
The Important Books
Children's Picture Books as Art and Literature
Joseph Stanton(Author)
Scarecrow Press
Published on 18. August 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
96 pages
978-0-8108-5176-4 (ISBN)
Description
The children's picture book is an important form of literary-visual art. In this volume, Joseph Stanton disposes of some of the assumptions that have tended to obscure this genre's achievements. While focusing on those books that are distinguished by some degree of originality in both word and image, the author points out that the importance of picture books is not primarily pedagogical-they are not intended to serve as "dumbed down" versions of young adult or adult novels-and the audience for these great books is not solely children. Because the children's picture book is designed to provide the context for an intimate transaction involving the imaginations of both parent and child, there is a social value to the form that lends a special poignancy to the pleasure it provides. The Important Books takes a look at some of the most significant and talked about authors, illustrators, and titles in the genre, including Maurice Sendak, Margaret Wise Brown, William Joyce, and Chris Van Allsburg.
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 ISDMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lanham, MD
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
192 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8108-5176-4 (9780810851764)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Joseph Stanton is professor of Art History and American Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Content
Part 1 Acknowledgments Chapter 2 1. Introduction Chapter 3 2. "Goodnight Nobody": Comfort and the Vast Dark in the Picture-Poems of Margaret Wise Brown and Her Collaborators Chapter 4 3. Straight Man and Clown in the Picture Books of Arnold Lobel Chapter 5 4. The Cycle of the Seasons in Hall and Cooney's Ox-Cart Man Chapter 6 5. The New York City Picture Books of Maurice Sendak Chapter 7 6. Dashing Heroes and Eccentric Families in William Joyce's Picture Sagas of Our Common Culture Chapter 8 7. Surrealism and the Strange Tale in the Picture Books of Chris Van Allsburg