A picture book biography is more than the product of an author. You could safely say that the responsibility for its appeal is shared by the author, the illustrator, and the subject, especially when the subject is herself an artist.
If you think of the recent picture book bio of Anna Pavlova, Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova
I'm going to argue that there's one other person who should get a lot of credit for a truly extraordinary picture book biography, and that's the editor. If you listen to Laurel talk about Swan (and you should, on Matthew Winner's Let's Get Busy podcast interview of Laurel and Julie), you'll hear about the editorial process that resulted in words selected like gems from a velvet case and an illustrator who was an inspired choice by Melissa Manlove, the book's editor at Chronicle.
Similarly, in the acknowledgements for Mary Cassatt: Extraordinary Impressionist Painter
Gabi Swiatkowska has never not produced art that is interesting to look at. Her work is intentionally mannered and old-fashioned looking, but with a knowingness that winks at the reader. A little girl might be dressed in meticulous period gear, all pantaloons and petticoats, but her expression will be one of very specific discontent. See Queen on Wednesday
And then you have Mary Cassatt, who was revolutionary for her time, painting scenes of everyday domestic life through the lens of a new generation of artists. Barbara Herkert does a great job in this book explaining the context of Cassatt's work - she saw the brighter colors and loose-limbed poses of Degas and his dancers and applied those ideas to the subjects she liked to paint.
When the modern viewer looks at her work, however, all we see are babies and moms. Babies and moms wearing placid expressions, depicted in pastel colors. Yawn. We have trouble seeing what's extraordinary about her work, because the angles and colors and the way she used materials - so shocking at the time - are now perfectly accessible to us.
So when you put Gabi Swiatkowska, who has always been interested in what her subjects are THINKING, onto the case of Mary Cassatt, whose content is no longer challenging to the viewer, you get the best of both worlds. A sweeter color range - and fewer random birds - in Ms. Swiatkowska's illustrations, and a sense of challenge and alertness in Ms. Cassatt's paintings.
This book has finally made Mary Cassatt relevant to me. Good job, ladies!
. I think it's the only use of green in the entire book - there is noooo way that's a coincidence.
into his or her hands, or 
, or the new picture book biography of Golda Meir, 
.
this past spring. And I somehow never got up the courage to ask, "What the hell, Chris Raschka? What child will be interested in the life of Sun Ra?" I played Sun Ra's music for my kids in the car, and after about 20 minutes, they politely asked me to turn it off because it was making them crazy.
- why is your cover so blah when 
is "better" or "worse" than - for example - the dreamlike, lyrical 
?
is French, Noah and Na'amah are South Asian in 
, the Lucky Ducklings live in Montauk, the Tiny King is Japanese, and 
lives in "Africa, amazing Africa." 
was real. Mr. Hulot was the fictional alter ego of the real actor Jacques Tati.
by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett, pictures by Matthew Myers. 
. Jack Gantos was a good sport about our massacre of his Newbery Award-winning book, hope Mac & Jon don't get too mad at us for blowing their framing device.
by the Rosenthals, or 
by Ed Vere. Could be you found your book long ago and it was 
by Deborah Guarino, or 
by Bruce Degen.
and half those characters are named after classical gods and heroes (my children are so much more highbrow that I am right now, it's embarrassing).
. Snow's great. She knows EVERYthing about comics, and she sometimes wears tiny hats. AWESOME tiny hats.
by Rob Reid), plus I'm by myself in the house, my whole entire family being out of town, and I'm working the evening shift. So I feel a little unreal.
). Every one of those books is a charmer, as is Larf. Larf is, contrary to what I think are most people's expectations about Sasquatches, rather a neat person. He folds his laundry and washes his dishes after he uses them. He wears a neat red scarf. He lives alone but he's not lonely. Not super lonely anyway.
, and we all cried our eyes out. Amazing graphic novel memoir. And I don't know about other people in my industry, but I figured, given the acclaim Stitches garnered, David Small would then by and large quit illustrating picture books.
taught me to look at all the stuff inside the pictures; 
, with its expanding and contracting picture area, taught me to look at the page as a whole; and his illustrations for the 
books showed me that animal characters need not be cartoonish or unrealistic to be endearing. 
. Wouldn't you like to be thought of as 'unruly' from time to time? Slightly unsafe? Unpredictable, like the high-heeled little spitfire on the cover of this new picture book?
?"
.
, the story of six men crossing the Pacific on a handmade raft. Like-minded readers today might try 
, 
, or a biography of an Arctic explorer.
by Dolores Johnson. National Geographic Children's Books.
, by Jon Scieszka. Viking Juvenile.
by Margaret Cardillo, illustrated by Julia Denos. Balzer + Bray.
to 
to 
. He comes by his interest honestly - his mother 
, also writes picture book bios to watch for. She has done 
, 
, 
, 
and more.
, 
, 
and 
have each caught her attention. She also has written a series of lively collected biographies - books about musicians, presidents, athletes, pirates, writers taken in context. Look for books with "
" in the title.
, for which she won the Caldecott Medal, also writes and illustrates terrific nonfiction. 
! I loved that!"
for his clear, happy colors, lovely layering, and strong, funky line. And Joan Holub's 
books are getting a lot of play with my middle grade girl readers. She sent a stack of goddess bookmarks along with the ARC of this picture book, and they were snapped up in a jiffy.
. It was full of excerpts from longer books - a chapter from Mary Poppins, a chapter from The Wizard of Oz. Some poetry, some obscure stuff. A really scary Rapunzel. I ate that book up and then forgot it, although I think it is the reason that I have an unexplained but vehement dislike of excerpts. I felt terribly cheated, not getting the whole story.
and 
- I have bought those books, I have gifted those books, and I have recommended those books. They make good baby shower gifts, among other things. I mean, as well as being informative and inspiring. I thought there was probably not one more serene natural subject worthy of Ms. Long's well-researched scrutiny and 
and 
and Laurence Pringle's 
in your school or classroom library and you thought you were done, well, better make a little room on the shelf. And give your kids sketchbooks and some colored pencils - they're going to want to go outside and draw something.
crossing the finish line with a half-ton of wild but gifted racehorse under her butt. That face - you just know it - is going to get in soooo much trouble in about fifteen seconds, but for now, that is the face of scientific validation.
. What I think about that book was expressed quite soundly - and strongly - by 
