Good news! You get to drop everything and read a children’s book!
Why?
It’s Children’s Book Week!
Children’s Book Week poster 1921 – art by Jessie Wilcox Smith
What a great excuse (although did we really need one?) to share a favorite children’s book with someone you love–be they little, big, young, old. (I don’t think we ever grow out of them do we? Not the great ones.)
Children’s Book Week began in 1919, and it’s still going strong! WOW!
And every year they have made a special poster. And the posters are gorgeous. (I’ve collected some here.)
Here’s a look at the posters from the past… What do you think? Any favorites?
Children’s Book Week poster 1924 – art by Jessie Wilcox Smith
Children’s Book Week poster 1925 – art by Jon O. Brubaker
Children’s Book Week poster 1937 – art by Kenneth S. Fagg
Children’s Book Week poster 1944 – art by Nedda Walker
Children’s Book Week poster 1950 – art by William Pene DuBois
Children’s Book Week poster 1952 – art by Roger Duvoisin
Children’s Book Week poster 1955 – art by Garth Williams
Children’s Book Week poster 1959 – art by Feodor Rojankovsky
Children’s Book Week poster 1965 – art by Ezra Jack Keats
Children’s Book Week poster 1968 – art by Ellen Raskin
Children’s Book Week poster 1970 – art by Mercer Mayer
Children’s Book Week poster 1976 – art by Uri Shulevitz
Children’s Book Week poster 1985 – art by Marc Brown
Children’s Book Week poster 1990 – art by Ed Young
Children’s Book Week poster 1992 – art by Fred Marcellino
Children’s Book Week poster 1995 – art by Lane Smith
Children’s Book Week poster 2008 – art by Mary GrandPre
Children’s Book Week poster 2010 – art by Jon J. Muth
Children’s Book Week poster 2015 – art by Grace Lee
They remind me that the pictures in a children’s book are like the front door of the book–they are often the only reason someone picks it up. So as a writer I am very grateful for the illustrators I get to work with.
Some people are surprised that Picture Books have words in them. They think they just have pictures. But the beauty of a picture book is that it is a story told in two languages: words and image. For that reason they are my favorite form. And why I can’t stop collecting them. What about you?
For some of the great illustrators I’ve worked with check out Jane Dyer, David McPhail, Sue Heap, Allison Jay, Alexandra Boiger, Jago–to name but a tiny few.
PS:
Read more about Children’s Book Week on the website.