A Library Full of Art
(Copyright © 1996)
Barbara F. Backer
This article originally appeared in "First Teacher" magazine.
Young children can enjoy great visual art every day when their
teachers show them picture books. Collage, bright oils, pastels, dreamy
watercolors, wood blocks, simple line drawings and more bring visual life
to stories. The wise teacher chooses books for their variety of art styles
as well as for the value of the stories.
From the line art in Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon
(Harper 1955) to surrealistic flying frogs in David Wiesner's Tuesday
(Clarion 1991) to the stylized drawings of horses in Paul Goble's The Girl
Who Loved Wild Horses (Bradbury 1978), children sample a smorgasbord of
delight for the eyes.
They compare and contrast colors and textures in Ed Young's works -
his bright and bold Seven Blind Mice (Philomel 1992) and his soft and muted
Lon Po Po (Philomel 1989). They experience simple drawings in Helen
Oxenbury's Tickle, Tickle (Alladin 1987) and the sumptuous detail provided
by Don Wood in King Bidgood's In the Bathtub (author, Audrey Wood; Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich 1985).
From A to Z, dip into this listing of illustrators for a taste of the
variety of art available in children's books:
Anno, Mitsumasa; Anno's Alphabet (Crowell 1975).
Burningham, John; Cannonball Simp (Bobbs-Merrill 1966).
Carle, Eric; The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Collins-World 1969).
De Paola, Tomie; Tomie de Paola's Mother Goose (Putnam's 1985).
Egielski, Richard; The Tub People (author Pam Conrad, Harper & Row 1989).
Fujikawa, Gyo; Gyo Fujikawa's A to Z Picture Book (Grosset 1974).
Gibbons, Gail; Tool Book (Holiday 1982).
Hoban, Tana; any title -- all are illustrated with photographs.
Ichikawa, Satomi; Nora's Stars (Philomel 1989).
Jeffers, Susan; All the Pretty Horses (Macmillan 1974).
Keats, Ezra Jack; Jenny's Hat (Harper 1966).
Lobel, Anita; Allison's Zinnia (Greenwillow 1990).
McMillan, Bruce; any title -- all are illustrated with photographs.
Nygren, Tord; The Red Thread (Raben & Sjogren 1987).
Ohtomo, Yasuo; How Do I Put It On? (author Shigeo Watanabe; Philomel 1977).
Pinkney, Brian; Max Found Two Sticks (Simon & Schuster 1994).
Quackenbush, Robert; Mouse Feathers (Clarion 1988).
Rockwell, Norman; Norman Rockwell's Americana ABC (author George Mendoza; Dell 1975).
Sendak, Maurice; Where the Wild Things Are (Harper & Row 1963).
Tafuri, Nancy; Jungle Walk (Greenwillow 1988).
Ungerer, Tomi; Crictor (Harper 1958).
Van Allsburg, Chris; Jumanji (Houghton 1981).
Wildsmith, Brian; Bear's Adventure (Pantheon 1982).
Yabuuchi, Masayuki; Whose Footprints? (Philomel 1983).
Zemach, Margot; It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale (Farrar 1976).
You've noticed there is no listing that begins with X. That's
because "X marks the spot!" The library is the spot -- the place to look
for great art in children's picture books.
Read Scrub-A-Dub-A-Dub or go
back to the article list.