a love letter to my favorite children's book illustrators

more is more!!!

Like ninety percent of us here on Substack, a large chunk of my “Childhood Memories” pie chart is made up of books— both reading them and the memories surrounding them. Picture books, stacks of library books, discovering Archie comics, waiting with other 12 year olds at our local Barnes & Noble until midnight for the latest Harry Potter book to go one sale, my first “chapter book” (aka a book without pictures), the list goes on.

In the words of Kathleen Kelly: “When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.”

I’ll spare you waxing lyrical about the magic of childhood reading and jump to the part where I share the illustrations that still conjure my personal ghosts of book friends past.

All my favorite childhood books, the illustrated ones, were maximalist in nature. I loved it when the illustrator took time to draw in details that you had to go searching for, especially when something you’d notice in the background of one page cropped up as a plot point in the next. For example:

the red arrow pointing to the knife is my own embellishment drawn for emphasis!

How the butter knife in the background of this page, is the same butter knife the mouse turns to when cutting it in two several pages later.

The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear written by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don Wood

It’s a small, seemingly insignificant detail, but the illustrator Don Wood takes the time to immerse us in the mouse’s small, yet complicated world where a Big Hungry Bear could kidnap his strawberry at any minute.

Books that reward careful observation were, and continue to be, my favorite kinds of pictures books. Even as a child, you sense their decadence. The unnecessary detail the illustrator has gone to transport its readers.

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? written by Nancy White Carlstrom and illustrated by Bruce Degen was one of my favorites as a child for this reason. There’s no “purpose” for Degen to have added the detail of purple, mural swan wallpaper in the bathroom. The detail of the “H” on the hot water faucet knob; the way Jesse drapes the wet wash cloth over his head like I did as a child in the bathtub pretending to be a mermaid with long hair; the recognizable bathroom floor tile my grandparents had on their bathroom floor— these were all touch points for me as a little kid. Touch points that made me feel like my world and Jesse Bear’s world weren’t all that different.

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Wee Mouse’s Peek-a-boo House written and illustrated by Jean Hirashima. I had forgotten about this childhood favorite until one day my son hid in a narrow kitchen cabinet like in the picture above and it jolted my memory two whole decades later! I immediately ordered it “for my kids”.

I was seven when I first remember announcing I’d be a writer when I grew up. At this point I meant a children’s book writer (the good kind of book, not those boring grown up ones with no pictures!) So I set out to improve my artistry skills, which to me, seemed like the hardest part of the job.

Then my mother explained to me that children’s books are often made by both a writer and an illustrator. As a seven year old, this was baffling. Weren’t the illustrations the entire book?

As an adult I have a higher appreciation for how challenging it is to write a “successful” children’s book (a quick Google says around 3 million children’s books are published every year!), still, there’s a seven year old part of me the illustrator is the real hero.

To this day, one of my favorite illustrators is Barbara Cooney (1917-2000). The detail, hues, and movement in her illustrations keep my eyes glued to the page. She’s perhaps most famous for her book in Miss Rumphius— a book she both wrote and illustrated. But if you loved this book as much as I did as a child, then I definitely recommend you search her other work!

Roxaboxen by written Alice McLerran and illustrated by Cooney, is about patch of land in a neighborhood littered with discarded crates and large stones where the local children go to play. A fantastic book about the power of group imaginative play and finding life in everything.

When the Sky is Like Lace written by Elinor Lander Horowitz and illustrated by Cooney. This story is about the magical things that happen when the sky is “like lace”, with a party for those who know to look for it. Spooky and otherworldly. I love the details in this picture: the movement of the girl’s shadow on the stairs, the interior design like the ship painting and hallway mirror, mail left on the table, and the braided rope that holds back the velvet curtain. MAGICAL.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree written by Gloria Houston and illustrated by Cooney is actually based on a true story passed down through the generations of Gloria’s family. Set in the North Carolina Appalachian mountains, Ruthie’s father is called away to serve in WWI. While he’s gone, it’s Ruthie’s family’s turn to provide the Christmas tree for the town. This heartwarming Christmas story is SO beautiful, made much more so for being a true story. But the details of Cooney’s illustration bring it to life in a way that moves me so deeply. Even the detail of how prolifically Black-eyed Susans and Queen Anne’s Lace grow in the Appalachia region is just stunning!

