshelf on recent picture books about baseball. Included in his line-up is Robert Skead’s Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs. Rookie Joe DiMaggio, illustrated by Floyd Cooper and released in April.

In what Kirkus’ starred review calls “a loving tribute to Satchel Paige,” readers are front and center at the historic ball game that set out to test Yankees prospect Joe DiMaggio. It was 1936, and New York Yankees general manager, Ed Barrow, and his scout needed the rookie to prove his worth: “To see how good ...

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Revisiting Old Friends in Sequels

Though I’ve never written one myself, I’ve no doubt that picture book sequels are challenging to write. As Cynthia Leitich Smith wrote in this 2012 post at her site for an interview with picture book author Kate Hosford, the author has to ensure that the sequel is more than a “thinly veiled rehashing of the first book.” Given the brevity of your typical picture book, such a copycat arrangement might be easy to fall prey to.

Today I take a look at three new picture books which constitute a pleasing return of characters, sequels of sorts that I ...

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'The Boy and the Airplane' is a Lifetime's Worth of Fun

I pay close attention to contemporary picture books, and it seems that Mark Pett’s The Boy and the Airplane is generally flying pretty low under the radar. I hadn’t heard about it at all till I saw the cover somewhere and was intrigued by the soft art and sturdy design. It’s not a book that is rolling over, sitting pretty or jumping through any hoops in an attempt to get our attention. This is not a book with its palm out, waiting for us to high-five it.

In other words, blink and you might miss it. But ...

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Paul Thurlby's Picture Books are Adult Friendly, Too

London-based illustrator Paul Thurlby is having a good year.

Just before the recent release of his newest picture book, Paul Thurlby’s Wildlife, which Kirkus gave a starred review, he was awarded the Opera Prima Award at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, an honor given to debut artists. Paul Thurlby’s Alphabet, the 2011 book behind the award, is sleek and sophisticated. Both books are treats for those who appreciate robust design, clever concept art and retro styles.

And, as Paul notes below in our chat today, they’re books aimed squarely at adults, as well as children. I ...

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3 Striking Tales of India

Great tales deserve to be repeated.

That’s a line from Gita Wolf’s The Enduring Ark, one of a few recent picture book offerings, great tales in their own right, which spring in one way or another from India.

A small man leading a big fight: That’s how Alice B. McGinty describes Monhandas Gandhi in Gandhi: A March to the Sea, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez. From March 12 to April 5, 1930, Gandhi led nearly 100 marchers to the village of Dandi at the Gulf of Cambay, all in protest against the British government’s laws against Indians ...

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Imagination Overdrive: Get Lost in 'Tiger in My Soup'

Kashmira Sheth’s Tiger in My Soup is a picture book for book-lovers everywhere. We bibliophiles know what it’s like to get lost in a book, but the young boy in this book has the adventure of a lifetime, thanks to his book—as well as an assist from his own active imagination.

“Today, my big sister is in charge of the house, the lunch, and me,” the boy tells readers on page one. Sure enough, we see the adult driving away. The boy, with book in hand and older sister nearby, waves goodbye. He’s reading a book ...

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The Marvelous, Terrifying Task of Learning to Ride a Bike

There are many things about parenting I find baffling. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m largely winging it when it comes to raising my children. One of those baffling things is the assumption, which I keep encountering, that all children will a) jump at the chance to learn to ride their bicycles, and b) the endeavor will come easy to them.

Well, nope. That’s just not true, I’ve learned. Not only have I met in my life adults who didn’t learn to ride a bike until they were well beyond ...

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Plunging into 'The Dark' with Susan Rich

I think that, hands down, the year’s most distinctive picture book thus far is Lemony Snicket’s The Dark, illustrated by freshly minted Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen. To be released next week, the story is about a young boy named Laszlo. He’s afraid of the dark, and the dark lives in the basement.

How does a child overcome the fear of dark shadows? Laszlo does so with the dark’s assistance, as it reaches out to give the boy a much-needed tool to assist with his struggles.

Anyone knows that a fear of the dark is a fear ...

