This is a post that I wrote a year ago just before our last illustration course. Because it's still just as relevant now as then and I'm busy setting up another one of our fabulous free webinars and putting together a bonus writing humor for kids course and trying to get the word out about the illustration course (yikes), I decided to run this post again. If you read it, you might enjoy reading it again and if you haven't, well... what more can I say? :)

There's a great saying that Henry Ford allegedly said, "Think you can, think you can't; you're right eitherway."

Most people when they think of illustration, they think about needing to draw like Michaelangelo, which traditional illustration exemplified. And while I love traditional realistic style illustration, I also love many of the  books being illustrated right now that incorporate contemporary art moves like collage, abstraction, indigenous art, and expressionism where realism and correct proportions are totally thrown out the window in favor of flavor, fun, emotion, abstraction, and imagination. Both traditionally trained artists and brand new artists access that inner playful childlike place to make their work sing. Below is a wee video of some of my favorites.

If you enjoy this post, please leave a comment and if you'd like to join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt books for young readers and their imprint Clarion Books Associate Art Director Sharismar Rodriguez and me in a fun free webinar/workshop, click the link for that right here. And if you'd like to know more about the course click here! 

PS If you know anyone who might be interested in an extraordinary children's book illustrating course scholarship, please share this link http://bit.ly/1NnXLQn
Applications will be ending September 5th.

 by Bryan Patrick Avery

Several of my favorite magic effects to perform are decades old. One, in fact, was first printed over 100 years ago. It’s been interesting to watch many of the recent changes in magic brought on by YouTube performances and the growing emphasis of street magic as influenced by magicians like Chris Capehart, David Blaine, and Jibrizy. Like magic, children’s books have undergone an interesting change in recent years as well.

Many recent award winners and bestsellers have strayed from the tradition approach to storytelling and have embraced new ways to entertain, excite, and enlighten. This month, we’ll look at three such books. First up, a graphic novel Neil Gaiman calls “a masterpiece”.
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Vera Brosgol’s graphic novel, Anya’s Ghost, tells the story of Anya, who falls down a well and meets a ghost named Emily. Anya is an outsider at school and just as uncomfortable at home. Emily’s presence starts out as something useful, but soon becomes creepy. When Anya agrees to help solve Emily’s century old murder, and Emily agrees to help Anya with a boy at school, things really go off the rails.

Anya’s Ghost manages to be creepy and heartwarming, helped in no small measure by Brosgol’s artwork. If you’re interested in writing a graphic novel, this is one you must read.
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Just as graphic novels have grown in popularity among readers and publishers, so have novels in verse. Perhaps the most celebrate work in this area is Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover which won the Newberry Medal.

​The Crossover tells the story of Josh Bell, basketball phenom, son, and twin brother. As the story unfolds through a series of masterful verses, we get to see Josh at his best and his worst. What is, perhaps, most amazing about The Crossover is the emotional pull it has and I find it impossible to imagine the story told in any other way.  Whether you want to write in verse or not, every writer can learn from Alexander’s work.

If you’re looking to be inspired by a truly creative work, check out Corinna Luyken’s picture book The Book of Mistakes. The story is simple. The author shares with us, the readers, a series of mistakes then goes on to show how they inspired something greater. By the end of the book, we’ve come full circle but can now see how big mistakes can lead to great achievements. The message is inspiring and the artwork is beautiful. It is truly an immersive experience and a very different type of picture book.
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Well, that’s all for this month. I passed the midway point in my own graphic novel manuscript yesterday. Now it’s on to the finish. Have a magical month!

By Mandy C. Yates

Check out some of the new pictures that have come out or are coming out in 2017! All of these books are about reading, writing, words, and literacy. Enjoy!

​In this fun and funny celebration of literacy, kids of all ages will discover that the act of reading is a daring adventure that can take you anywhere! You can read at the playground, under the sea, at the opera and even in outer space! It turns out you can read everywhere! And when you do, you open yourself to a universe of adventure.

Presented in light-hearted, rib-tickling verse that's perfect for reading aloud, You Can Read sings it loud and proud: Books are awesome. And so are the people who read them.

A charming, suspenseful, and wholly original picture book about the adventure of growing up, from the acclaimed and bestselling creator of Red: A Crayon’s Story and Wonderfall.
When Little i’s dot falls off, rolls down a hill, over a cliff, and into the sea, Little i sets out on a journey to rescue it.
With a playful focus on the alphabet, spelling, and simple punctuation, this charming and suspenseful quest story about letters, self-confidence, belonging, and growing up is a great choice for the classroom, library story-hours, and bedtime.