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RIF: What would you say is unique or important about the upcoming 2003 RIF National Reading Celebration? LM: For one thing, it is a very powerful experience for a child to meet an artist and to have the chance to see him or her at work. The Reading Celebration will offer many chances for this to happen. Because we typically see books in their finished form there is a tendency not to realize that a lot of hard work lies behind the finished product. The process the artist engages in is really quite similar to what children are doing at school when they are learning. The artist is also learning as he or she goes, making “mistakes,” trying different experiments, before finally arriving at a solution that we would call “finished art.” It’s great for children to see that for themselves. The other exciting aspect of the RIF event is that quite a few of the best illustrators working today will be there, working in public. These artists work in various styles and media — from oil painting to collage to drawing to printmaking — and represent the complete range of children’s illustration at a very high level. RIF: How are picture books and illustration important in the development of young readers? LM: For the youngest children, pictures are a first way into books. Long before they can read, children can respond to pictures. In a book like Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon, illustrated by Clement Hurd, the pictures are appealing partly because of their color and partly because they contain so many things that children recognize from their own world. The pictures become a focused way of exploring the world. As children become older, they can still enjoy and learn from pictures because pictures are another form of storytelling that complements the written word. The pictures in children’s books are also an introduction to art, and therefore to beauty. RIF: Can the illustrations in children’s books make better readers? LM: A picture may help a young child discover the meaning of a new word or understand a text that is otherwise too difficult. Also, people respond more immediately to pictures than to words. So a child’s strong reaction to an image may pique his or her curiosity and lead to reading a book carefully, to discovering in greater detail what was originally suggested in the picture. For example, after seeing the look on the face of a character in an illustration, the child might wonder what that character was thinking and then turn to the text to find out. This leads to closer reading and more engaged readers. RIF: What is the difference between children’s book illustration and art, if any? LM: I would say children’s illustration is a kind of art. Most of the time it’s a narrative art, art that tells a story. As with the stories in children’s books, the art tends to focus on the character or characters whose story you follow from beginning to end. But beyond that, almost any style of picture making is appropriate to children’s books and I think that, if anything, the level of quality of the art in picture books is underrated. RIF: How do illustrations in children’s books enhance the reading process itself? LM: Sometimes, for a young child, the picture reveals the meaning of a new word, so that’s one way; or it leads the child to a better understanding of the text, which is hard to understand for a beginning reader. Also, on a gut level, we respond more immediately to pictures, so they pique the reader’s curiosity, which then maybe leads to reading carefully, to finding out in more detail what was suggested by the picture in the first place. As an example, you might see an intriguing portrait of a character in the illustration and wonder what that person is thinking about and then you turn to the text and find out. RIF: Why do you think most adult books do not contain illustrations? LM: That’s an interesting question. I don’t know if there’s one simple answer to that. Partly it’s a matter of tradition. I think there’s an old idea that associates illustrations with children’s books and adults feel they’ve outgrown that kind of book, so they don’t expect to see pictures in their books. Another answer is that, of course, some adult writing has much more description as part of the writing and that description takes the place of the illustrations. The old cliché about a picture being worth a thousand words serves the children’s book writer very well because it allows him or her to write in a very compressed style, which is well suited to younger readers who may have somewhat of a more limited attention span than an adult. But the flip side of this is that more and more adult books are being illustrated and the “graphic novel” is a genre which has become very hip among well-read adults. This is a more sophisticated version of the comic book, the best know being Maus by Art Spiegelman. It tells a powerful story about the Holocaust, certainly a topic of interest to adult readers, but using illustration as much as text as the vehicle for telling the story. I think that as the media of television and movies become more and more important parts of people’s recreational lives, the visual elements in adult books are becoming more important, too. In addition, adults who take a good look at picture books, either because they have children for the first time, or just happen to be browsing in a store, are very often surprised by the quality of the art they find. It may take them a moment to get past the thought that they are not books they’re supposed to be interested in, but then very often they find that they are interested in them and are responsive to these books. RIF: In a culture dominated by moving images, are we seeing changes in the nature of children’s illustration? LM: The picture book was invented at the same time that the moving picture was invented, at the end of the nineteenth century. Part of the impulse behind the picture book is to find ways to suggest motion. On the printed page, you often find characters sort of leaping off the margins, for example. One of the things about the picture book, similar to what makes radio so interesting, is that the reader is given part of the action and asked to fill in the rest with his own imagination. Just as in radio, where you don’t get to see anything, you just hear the voices, and you have to imagine the characters who are producing those voices. RIF: So you are being asked to actively engage with the book itself. LM: Exactly. You have to connect the dots and create the motion in your own mind. That’s part of why the picture book is so engaging as an art form. The best children’s picture books make some movies look literal-minded in comparison. RIF: How would you advise parents and families to choose quality picture books? LM: It’s always good for a parent to start with books from their own childhood that they really loved, so that they will communicate their feeling of excitement to the child as they’re reading the book. That’s a very good start. There are some review media, of course, including the columns I write for Parenting Magazine, which try to offer suggestions on a regular basis. The Horn Book Magazine, which is a magazine that comes out six times a year, also contains dozens of reviews of new books in each issue. One of the nice things about picture books is they’re not so long you can’t spend some time at the library or bookstore browsing and sitting down on your own for a half hour and just exploring. My other suggestion would be to think of your local librarian as a very valuable resource. The children’s librarians at local libraries are usually very well aware of books that have come out in recent years as well as older ones – and they are dedicated, really, to helping children and parents find the books they will enjoy the most. Children don’t always respond to the art that would win a prize. I think it’s probably better to try and look at a range of things rather than just hit the prizewinners every time. Certainly, the Caldecott medallions are usually on the front cover of a winning book and some stores have special shelves devoted to Caldecott-winning picture books, and it’s a fairly reliable index of what’s good. It’s a wise idea to look at these books as a starting point, but I think people should feel free to put aside any prize-winning book that didn’t happen to appeal to them. They should’t feel in complete awe of the awards committees. The book experience really should be focused on individual preferences and tastes. RIF: The proof is in what the child ends up enjoying… LM: Yes. The chances are, in a shelf of Caldecott-winning books, you’re going to find some that you like, but you shouldn’t feel you have to like all of them. RIF: Would you like to say a couple of words about your new book? LM: My most recently published book is called Storied City and the subtitle, which explains what it’s about, is “A Children’s Book Walking-Tour Guide to New York City.” It’s a book of twenty-one walking tours through all five boroughs of New York, which takes readers to the sites of hundreds of children’s books which have New York settings or themes. The idea is to connect a reading experience with being in a particular place. Leonard Marcus is one of the children’s book world’s most respected and versatile writers, historians, and critics. He is the author of numerous highly acclaimed books about children’s literature and the authors and artists who create them. His most recent book, Storied City: A Children’s Book Walking-Tour Guide to New York City, directs readers to locations throughout the NYC region that have been featured in children’s picture books. His website is www.leonardmarcus.com. |
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Come to The Art of Reading festivities! When? Admission is free and open to the public.
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To help RIF coordinators, teachers, parents, and others understand the significance of the 2003 National Reading Celebration, RIF recently spoke with children’s literature expert and historian Leonard S. Marcus. Marcus will be participating in this year’s festivities as the moderator of public discussion panels with various illustrators. 
