So I hesitate to do this here but I am going to get up my soapbox and rant for a minute. (grunting and sweating as I clamber to the top of the soapbox) Well we enjoy going to the library here and find new books for Natalie to read. We let her go find her own books and we'll take them home and read them. Well we borrowed this book (pictured below) without even reading the title and when we sat down for reading time later that day realized what the title said; "King and King" Hmmm, you may already assume what it was about. It was about a prince who wasn't interested in the princesses that his mother set him up with. then one day a princess came a-courtin' and brought her brother with her and it was love at first sight. (with the brother that is) Well, it went on to have a twisted happily ever after. Anyways, not only was the content disturbing to me but also the way the book was illustrated. I know there are badly illustrated books out there and I didn't want to accuse this one, but it seems to be the one that broke the camels back so to speak. I'm tired of seeing this kind of work out there that pretends to be art. It was very much not fun to look at. (something to the effect of retinas being seared) Now I don't want to criticize too much. It's never productive to simply put things down just for the sake of putting things down. But I know many of us have kids of our own and want the very best for them. Part of that is supporting people who do good things and create beautiful works. I'm not trying to get into a discussion about what is "art" and what isn't. I'm simply saying that we should seek out the good and avoid that which is not. I am including in this post links to artists that illustrate children's books that I think (my own personal opinion now) are well done (story wise and illustration wise). The art maybe traditional or it may be a little different, but I think they are wonderful. I hope that you read books with your children, and even sit down with a good book yourselves now and then. Now, I'm getting off this danged box and going for a walk.
THE LIST!(In no way is this comprehensive, and you should go out and find ones you like for yourself as well. Most of these illustrators/authors don't have their own website but work with books publishers. But most links give a brief intro to the illustrator/author and a list of their books. Enjoy!)
Chris Van Allsburg
Mark and Carol Buehner (pronounced Beener)
Mark Teague
Leo and Diane Dillon
Richard Hull
Toot and Puddle (Holly Hobbie)
PJ Lynch
Shawna Tenney
Lane Smith
Jon Scieszka
Dr. Seuss
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2 comments:
We do the same with Tanner at the library, and he comes home with the craziest books. I will have to watch out for Kin and King (though they probably don't allow that in Utah libraries) I actually have to agree with the author list there, I enjoy many of those authors. atjtayaw
Bravo! Good for you for being stalward in this wayward world and saying just how you feel, and sticking with what you KNOW to be moral. You're right, our children deserve the very best of what the world offers.
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