Children’s authors and illustrators sign proclamation demanding better picture books

A group of U.S. children’s authors and illustrators have found an eye-catching way to demand better quality picture books from their peers.

A manifesto, signed by 21 members of the kids’ publishing industry, appeared as a full-page ad in the November issue of Horn Book Magazine and on the website thepicturebook.co. The coalition is spearheaded by Mac Barnett, a San Francisco author who sits on the board of 826LA, the non-profit writing and tutoring centre founded by Dave Eggers. Vancouver-born artist Carson Ellis handlettered and illustrated the document. Other authors and illustrators who have signed the letter include Laurie Keller, Lemony Snicket, and Jon Scieszka.

The manifesto begins with a proclamation: “We are tired of hearing the picture book is in trouble, and tired of pretending it is not.” The group calls for titles that are “fresh, honest, piquant, and beautiful,” and asks authors to “cease writing the same book again and again.”

Barnett says he wrote the document on a former professor’s advice. He told Publishers Weekly:

“The target audience for ‘A Picture Book Manifesto’ is quite sweeping.… It is really an exhortation to everyone – writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, art directors, booksellers, librarians, and parents – that we could all be doing better. The only people who are doing fine are the kids themselves. I really believe the rest of us should be doing better.”

Tom Tomorrow and The Very Silly Mayor

Political cartoonist and blogger Tom Tomorrow (né Dan Perkins) has decided to branch out into kidlit with a picture book entitled The Very Silly Mayor, due out in September. On his site, This Modern World, Tomorrow makes it clear the kind of book he was aiming for … and not aiming for:

I wanted it to be a book that would be amusing enough for adults, so that parents could stand to read it for the fiftieth evening in a row without feeling like their heads were going to explode. But at the same time, I wanted it to be a book that was genuinely for children, not one of these alleged kid’s books whose author revels in his own cleverness, winking knowingly at the adult and leaving the child almost irrelevant to the experience.

Given that the book is being published by a small press in the U.S., Tomorrow lays out the stakes of indie publishing:

It’s hardcover, with a dust jacket, interior wallpaper – should be a lovely package. But as I also pointed out previously, what this means is that I have much more of a personal stake in this – rather than getting most of the money I will make from it up front in an advance, as I’ve been able to in the past, most of what I’m going to earn will be after the actual sales. And my publisher – did I mention they’re small? They don’t have a skyscraper. They don’t really have an office. They’re two people working out of an apartment in Brooklyn. Which may actually be the wave of the future, as far as publishing goes – low overhead, keep it simple. But sales of this book will impact their lives, and mine, directly.

Of course, most Canadian indie publishers and authors would see this “wave of the future” as being more like the “wave of the past three or four decades.”

Event photos: Linda Bailey and Bill Slavin (and Stanley)

On Thursday, Feb. 15, Kids Can Press hosted a meet-’n'-greet at the head offices of Corus Entertainment in the cold, cold heart of Toronto’s financial district to celebrate the launch of Stanley’s Beauty Contest by Linda Bailey and Bill Slavin.

Kids Can president Lisa Lyons and editor Tara Walker.

Linda Bailey introduces Stanley’s real-life counterpart – her dog.

Bill Slavin shows off some of the book’s illustrations.

KidLit columnist (and frequent Q&Q contributor) Deirdre Baker chats with Slavin.

The loot bags.