Writing Tips: Learn from Great Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

I love my job. I spend whole days in the children’s section of the bookstore and I call it research. I also celebrate the birthdays of people I have never met. We recently celebrated Maurice Sendak’s 80th birthday and the 45th birthday of his most famous son, Max de Where the monsters live. So I took the opportunity to reacquaint myself with some of Sendak’s impressive work and learn about brundibarhis recent picture book, written by Tony Kushner and based on a Czech opera of the same name.

Whether illustrating someone else’s words or his own texts, Sendak could never be accused of taking the easy road to publication. His books are complicated and deeply moving stories, with subtexts that often illuminate the darker side of human nature. In an interview he appeared in the November/December 2003 issue of The Horn Book MagazineSendak says “…we can get away with children’s books that no one in the adult world ever can because the audience is supposed to be too innocent to pick it up. And in truth they’re the only audience that does.” pick it up”.

It’s comments like this that show Sendak’s deep respect for his audience, as well as for the picture book as an art form. In the same interview, Sendak talks about how he chooses topics that he is passionate about or those that resonate with him on a basic emotional level. These are not cute bedtime stories, but books that reveal his soul. Some cut too close to the bone, when he was working on out there he had a breakdown and walked away from the project for six months. And while he is revered as one of the most influential artists in the history of children’s picture books, Sendak does not consider himself a genius. “I don’t have any brilliant conceptual gift for drawing or any really exceptional gift for writing,” he said. the horn book. “My talent is knowing how to make an illustrated book. Knowing how to set a rhythm, knowing how to time it. Drawing and writing are good, but if my whole career had counted on that I wouldn’t have gotten very far. “

It inspired me to round up some of my other favorite authors/illustrators. I am not an artist, so I respond to picture books not from a technical aspect, but with my instincts. Here are three authors/illustrators whose work, to me, embodies the raw emotion and wonder of wide-eyed childhood.

*Peggy Rathmann: Rathmann’s illustrations always say more than his texts. Packed with charming little details and supporting characters representing his own stories, his books fascinate even non-readers. The last illustrated book of him, The day the babies crawled, is awesome. The story is told by a mother who remembers the day her youngest son saved all the babies as they crawled away during a town fair (the parents were busy in the pie-eating contest). The illustrations are black silhouettes against a technicolor sky. Although we can’t see the faces of the characters, we always know who is who: the child hero wears a fireman’s helmet, the babies are distinguished by bows, hats and bows. A butterfly starts the baby parade by walking away from the fair and is soon joined by a caterpillar, a frog, a bat, and a bird. The same butterfly lands on Mom’s hair at the end of the day when the weary hero falls asleep in her arms. Rathmann makes clever use of each page of the book, beginning the story on it! guards and building through the cover and dedication. He looks closely at the last image to see how a baby relives his adventure.

*Ezra Jack Keats: Keats’ classic and deceptively simple picture books resonate with the everyday experiences that define childhood. in analyze the snowy day, my lack of artistic experience became apparent. At first glance, I thought the illustrations were bold shapes cut from different types of paper pasted on top of each other. But closer inspection shows edges of colors that blend together and lines that aren’t quite filled in, as if they were painted with watercolors and a large brush. The faces were drawn with pencil or charcoal; snowflakes appear stenciled on tissue paper. In either case, the effect is childish, wet, and a bit messy, like playing outside after a big snowstorm. My son especially likes the stretch of Peter in the red suit of him making snow tracks through the untouched snow, first with his toes pointing out and then with his toes pointing in. After studying the book, Matthew said, “I can draw pictures like that.” We bought different types of paper and Matthew proceeded to create works of art modeled after Keats. In my opinion, any book so accessible that a child can make it their own is a winner.

*Chris Van Allsburg: Van Allsburg’s books have a magical, supernatural element that often takes my breath away. He is a supremely skilled artist, incorporating design, balance, color, and texture in a way that gives the feeling of stepping directly into the image. In an extension of The polar Express, the reader is placed on Santa’s sleigh as he flies over thousands of elves huddled in the center of the North Pole city. I almost get dizzy every time I see it. The polar Express is a very personal story about a boy who is going for a ride on a magical train that takes him, along with hundreds of other children, to the North Pole to meet Santa. Van Allsburg’s somber palette, the direct nature of the text, the depiction of the North Pole as a city of tall buildings beyond an icy desert, and the poignant first-person narration help make the story feel real. Put aside those cute Santa stories – here’s the reality.

I urge you to spend a day at the bookstore or library finding those books that make music for you. By studying their rhythms, you’ll learn how to make your own stories sing.