"a fragile being that finds great strength within himself"

November 2, 2019 2:10 PM

The NYT has published the NYT and New York Public Library 2019 Best Illustrated Children's Books. Take a look inside to see the list of illustrators (and authors and more of their work).

Small in the City, Written and illustrated by Sydney Smith. See Sydney Smith work (YouTube). See an overview of Smith's work.

Another, Written and illustrated by Christian Robinson. Here's the book's trailer (YouTube). Here's Robinson's website: The Art of Fun.

The Lost Cousins, Written and illustrated by B.B. Cronin. Here's a book trailer (YouTube) for another B.B. Cronin book, The Lost Christmas. B.B. Cronin's website.

A Million Dots, Written and illustrated by Sven Volker. Volker's website.

Just Because, Written by Mac Barnett, Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenaul. Book trailer (YouTube). Arsenaul's website.

Child of Glass, Written and illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna. An interview with Alemagna. The title of the post comes from this interview.

The Farmer, Written and illustrated by Ximo Abadia

The Boring Book, Written and illustrated by Shinsuke Yoshitake. An interview with Yoshitake. "When I think of myself as a parent, there are things that I can't say to my child from my parents. There are also things I can't say because I'm a teacher at school. A picture book can talk freely about things that are hard to say, hard to cover, and difficult to explain"

Monkey on the Run, Written and illustrated by Leo Timmers. Timmers' website

I Miss My Grandpa, Written and illustrated by Jin Xiaojing. Xiaojing's website.

posted by CMcG (3 comments total)

I was drawn to this as a parent of a young toddler and because last year I took a class on children’s literature. One of the main things I learned about was visual elements —- color choices, medium choices, and even curving vs. straight lines all impact our interpretations. It’s really fun to look in detail at the illustrations and try to think about how they convey what they convey.
posted by CMcG at 6:02 AM on November 3, 2019

I took a great workshop this spring on writing picture books, and learned a bunch of interesting things. One that surprised me is that the writer and the illustrator of these books rarely meet, or even communicate. The editor buys the book from the writer, and then finds the illustrator for that book. If any communication needs to happen, it usually goes through the editor. There are exceptions of course, but mostly that's the way of it. The analogy we were given was that of a stage play. The playwright (author) usually creates the script (ms) and hands it over to the director (editor), and the cast and crew (illustrator) make the show under the director's guidance. The playwright doesn't get input after handing over the script, so that the other parties involved can feel free to employ their own expertise and creativity.
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 10:44 AM on November 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

Thanks for posting this, and for the links.
posted by paduasoy at 9:39 AM on November 13, 2019 [1 favorite]