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A Simple Message of Kindness from Tehran

Rita Jahanforuz is evidently considered “Israel’s Madonna.” However, fortunately for readers, she writes a much better picture book than our own Ms. Ciccone. (I think Madonna’s picture books are some of the worst of the celebrity-book fare. I still can’t think of 2005’s Lotsa de Casha without some painful cringing.) The Iranian-born Israeli pop singer, who goes by simply “Rita,” saw the publication in 2010 of The Girl With a Brave Heart, originally published in Hebrew but brought this March to American bookshelves by Barefoot Books—and given the sub-title “A Tale from Tehran.”

Illustrated by ...

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The Busy Storyteller and the 'Busy-Busy Little Chick'

Storytellers, in particular, might want to take note of Janice N. Harrington’s new picture book, Busy-Busy Little Chick, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. As she explains below, Harrington’s story of easily distracted Mama Nsoso and her helpful baby chick is based on a fable told by the Nkundo people of Central Africa.

With rhythm and grace, Harrington—a poet, storyteller and former children’s librarian—weaves an entertaining tale, which begs to be read aloud, buoyed by Pinkney’s brightly colored, energetic watercolor and ink illustrations.

I interrupted their storytelling and painting today to chat briefly about the book ...

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'Phoebe & Digger': A Troublemaking Duo

You can throw a rock and hit a picture book about a new baby sibling. These days, you can even throw a rock and hit a picture book about bullying. Tricia Springstubb’s Phoebe & Digger, illustrated by Jeff Newman and to be released in a little over a week from Candlewick Press, is a book about both things. But I think it rises above your typical new sibling– and bullying fare, and that’s because the writing is good, the illustrations are distinctive (big fan of Jeff Newman here), and there’s a lot of humor and heart in this ...

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Don Brown's Latest Bumps It Up a Notch

Henry and the Cannons is a new picture book I had thought would be released this month, but evidently it was released back in January. I might be a bit slow here; in the hyper-fast, zippy-quick world of publishing, this is hardly breaking news. But I still choose to shine the spotlight on it today, as it’s an excellent piece of nonfiction.

Since it comes from author/illustrator Don Brown, I’m not surprised. He’s brought readers over 20 well-crafted picture books, many of them biographies of lesser-known figures, those who have followed their bliss and lived with ...

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Lullaby for Another, Lullaby for Oneself

“It’s nighttime in Harlem, and beneath a blanket of stars a young man sits down and writes a poem. He is alone. He has no kids of his own. For whom is he writing this lullaby?”

This is a question asked about poet Langston Hughes in Sean Qualls’ latest illustrated title, Lullaby (For a Black Mother). The query appears in the book’s closing note, a way to wrap up the book by providing young readers with essential information about Hughes’ life. To answer the question, it ends with “perhaps he wrote this lullaby as a comfort to the ...

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'Lulu': A Welcome Import from Across the Ocean

If you missed it last year—it would have been hard to, if you follow children’s literature closely, given the handful of starred reviews the book received—Albert Whitman & Company released here in the States Lulu and the Duck in the Park. First published in the UK in 2011, it is one in a series of chapter books about a lovable young girl, named Lulu. “Lulu was famous for animals” is the book’s first sentence, a succinct and zippy-fast way of capturing her personality and her heart’s biggest desire.

The books are written by the talented Hilary ...

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'Knit Your Bit' Vibrantly Depicts WWI

I’ve never tried to write historical fiction, much less tried to squeeze it into the 32-page picture book format, but I can’t imagine it’s easy. In her newest picture book, Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story, illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia, Deborah Hopkinson brings readers “historical fiction inspired by real events” (as explained in her closing author’s note), and it’s good, solid storytelling. It’s accompanied by Guarnaccia’s warm watercolors, which successfully reflect the period clothing and evoke the early 20^th-century American setting.  

To boot, the story gives gender stereotyping a ...

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Catching up with Sergio Ruzzier

I always like to see what author/illustrator Sergio Ruzzier is up to, and to those of you who feel the same, we’re all in luck right now, as he has two new picture books just ’round the bend. Eve Bunting’s Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? comes out in early March, and his own Bear and Bee is also scheduled to be released next month. Both books are immensely appealing to young readers.

Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? marks Ruzzier’s second collaboration with Bunting, the first being 2011’s affectionate Tweak Tweak, and ...

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