Children's Books discussion

So I'm in love with laurel long's the twelve days of Christmas and everything Jan Brett. But I'm hoping to build a good library for my kids for the rest of the year too. They love the illustrations (not reading yet) in the books by the above illustrations.
Any more Suggestions for us?

Well, my favorite is Trina Schart Hyman. Not every one of her works is amazing, but Little Red Riding Hood is a famous example of her style.

Amen to Trina Schart Hyman. One of my very favorites as well. I also love Jan Brett. Another very good illustrator IMO is Ruth Sanderson.
Wendell Minor, John Butler, and James Arnosky all are excellent animal painters.
Steve Jenkins is also a great animal illustrator, but he uses collage art.
Kinuko Craft has done some luscious paintings for folktales.
Denise Fleming makes her own paper for her unique collage illustrations.

Oh you guys have good taste!!!
I'm obsessing with the fairytale illustrations, those are gorgeous

I love the illustrations of Irene Haas, The Maggie B.,

Pamela Zagarenski, The Whisper,

Emma Chichester Clark, I Love You, Blue Kangaroo!,

and Maurice Sendak, especially Where the Wild Things Are and Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present.

Old favourites like Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies of the Autumn too, but I could go on and on.

Perhaps this would be of use:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1191.Children_s_Picture_Books_With_Beautiful_illustrations

Although I do not enjoy either Susan Tooke's or Patricia Polacco's illustrations by themselves or as art in and of itself, they always work well with the accompanying texts (and Polacco writes her own narratives, is both author and illustrator).

Some of my favourite books illustrated by Susan Tooke are:

Brave Jack and the Unicorn
Full Moon Rising
Up Home
A Fiddle for Angus

And while I have not read a book by Patrica Polacco I have not liked, some of my favourites are


Fiona's Lace
The Junkyard Wonders
Chicken Sunday
The Trees of the Dancing Goats (this is perfect for Christmas/Hanukkah)

Anne Mortimer is another good one. She does great cats and other animals.

I love Kadir Nelson's artwork but most of his books are aimed at elementary aged children.
If You Plant a Seed
Nelson Mandela and many others.

Another book for elementary aged students that has illustrations I love is Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier.

When my children were younger, they all loved books by Eric Carle. I wouldn't describe his artwork as beautiful (like Jan Brett or Trina Schart Hyman) but it is bright and colorful and appealing.

I absolutely love the evocative illustrations of The Secret of Your Name: Proud to Be Métis. Dennis Weber's pictures, his illustrations are as emotion laden and as intensely spiritual as David Bouchard's narrative.

I also like illustrations by David Wiesner and Audrey Wood. And I adore the wordless books Flora and the Flamingo and Flora and the Penguin. The Carl books are all great too.Carl's Birthday. And I love Chris Van Allsburg's illustrations.

Oh, and Emily Gravett, Matilda's Cat

Two of my favourite picture books are The Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and the illustrator Clement Hurd.
I also like the books of Virginia Lee Burton, especially Katy and the Big Snow.

And perhaps this is one of those comments that deserve the "Duh!" response...but check out Caldecott winners and honors...especially in the last 20-30 years. There are many Caldecott books that are really lovely. This group reads the Caldecott winners and honors in our Picture Book Club.

These three have amazingly detailed illustrations:



Animalia



Thumbelina



The Magic Nesting Doll

Graeme Base also wrote an amazing mystery/puzzle/picture book called The Eleventh Hour which kept my daughters and I engrossed for hours/days trying to solve the mystery.

It looks amazing, Rosemarie - thankfully not as difficult as the wonderful Masquerade by Kit Williams though.

I had a thought re. the thread title. I do love very realistic and detailed illustrations in children's books and agree that Jan Brett and others who work in this way could/should be held up as examples of 'best' illustrators.

I think though, there are many other illustrators working in deceptively sparer styles yet with great skill and originality who could be described as being among the 'best' illustrators. It would be a shame if they were deemed second best.

No criticism intended - just an observation...

I've just come across the illustrations of Lisbeth Zwerger - beautiful, with that slightly strange quality that weaves a sort of magic. I can't find many books of hers here at GR but a Google image search reveals a broad range of her lovely work.


Swan Lake

I try to like Zwerger (because I often come across her books at sales) but always find that her work seems flat. Maybe it's the lack of background - so many of her illustrations are just the foreground characters placed in the midst of a drab grayish-brown haze of nearly nothing. Whether China (the Nightingale) or Germany (Hansel and Gretel) or Oz or Wonderland, I get no sense of a distinctive setting.

I can understand how you might see that as magical - it is otherworldly, in a kind of ghostly sense. But I'd rather have more vivid illustrations that stimulate with colors - Ibatoulline, Spirin, Craft, Hyman, Le Cain, Isabelle Brent, even Jane Ray. And of course older masters like Rackham, Nielsen, Dulac, et al.

For me there's something of a feeling reminiscent of some older masters of fantasy illustration in her work - perhaps it's simply the otherworldliness lent by the lack of detailed background. But I do love the feeling of space - almost an aloneness and silence - in her paintings - like being in the middle of a dream.

Having said that, I'm now wondering if I actually hear in dreams - people do seem to 'speak' but I think it's more telepathic than physically audible. Strange...

Ophelia's Shadow Theatre by Michael Ende has the luminous illustrations of Friedrich Hechelmann, one of my favourite German illustrators whose work reminds me of Caspar David Friedrich. Unfortunately, he seems rather unknown outside of Germany.

My heavens! Look at these https://frankzumbach.wordpress.com/2010/page/924/

Is this Hoffmann fairy tale really not available in English?

Thanks for the tip on a great artist!

Michael wrote: "My heavens! Look at these https://frankzumbach.wordpress.com/20...

Is this Hoffmann fairy tale really not available in English?

Thanks for the tip on a great artist!"

You are welcome, another beautiful offering is this anthology

Das große Balladenbuch.