I can’t write about detailed illustrations without bringing up Helen Craig, the artist behind bring the Angelina Ballerina series, written by Katharine Holabird, to life. Talk about a feast for the eyes!

The detail! The movement! You can practically feel the summer breeze dancing through the room, much like Angelina dances through her life. A messy room is so relatable for young children who move from one play activity to the next with abandon.

The Angelina Ballerina series has had an enduring legacy in children’s media. With a whopping total of NINETEEN books in the series— all illustrated by Helen Craig— it raises the question of how critical the vision of illustrators are for keeping a brand alive.

The series has gone on to be a TV show and Holabird and Craig have even developed a series for beginner readers that are separate to the official series canon. So much of storytelling is world building, and so much of world building in children’s book is the actual illustration.

I’m sure Katharine Holabird would be the first to credit Craig’s artistic vision as paramount to the series success. When you have such a realized world like the one established in Angelina Ballerina, it becomes easier to build off that robust vision for things like TV shows and merchandise.

The commitment to drawing nearly 100 different mice in the audience, each with their own facial expressions and sense of style, blows me away. As a child I didn’t notice the commitment, but I certainly felt its impact.

I love the painted green stairs that tie in with the chair and the tray— it makes you feel like there was leftover paint and Angelina’s parents decided to use the remainder to give the kitchen chairs new life.

Again, I appreciated the consistency of the decor as a child. The toys in Angelina’s room are always the same, the checked blanket on her bed, always gave me the sense that this was a real mouse child’s room. Seeing the same fixtures rearranged and tidied away breathed life into the story without it being a main plot point (ie. “Angelina cleans her room!”)

Of course there are tons of books that have less detailed illustrations that made a big impact on me. I love Tomie DePaola, the Corduroy Bear series, Frog and Toad, and many, many more.

As I’ve slowly put together a home library for my own children however, I find I’m subconsciously trying to find a way to revisit my own visual memories within these books. Nostalgia is such a powerful feeling, and can be hard to move past when creating a new experience. But over and over again, I still find myself drawn to contemporary illustrators who evoke that rich sense of detail in the books I pick out for my own children. I love Phoebe Wahl’s work for this reason.

Just like the Angelina books capture something of 90s aspirational interior aesthetic, I feel Phoebe Wahl’s captures a very specific artistic millennial aesthetic that I think will become iconic in retrospect. The bottle of wine that looks like it could be from Trader Joe’s, the cheese board and Alison Roman-esque fish platter. The parents’ clothing looks like something my husband and I would wear in a heartbeat. I also love the sense of witnessing a private family moment around the table. The coup glasses are the only dishes on the table that are matching which gives you a sense that they’re brought out for occasions while everything else on the table looks like it might have been thrifted.

It’s probably important to mention that contemporary artists like Phoebe Wahl incorporate more diversity in general. This gay couple and their daughter processing an abundant apple harvest moves me so deeply because I feel like I know them already. Based on their dress, based on the fact that like many parents of my generation, they’re trying to incorporate their values into their family life— tending the earth and being resourceful.

As much as I love contemporary artists like Christian Robinson (his use of color and the movement he captures is so stunning!), and Oliver Jeffers (we have almost all his books)— I do think when you’re a child there is something extra magical about illustrations that go into detail.

Not because children are judging them on an artistic level, but because in a child’s mind, the details help you understand the characters’ world without it being explicitly expressed in the writing.

Finally, I’d just like to say that while having my own children has provided a very organic route back to regularly reading and appreciating children’s books, you do NOT need to have children to earnestly appreciate what these books offer us. I hope this little review has maybe inspired you to head to the library, or even put in a little self-indulgent book order on Thriftbooks.com (not affiliated or sponsored!)

Kathleen Kelly would be proud.

From A Winter Place written by Ruth Yaffe Radin and paintings by Mattie Lou O’Kelley

The Trouble with Trolls written and illustrated by Jan Brett