The bond with a grandparent can be one of the most powerful ones in the lives of children, and there’s no shortage of picture books on shelves about intergenerational ties. I’ve seen a few new ones I want to discuss today, though the last one is actually a slim novel. One thing I like about all of these books is the way the elderly characters are conveyed in the illustrations. It’s hard to get it right; I know I’ve seen ...
Last week, I read two books that wow’ed me. I knew I wanted to write about them, but it wasn’t until just now that I realized (I may need some more coffee) that they share something in common: Both are here because of the Brothers Grimm.
First up is Shaun Tan’s The Singing Bones, which has an interesting publication history. You can read details here at Shaun Tan’s site, but essentially it goes like this: After Philip Pullman’s 2012 publication ...
It’s probably daunting to take on the life of actor and director Leonard Nimoy and attempt to fashion it into a picture book biography for children. (Talk about boldly going where no man has gone before.) But it’s also perhaps a little less intimidating if you were his dear friend, as author and poet Richard Michelson was before Nimoy’s death last year in February.
Yet even Michelson himself is surprised he didn’t think to write Fascinating: The Life of Leonard ...
It’s a good time to be a Beatrix Potter fan. This year marks the 150th anniversary of her birthday, and given that her books have entertained readers for more than a century, making her one of children’s literature’s most beloved authors, celebrations abound. Much of the buzz has been around the publication of The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots, a new story from Ms. Potter herself, found in an archive collection two years ago.
The publication tale goes like this: Jo ...
Fictionalized picture books for young readers about the plight of refugees aren’t exactly crowding the shelves. Last year, readers saw the candid Two White Rabbits from Mexican author Jairo Buitrago and Colombian illustrator Rafael Yockteng. In October of this year, Lee & Low Books will release LaTisha Redding’s Calling the Water Drum, illustrated by Aaron Boyd – a book (I have yet to see) about a boy, as the Kirkus review notes, whose parents have died in an effort ...
Jen Bryant photographed by Amy Dragoo
Award-winning children’s book biographer Jen Bryant wasn’t new to the life of Louis Braille when she decided to write Six Dots, a new picture book that takes a look at him as the child inventor he was. But, as she explains in our email chat below, she wanted to bring readers his story, this one illustrated by Boris Kulikov, from a first-person, more intimate perspective. The results are good, the Kirkus review describing it as an “inspiring look at a ...
I wrote this time last year(ish) about the debut picture book from comics artist Kate Beaton. It was called The Princess and the Pony (I wrote about it here)—it was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2015, and my goodness, it was funny. (Well, it still is. If you go find a copy on bookstore or library shelves, you’ll see what I mean.)
Kate has another picture book, coming in mid-September, called King Baby. It’ll be out around ...
Every now and then, I like to do children’s graphic-novel round-ups, and this very moment seems like a good time. There are several rather high-profile graphic-novel releases coming in the next month or two, and I’ve seen some intriguing new stories out there. So, let’s get right to it. I’ll start with some of the lesser-known ones, two that are both, in fact, inspired by or based on Norwegian folk and fairy tales.
Norwegian illustrator, comic book artist, and writer ...
