Kevin Henkes

It's always interesting to see how an illustrator creates a picture book. Below is a nice look over the shoulder of Caldecott winner Kevin Henkes and a chance to hear him talk about some of the books he has created.

Guidance

There's a good article by Anna Grossnickle Hines on how to write a picture book. A picture book app, that is. See it here.

The App Lowdown

If you want to know about the business of children's book apps, hear it from the expert, Michel Kripalani of Oceanhouse Media, below. (Oceanhouse's website) He was speaking at the Dust or Magic App Camp. (That website is here)

Cool!

How can you not like this guy? Dallas Clayton was interviewed for Reading Rockets (their website is here) and he kind of challenges all of us to be more open and creative. Rad!

Toys And More Toys

Walter Wick is the photographer for the I Spy books, and more. There are lots of interesting pictures of the sets being created under the heading of "Features" there on his website. Check it out!

Game Story

Story. That's what entertainment is all about. Watch the video here to see how some game developers knew that story was at the heart of the experience they were creating, too.

Story is what a fiction picture book is all about, too. And story comes from character and plot. Do you have an interesting character? Is the plot solid?

The picture book cover is There Are Cats In This Book by Viviane Schwartz.

Babar at 80

Babar inspires love and respect. Read some of the earlier stories, especially, and notice the drama. Here's some background on the de Brunhoffs and their creations. The Babar books have characters we want to spend time with who are doing interesting things--a good place to start.