The making of a photograph. I can’t recall that I’ve ever seen a picture book about the story behind the creation of one, single photo, but readers now have such a book in Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph, written by Roxane Orgill. And what a superb picture book it is, a blend of poetry and nonfiction and the debut from illustrator Francis Vallejo.
On a sunny morning in 1958, photographer Art Kane had the idea to capture ...
Recently, on social media, I saw someone refer to Alison McGhee’s newest picture book, Tell Me a Tattoo Story, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler and coming to shelves in early April, as The Illustrated Man for wee ones. To be sure, the concepts are fundamentally the same—a person sporting tattoos tells stories for each one inked on him—though in this picture book, we have no commentary on technology, nor do we have stranded astronauts, carnies, invading aliens, or magically animated ink ...
Mark Siegel, Editorial Director of First Second Books
For the past decade, First Second Books, an imprint of Macmillan, has been bringing graphic novels to enthusiastic readers. And to say so much has changed for graphic novels in those 10 years would be an understatement. I think most people would agree we now live in a golden age of graphic novels: today, readers can choose from a wide array of extraordinarily high-quality graphic novels from creators all over the world, and long gone are the days when educators ...
Valentine’s Day is just around the bend, and if you’re looking for a good holiday picture book to share with children, I’ve got just the one for you: J. J. Austrian’s Worm Loves Worm, illustrated by Mike Curato.
Worm and Worm, two nearly identical-looking creatures (only their eyes distinguish them), love one another and want to marry. Cricket points out that they’ll need someone to officiate. Beetle says a best man is necessary (“best beetle”). The bees call for bridesmaids ...
When and why publishing houses decide to reprint older children’s books can be a mystery to readers, but I’m here today to talk about the reissues of some—either on shelves now or about to be quite soon—that make me happy. We’re talkin’ reprints from Roger Duvoisin, Ruth Krauss, Crockett Johnson, and Jeanne and William Steig. This will make the day of many a children’s literature fan.
Let’s start with Donkey-Donkey from Caldecott Medalist Roger Duvoisin. (He won the big ...
Rachel Isadora's delicious new picture book, I Hear a Pickle: (And Smell, See, Touch, and Taste It, Too!), sprung to life not from sitting down to put pen to paper and construct a story—but from drawing and list-making. "One day," she explains, "I sat down and started drawing pictures, even before writing words. I drew a child who smells her blankie, a child who smells pizza, and a child who has a cold and cannot smell. I tried to ...
Nonfiction children’s books have been under a moderate amount of scrutiny in the past several years or so, which has ultimately been a good thing. Gone are the days when a nonfiction children’s book without any back matter can get published without commentary of some sort—most often from reviewers. At the very least, teachers and librarians shelving such books want to see the authors’ lists of resources or “Selected Resources” and know how they did their research. You also often ...
In her early January piece for School Library Journal, “What’s Trending? What Is, What Was, What’s Soon to Be in Kid Lit,” Betsy Bird attempted, in part, to look into a crystal ball and predict what 2016 trends in picture books would be. She wrote that “the most serious trend consists of the very serious topic of talking to children about death and bereavement.” As for 2015 picture books, she cites the popular and critically acclaimed Boats for ...
