Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen discussing Where the Wild Things Are. Very good. I only just heard of this blog, cowritten by them, reviewing picture books. This is first one I've read, from 2024, but...
Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen discussing Where the Wild Things Are. Very good. I only just heard of this blog, cowritten by them, reviewing picture books. This is first one I've read, from 2024, but it's 100% up my alley.
I often think that more adults should take the often small amount of time to read picture books occasionally, there are so many gems that express in a few pages what novels take hundreds of pages to say.
Mac Barnett got some heat recently due to a comment about the number of bad children’s books out there, but he’s totally right— except it’s every genre. But there is plenty of good, too, and we just need to take the time to identify those and really look at them.
I absolutely agree with this. It's weird how we made comics/graphic novels perfectly OK for adults to read but somehow picture books - which are basically the same thing - are not seen that way....
I often think that more adults should take the often small amount of time to read picture books occasionally, there are so many gems that express in a few pages what novels take hundreds of pages to say.
I absolutely agree with this. It's weird how we made comics/graphic novels perfectly OK for adults to read but somehow picture books - which are basically the same thing - are not seen that way. Yes, there is a lot of junk out there but as we've always known, 90% of everything is crud, there's so much amazing stuff in that 10%.
I challenge anyone to find a better ten minute meditation on mortality than Wolf Erlbruch's Duck, Death and the Tulip. If you're not suffused with existential dread at the end of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen's Sam and Dave Dig a Hole then you haven't read it right. If you can't find a few minutes to read John Bond's Much Too Busy then you are the exact person who needs to! Fan of Diogenes? You'll love Chris Haughton's A Bit Lost. I could go on. I might at some point put together a Long Post about picture books.
We had shelves full of picture books long before Kid was born and will keep buying them long after they're "too old" to enjoy them*. Although we strongly encourage Kid to stick with them, of course. But now they read them to us instead of the other way around. Last week I was read The Giant Jam Sandwich for the first time in nearly forty years and I'm not going to lie, that experience made me weep with joy.
* To paraphrase CS Lewis, and I don't think he'd mind at all:
Some day you will be old enough to start reading picture books again.
I know it's seen as little more than a cliched gift for graduates these days, but Dr. Seuss' "Oh The Places You'll Go" is a beautiful book. I get teary eyed reading it because it's such a good...
I often think that more adults should take the often small amount of time to read picture books occasionally, there are so many gems that express in a few pages what novels take hundreds of pages to say.
I know it's seen as little more than a cliched gift for graduates these days, but Dr. Seuss' "Oh The Places You'll Go" is a beautiful book. I get teary eyed reading it because it's such a good metaphor for life. It's one of my favorite books to read to my children because it's real without being heavy.
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.
I'd never read The Lorax until I did a few years ago to my son and cried a little. It's something to get bombarded with messages of things like environmentalism or the freedom to do whatever you...
I'd never read The Lorax until I did a few years ago to my son and cried a little. It's something to get bombarded with messages of things like environmentalism or the freedom to do whatever you want by media, but that someone can put it in a way even a young child could empathize with can get covertly strong. Hits even harder when you're trying to impart that on them...
My favorites picture book(s) is the compiled The Bunny Planet by Rosemary Wells, which is just about kids having bad days, but good god is it soothing and a wonderful reminder that a bad day can't take your whimsy, imagination, or love away.
I'll always recommend Because of You by B. G. Hennessey.
I'll always recommend Because of You by B. G. Hennessey.
When you help, care, share, and listen, you are being kind.
When two people help, share, care, and listen to each other, they are called friends.
When people from different countries help, care, share, and listen to one another, it is called peace.
Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen discussing Where the Wild Things Are. Very good. I only just heard of this blog, cowritten by them, reviewing picture books. This is first one I've read, from 2024, but it's 100% up my alley.
I often think that more adults should take the often small amount of time to read picture books occasionally, there are so many gems that express in a few pages what novels take hundreds of pages to say.
Mac Barnett got some heat recently due to a comment about the number of bad children’s books out there, but he’s totally right— except it’s every genre. But there is plenty of good, too, and we just need to take the time to identify those and really look at them.
I absolutely agree with this. It's weird how we made comics/graphic novels perfectly OK for adults to read but somehow picture books - which are basically the same thing - are not seen that way. Yes, there is a lot of junk out there but as we've always known, 90% of everything is crud, there's so much amazing stuff in that 10%.
I challenge anyone to find a better ten minute meditation on mortality than Wolf Erlbruch's Duck, Death and the Tulip. If you're not suffused with existential dread at the end of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen's Sam and Dave Dig a Hole then you haven't read it right. If you can't find a few minutes to read John Bond's Much Too Busy then you are the exact person who needs to! Fan of Diogenes? You'll love Chris Haughton's A Bit Lost. I could go on. I might at some point put together a Long Post about picture books.
We had shelves full of picture books long before Kid was born and will keep buying them long after they're "too old" to enjoy them*. Although we strongly encourage Kid to stick with them, of course. But now they read them to us instead of the other way around. Last week I was read The Giant Jam Sandwich for the first time in nearly forty years and I'm not going to lie, that experience made me weep with joy.
* To paraphrase CS Lewis, and I don't think he'd mind at all:
I know it's seen as little more than a cliched gift for graduates these days, but Dr. Seuss' "Oh The Places You'll Go" is a beautiful book. I get teary eyed reading it because it's such a good metaphor for life. It's one of my favorite books to read to my children because it's real without being heavy.
I'd never read The Lorax until I did a few years ago to my son and cried a little. It's something to get bombarded with messages of things like environmentalism or the freedom to do whatever you want by media, but that someone can put it in a way even a young child could empathize with can get covertly strong. Hits even harder when you're trying to impart that on them...
My favorites picture book(s) is the compiled The Bunny Planet by Rosemary Wells, which is just about kids having bad days, but good god is it soothing and a wonderful reminder that a bad day can't take your whimsy, imagination, or love away.
I'll always recommend Because of You by B. G. Hennessey.