Many children’s writers and illustrators have created covers for albums. Â Below, we’ll look at a dozen or so of these artists. Â As is ever the case with any art posted on this website, the artwork belongs to the artists. Â Visit their websites! Â Buy prints! Â Buy their books! Â (I’ve included websites for each artist.) Â Enjoy! Saul…
The commercials for The Lorax film say: I am the Lorax. I speak for the tweens.1 The commercials for the many Lorax tie-ins say: I am the Lorax. I speak for the SUVs.2 I am the Lorax. I speak for the pancakes.3 I am the Lorax. I speak for the diapers.4 But what does the…
Noting the rise in “adult” authors writing for children, Dr. Seuss in November 1960 published an article in which he argued that children’s books were more important than other types of books – because children’s books had the potential to be more influential than all other books. I’m reproducing it below exactly as it appeared…
The index and (now proofread!) page proofs for Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature (forthcoming this September) are in the mail, heading back to the publisher. Â To commemorate this occasion, here are yet more cuts and a few other changes –Â most of which…
Continuing my series on building the “perfect” children’s library (for criteria, see first post), here are some great alphabet books. The first post listed Dr. Seuss’s ABC (1963), Crockett Johnson’s Harold’s ABC (1963), and Bill Martin, John Archambault, & Lois Ehlert’s Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989). Here are ten more alphabet titles I’ve recently sent…
OK, “Joy” might be the wrong word – unless we modify that title to “The Anticipatory Joy of Finishing the Index” or “The Joy of Finding a Great Index.” Creating an index can be a mind-numbing slog, and creating it while checking proofs (as I am doing right now) doesn’t make it any more fun. But…
      “It has been a long trip,” said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; “but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn’t made so many mistakes. I’m afraid it’s all my fault.”       “You must never feel badly about…
Cushlamochree!  It’s a portrait of Barnaby’s fairy godfather, Mr. O’Malley, in … 1962!  Yes, 1962 – which makes it unusual for several reasons.  First, Crockett Johnson didn’t draw Barnaby for its 1960-1962 revival.  Warren Sattler did.  Second, it’s a bit looser than Johnson’s drawings of O’Malley during Barnaby‘s original 1942-1952 run.  As a result, you can…
In the Chronicle of Higher Education this past Tuesday, Professor Kathryn D. Blanchard reports “wallowing in ‘post-tenure depression,’” a phenomenon she discovers is more common than one might think. What, she asks, “can account for the feelings of despair and apathy that follow this milestone, the pursuit of which causes us to invest not merely…
OK Go! Â They Might Be Giants! Â Joel Plaskett! Â Elvis Costello! Â R.E.M.! Â Stevie Wonder! Â Lots of musicians have recorded songs for children – either lyrically revised versions of one of their tunes, or entirely new ones. Â Here are 10 great ones. OK Go, “3 Primary Colors Song” “3 Primary Colors Song” is just out from OK…
