Any description of childrens book illustration covering this time period should include Dr. Seuss. He has certainly had more impact on the genre than say Rockwell . . . .

Not to mention Edward Gorey. He wrote and/or illustrated more than 100 books for both adults and children.

The Shrinking of Treehorn was one of my childhood favourites.

He had very little impact. I don't know if I'm even familiar with any of his books.

greeneggsnham:

He had very little impact. I don't know if I'm even familiar with any of his books.

I hope you mean Gorey (who is awsome but a bit obscure). You must live under a rock if you haven't heard of Seuss.

But who is Seuss?

You must forgive any typos in my post. There is a fly buzzing around me and I'm all out of Flit.

Dr. Seuss aka "Theodor Seuss Geisel" author of The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Horton Hears a Who, One Fish Two Fish and many other childrens books. For my money he's the best children's illustrator ever.

You're probably using the Braille version of The Fray.

Now you're probably thinking:

I do not like you greeneggsnham

Your tone is rude, your posts are spam

You point out how clue less I am

I do not like you greeneggsnham

Still, Gorey is wonderful, but take a tour through the kid's section of the bookstore now and take a look. There is some brilliant work being done.

I was especially impressed with "No, David" which is the first in a series, and last year's Caldecott winner, the title of which escapes me, but is about a camera that floats in the ocean and time. Beautiful. No dialogue, in fact, no text at all, it doesn't need it. Graeme Base is another first-rate illustrator. "Animalia" is a good place to start for his work.

I wish Nick Bantock did more for kids. His work has a level of complexity that I think a lot would really enjoy.

Although I didn't grow up in the US, there were some Seuss books lying around in our house. We also had a few Richard Scarry books and some Bearenstein(sp?) Bears books as well. I would have loved to see some of those books included in the slideshow as well.

I have to admit here that I collect old children's books, and I'm a former English teacher. When it comes to picture books for kids, it's all about the art for me. Richard Scarry and the Bearenstein (sp?, too, too late for me to have read them as a kid) just don't measure up particularly well in terms of the art.

Now that I have a Cool Niece, I'm buying some of the most wonderful books I've seen in years for her. Some of the most recent really are brilliant. I think the article was a little superficial on that count. All it would have taken is for the authors to tour their local Barnes and Noble...

I can't comment on the artistic merits of the Scarry books but I could attest to its storytelling power. Now although I had a few Scarry books lying around my house as a little kid, I didn't really get to "read" them since I didn't speak English at the time and most surely couldn't read in English. Neverthelss, the pictures literally narrated itself and I believe I could understand its plot, humor, and even some of the nuances. I still fondly remember every zany little story in Busy, Busy World (by browsing on Amazon I just found out for the very first time that this was the title of my book) and know all the menagerie of anthropomorphic characters (though I never learned their names.) I look forward to buying the same book for my newborn son in the near future. It would be a wonderful experience for me as well, to be able to "read" my favorite bedtime storybook that I know so well for the first time.

The Cat in the Hat ... on Aging I Cannot See
I Cannot Pee
I Cannot Chew
I Cannot Screw
Oh, My God, What Can I Do?
My Memory Shrinks
My Hearing Stinks
No Sense of Smell
I Look Like Hell
My Mood is Bad -- Can't You Tell?
My Body is Drooping
Have Trouble Pooping
The Golden Years Have Come at Last
The Golden Years can Kiss My ASS! I don't know who wrote it, but it sums up aging quite nicely. :)