What We're Reading

Here are some of the books our family is reading this week. We rotate books often, but Richard Scarry has been a staple for my 4yo for the past month or so. Finding this very large storybook was a nice change of pace from Busytown since it seems like we've read all those stories MANY times over. Once this one becomes rote I'll be hunting down some of the books I just saw on the Random House page for Scarry.

What We're Reading (plus a video of Lucy Cousins)

My older son has been tearing through the series of animal books. I love seeing him head to the same spot in the library at each visit, eager to find a new book. He has also been making my husband read lots of Richard Scarry at bedtime each night for weeks. I think he's a bit weary of our selection - talk about the power of longevity! My daughter, who has a shorter attention span for picture books, was ooh'ing and ahh'ing over All the World - who wouldn't?! And Maisy has fans in all of us. This lengthy opposite book is fun for the 2 and 4 year old. Also, I found this lovely video of Lucy Cousins painting Maisy - it's so fun to see her process.

Pen and ink art

Last week, I posted about attending the Edward Gorey exhibit at the Boston Athenaeum. I attended the exhibit this past weekend (read my blog review here). After the exhibit, my mind is now fresh on pen and ink, and I want to highlight a few of my favorite pen & ink children's books...

Richard Scarry and gouache

I've read lots of later Richard Scarry to my son, but we picked up Polite Elephant at the library last week and found it quite endearing. I really was taken with the more rendered style and as I read it (over and over and over) I guessed it might be gouache. After a little searching online - mainly this great post from 7 Important Things Before Breakfast, I discovered ALL his work is gouache! Wow. This, as I just finished an illustration job last night where I just didn't get my cheeks rosy enough and had to boost them in Photoshop a bit. Oh Richard Scarry. I wish I could pick your brain about how you paint such gorgeous, rosy, cheeks.

Big Book, Little Book, Itty Bitty Teeny Tiny Book.

I may not be putting pencil to paper for my own book these days, but I'm thinking about the final size of it as a much bigger component than I had before. How much do you consider size when working on a dummy? How often do you think about the size of books?

Last year I noticed a few oversize board books at our Barnes & Noble. A gigantic version of Freight Train had me tweeting 'Why?' My son has the 'normal' size book and it seemed just right. Since then, we've acquired a few books bigger and smaller than what I assumed was the average sized board book.

Now that my son is mobile, the giant Moo Baa La La La seem to stop him from a distance, just catching his attention as he toddles along. He'll play while standing at the couch, but so far he doesn't seem interested in flipping the pages in these behemoths. It's just too heavy. So I'm starting to see the value a bit, but I still find myself asking, Why? Is this size appealing for daycare centers, so workers can read to a group of toddlers without worrying about tearing of delicate pages? Will it be interesting to him when he's actually big enough to carry it, or will he prefer picture books? Is this targeted at reluctant readers, who want to feel BIG but can't sit for a more complex story? Or is it just another way to try and make money for the publishers? Not that I'm against it, but I feel like books should be the right size, for the right age and child.

The average sized board book has been our mainstay. Whether square or horizontal, it serves us well for laptime, wandering, stacking, flipping, grabbing, and loving. We prefer the native board books, not those picture books that have been shrunk down, although a few of those seem to work just as well (I Kissed the Baby comes to mind). Hanukkah Lights is no longer seasonal, but that hasn't stopped us from reading it often. It's a perfect first Melissa Sweet book, don't you think?

And last, but not least... the tiny book. Oh, how we loved this little apple-shaped book when we checked it out of the library! That's why its my pick for this month (see sidebar). I'm still thinking about tracking it down to buy, that's how much we miss it. It just fits in his little hands. It's light enough to carry everywhere - and really it got carried everywhere. And the illustrations inside charmed us over and over. Richard Scarry is timeless, even if some of the vehicles are a bit dated (a metal toothpaste car, and actual jar of yogurt as the yogurt car, etc.). I definitely understand the value in such a dear little object, especially with the scale and detail in the illustrations on white. I checked out a big picture book of Richard Scarry's and it just didn't have the same appeal - for either of us actually.

So what do you think, dear readers? Big, Little, Teeny - or all of the above?