I enjoyed Elizabeth Haidle’s 2021 Before They Were Artists: Famous Illustrators as Kids, and I learned a lot from it. It is a book for kids about six very different artists who have been highly influential in children’s literature. (This is extensively illustrated, but more word-dense that most picture books, and so kids may find it a challenge to read alone.)
It begins with two pages titled “What Makes an Illustrator?” It then discusses each of these great illustrators one at a time, roughly, but not completely, in chronological order: Wanda Gag, Maurice Sendak, Tove Jansson, Jerry Pinkney, Yuyi Morales, and Hayao Miyazaki. Each biographical sketch starts with a timeline and then the artists’ birth (and context), then follows them through their lives and art, ending with their deaths.
These artists are very different and came from very different backgrounds. Their stories are unified by their art, but also by their struggles and themes of discovery and self-discovery. Each artists had to find their own path; each had to change paths, sometimes multiple times. Haidle’s biographical sketches address topics other children’s books often slight, like Miyazaki’s family evacuating Tokyo during World War II, or Sendak and Jannson having same-sex relationships. Haidle discusses these topics quietly, but directly and with dignity.
Adults or kids are likely to know and love some of the creators, but are unlikely to know them all, so this invites readers to discover new paths too.
There’s one major challenge here. These artists have quite distinct styles, styles that are burned into readers’ memories and hearts. For example, years ago I was attending a production of The Nutcracker in Seattle. Sendak had done the sets, and at one point, a Wild Thing intrudes gratuitously. The response was a wave of “Oooh!” and applause from the audience. The illustrations in this book are clear and functional, but don’t throb with life the way, say, Gag’s pages overflowing with cats do.
But again, I enjoyed this and learned from it.
