I love illustrated children’s books. When I was a little girl, my mother had a tremendous collection of gorgeous illustrated books that she would read to me. Now that I’m older, I can’t help but to acknowledge what a profound effect they must have had on me. Through those books, I gained a life-long appreciation for beautiful art and beautiful words.
I’m not sure if my mother was just exceptionally gifted at finding beautiful books (which of course she was), or if children’s books were just a lot better then (which I think they probably were). Whatever the case may be, I just have a very hard time finding well-written, beautiful children’s books.
Yesterday I spent over an hour at our local independent bookseller and could not find a single book that I thought was worth getting. It was majorly depressing. I went through every single shelf in their children’s department and I couldn’t find anything that really spoke to my soul. Some of the books were okay (who doesn’t love “The Hungry Caterpillar”?), but they certainly didn’t speak to my imagination. The illustrations were either banal or downright bad. I did find some books by Demi Hitz which were quite pretty, and I was a little bit tempted by them. But overall, nothing really stood out. Oh…I also found a copy of “Bread and Jam for Frances”, by Russell and Lillian Hoban, which I also love. (By the way, do any of you remember the Caldecott medals they used to have for kids books? Do they still do that in the States? I have not seen any awards on kids books here in Canada, though I’m not surprised, as the choice here seems pretty dismal).
My husband picked me up afterwards and we had a long conversation about the whole experience in the car. I decided that for now I’ll just collect used illustrated children’s books, and if I want to get good books for very young children, I may just have to write them myself! I’m ready to run out and get some coloured pencils and have at it…
Does anyone else with young children ever feel like there are no books for children that are worth reading? I would love to know if any of you have found great new children’s books recently!