Many studies have shown that the best way to create a life long reader is to begin reading with children when they're very young . I wonder if there isn't an art parallel. If you begin sharing the glorious illustrations found in children's books with them, I suspect you may be starting your children on a lifelong path of admiring art.
Two recent books for babies are great examples. Hush Little Baby, published by Chronicle Books, is a rewriting of the original lullaby by the author-illustrator Sylvia Long. The original version disturbed Long because of the way the mother offers her baby comfort by buying things. Long's version suggests that babies can be best soothed by the warmth of a mother's love and her sharing with them the beauties of the natural world. So Sylvia Long's variation begins: "Hush little baby, don't say word, Mama's going to show you a hummingbird". And then the mother and child behold the beauty of the evening sky, listen for a cricket's call, and seek out a shooting star before they turn to inside delights. Inside, Long shows lovely bed time comforts of reading, tucking a child under a warm bedspread and making sure the teddy bear's close at hand.
Images and philosophy line up perfectly with words that don't miss a beat, but I don't know if the book would have been quite so powerful without the illustrations. Long's pictures describe both emotional and physical textures that turn a lullaby into a story of mother-child love. The mother bunny's fuzzy worn robe recalls the snuggles of a mother who cares more about making children feel good than how she looks. The home she creates is alive with play....from the handmade quilt she's made child, to the carrot curtains that hang from the window. Her gestures make for warmth when we see how easily her arm rests around her loved child as they lift their gaze to a beautiful harvest moon. Long has succeeded in drawing unconditional love and the kind of bedtime warmth that families wish for.
David Kirk has been on every best illustration list I've seen for years...but his stories have stopped me from enjoying his art. His Miss Spider books have captured more readers than a busy spider's web. Of course his Miss Spider is different. Her creator is bent on making this slandered insect lovable. His new board book, Miss Spider's Tea Party: The Counting Book, is the first book that's allowed me to get beyond the story to admire his art. When Kirk limits his words and uses a strict structure of rhythm, rhyme and counting, I delight in his vibrant colors which are glowing and soft at the same time. This book, saved from his usual belabored rhymes and didactic points, makes me appreciate how he makes a bouquet of flowers seem so real that the texture-loving toddler will reach out to touch it!