Today we’re recommending alphabet books.
But first some other picture book stuff:
The Substack Post put up a short film about Looking at Picture Books (and Mac’s dog Henry), directed by Nathan Zack. You can watch it here:
Mac discussed picture books on KQED’s Forum.
Jon Mooallem wrote a lovely obituary for the great picture book maker Uri Shulevitz in The Wall Street Journal.
If you’re looking to telegraph your love of picture books to the world, the Looking at Picture Books Shop sells totes, hats, and posters.
ABC books have their origins in the earliest days of children’s publishing. Orbis Sensualim Pictus, printed in 1658 and considered by some to be the first picture book (not us though!), begins with an illustrated list of animal sounds, presented in alphabetical order.
Some abecedaries (when I use that word, even kids’ book professionals want to stuff me in a locker) have a clever concept, a twist on an old genre. But many successful ABC books are straightforward showcases for strong design and excellent illustration.
—MAC
We Read: A to Z, Donald Crews
Donald Crews’s first picture book, edited by Ursula Nordstrom and published in 1967, was an ABC book, and already you can see a lot of the hallmarks of Crews’s work: there’s clean but playful typography, restrained, elegant language, and an emphasis on shape and color. “Almost,” "Whole,” “Grow”—Crews takes the intangible and renders it visible. There’s a profundity here that’s surprising in a concept book—which is also Classic Crews.
—MAC
