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[CCBC-Net] Tried and True PB Authors
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From: Maia Cheli-Colando <maiacheli>
Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 14:03:04 -0700
We're about to move into May topic #2, but I wanted to post a late note on the picture book discussion!
I'm always curious as to *why* folks are attached to particular authors -- what sparks between you the reader and the author and illustrator? Especially when we are talking about picture books... it's awfully hard to tease apart the text from the illustrations, when so much relies on the imagery. We are not only looking at the skill of a particular author, but trying to grasp the package of their editor and house, if they have established illustrator pairings, etc. Of course, we get to bypass this question and look at a book as a cohesive whole when the author is also the illustrator, making for a much simpler analysis!
I might parse apart this month's question as: which picture book writers have such powerful ideas and text that their work is consistent across a broad range of illustrator work, and which author/illustrator pairings and author-illustrators (single person) are tried and true?
Here are some of mine!
-- Maia
******************************************************
** These are author-illustrators whose work I always am eager to see (and an example title) **
Elisa Kleven (Sun Bread) -- The most happy illustrations I know, and joyful stories
Eileen Christelow (What do Authors Do?) -- Playful, informative, funny, real and relevant
Carl Sams II & Jean Stoick (Lost in the Woods) -- Lovely photos, and the movies made by their niece & nephew (?) are even better
Bob Graham (Has Anyone Here Seen William?) -- Delightfully, "wholesomely" quirky
Bruce McMillan (Night of the Pufflings) -- Excellent photo work with natural science in community
Patricia Polacco (Babushka's Doll) -- Bright, vivid, articulate, intense
Barbara Helen Berger (A Lot of Otters) -- The most soothing baby books I know, a world for the soul
Marie Louise-Gay (Stella: Fairy of the Forest) -- Who doesn't want to be Stella? (Or Sam?)
Ashley Bryan (Beautiful Blackbird) -- Gorgeous voice, both on the page and in recordings
Peter Sis (Tibet Through the Red Box) -- Intricacy unmatched, palpable history
Lisa Westberg Peters (Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story) -- Nature in rhythm
** Authors whose powerful voice carries across many illustrative forms **
Cynthia Rylant -- the 20th/21st century answer to The Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh
Paul Fleischman -- curious, earthy, playful
Jane Yolen -- well, everything... natural history, human history, fairy tales, fantasy
** Author illustrator pairings from which I wish there were more titles
(I'll buy them!) **
Jen Wojtowicz & Steve Adams - The Boy Who Grew Flowers -- Exception combination of a luminous story and luminous art
Louise Erdrich & Jim LaMarche - Grandmother's Pigeon -- Funny, hair-wicking-wrong-direction plot, human and humane
Joseph Slate & Felipe Davalos - The Secret Stars -- Simply the most gorgeous holiday story I know
Berlie Doherty & Ian Andrew - The Midnight Man -- I can't even read the title without being transported. Heaven help me if I ever hear those hooves beneath my window!
Fumiko Takeshita & Mamoru Suzuki - The Park Bench -- So sweet and cozy, and yet a lovely focal point for rearranging perspective
** And two fabulous series **
Scientists in the Field -- Excellent nonfiction, well designed, informative, inspiring!
and Robie Harris/Michael Emberley: It's So Amazing and other life books -- What every library needs, in multiples
Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 14:03:04 -0700
We're about to move into May topic #2, but I wanted to post a late note on the picture book discussion!
I'm always curious as to *why* folks are attached to particular authors -- what sparks between you the reader and the author and illustrator? Especially when we are talking about picture books... it's awfully hard to tease apart the text from the illustrations, when so much relies on the imagery. We are not only looking at the skill of a particular author, but trying to grasp the package of their editor and house, if they have established illustrator pairings, etc. Of course, we get to bypass this question and look at a book as a cohesive whole when the author is also the illustrator, making for a much simpler analysis!
I might parse apart this month's question as: which picture book writers have such powerful ideas and text that their work is consistent across a broad range of illustrator work, and which author/illustrator pairings and author-illustrators (single person) are tried and true?
Here are some of mine!
-- Maia
******************************************************
** These are author-illustrators whose work I always am eager to see (and an example title) **
Elisa Kleven (Sun Bread) -- The most happy illustrations I know, and joyful stories
Eileen Christelow (What do Authors Do?) -- Playful, informative, funny, real and relevant
Carl Sams II & Jean Stoick (Lost in the Woods) -- Lovely photos, and the movies made by their niece & nephew (?) are even better
Bob Graham (Has Anyone Here Seen William?) -- Delightfully, "wholesomely" quirky
Bruce McMillan (Night of the Pufflings) -- Excellent photo work with natural science in community
Patricia Polacco (Babushka's Doll) -- Bright, vivid, articulate, intense
Barbara Helen Berger (A Lot of Otters) -- The most soothing baby books I know, a world for the soul
Marie Louise-Gay (Stella: Fairy of the Forest) -- Who doesn't want to be Stella? (Or Sam?)
Ashley Bryan (Beautiful Blackbird) -- Gorgeous voice, both on the page and in recordings
Peter Sis (Tibet Through the Red Box) -- Intricacy unmatched, palpable history
Lisa Westberg Peters (Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story) -- Nature in rhythm
** Authors whose powerful voice carries across many illustrative forms **
Cynthia Rylant -- the 20th/21st century answer to The Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh
Paul Fleischman -- curious, earthy, playful
Jane Yolen -- well, everything... natural history, human history, fairy tales, fantasy
** Author illustrator pairings from which I wish there were more titles
(I'll buy them!) **
Jen Wojtowicz & Steve Adams - The Boy Who Grew Flowers -- Exception combination of a luminous story and luminous art
Louise Erdrich & Jim LaMarche - Grandmother's Pigeon -- Funny, hair-wicking-wrong-direction plot, human and humane
Joseph Slate & Felipe Davalos - The Secret Stars -- Simply the most gorgeous holiday story I know
Berlie Doherty & Ian Andrew - The Midnight Man -- I can't even read the title without being transported. Heaven help me if I ever hear those hooves beneath my window!
Fumiko Takeshita & Mamoru Suzuki - The Park Bench -- So sweet and cozy, and yet a lovely focal point for rearranging perspective
** And two fabulous series **
Scientists in the Field -- Excellent nonfiction, well designed, informative, inspiring!
and Robie Harris/Michael Emberley: It's So Amazing and other life books -- What every library needs, in multiples
-- Maia Cheli-Colando Arcata, Humboldt Bay, California -- blogging at http://www.littlefolktales.org/wordpress -- -- or drop in on Facebook! --Received on Sun 17 May 2009 04:03:04 PM CDT
