The Important Books

Reviews / Votes

Although one might expect to find lists of 'best' books in this slim volume, in fact it consists of six critical essays on distinguished children's picture books and their authors. These books are viewed as works of art, and as such, Stanton asserts that the pictures do not function primarily as pedagogical tools, that words and pictures 'reverberate in each other's company in surprising ways,' and that the books appeal to adults as well as to children. Some of the authors whose works are discussed are Margaret Wise Brown, William Joyce, Arnold Lobel, Maurice Sendak, and Chris Van Allsberg. An example of thorough scholarship, replete with accurate references and essential explanatory notes, this study should benefit teachers, librarians, and students of children's literature. * Booklist * This brief but thoughtful book contains essays about the following picture book authors: Margaret Wise Brown, Arnold Lobel, Barbara Cooney, Maurice Sendak, William Joyce, and Chris Van Allsburg. * Children's Literature Association Quarterly * The author's free-ranging ability to discuss both text and pictures illuminates the genre's underpinnings. * School Library Journal * Thoughtful and illuminating...Stanton's collection of essays is solidly reasoned and cogently argued. I also found it a good explanation as to why children's picture books hold so much fascination for adults. * Green Man Review * In the six insightful essays comprising this collection, Endicott contributor Joseph Stanton looks at the field of children's picture book and argues convincingly that the best examples of the form can, and should, be valued as works of fine art and literature. * Endicott Scuttlebutt * Stanton reminds us of the influence of our first encounters with children's books and also their influence on the other half of their audience, namely the parents, teachers, librarians and other grown-ups who select them. He takes a decidedly grown-up approach to describing a series of those important books, including those by Margaret Wise Brown, Arnold Lobel, Hall and Cooney, Maurice Sendak, William Joyce and Chris Van Allsburg, analyzing their themes, their relationships with themselves in terms of the interrelationships of their art and narratives, and their effect on children's perceptions of the very real and very imagined world about them. * Reference and Research Book News * Recommended - secondary purchase. Better suited for college courses. -- Betsy Ruffin, Cleburne ISD