Antoine de Saint-Exupéry dedicated The Little Prince to his friend Léon Werth, explaining to his young readers that one reason is “this grown-up can understand everything, even books for children.” Then he felt the need to point out that “All grown-ups were children first. (But few of them remember it.)” So by the end of the dedication statement, he famously corrected it “to Léon Werth when he was a little boy”.
Children’s books are on my mind this month as I’ve been invited to be in conversation with the great author and current Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Mac Barnett on Wednesday, May 13th at Book Shop Santa Cruz. Barnett has written a number of excellent books and is now releasing his first book for adults, “Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children”. In it, he argues children deserve great books because they can be excellent readers, and not unlike the protagonists in The Little Prince, are naturally more receptive to creative interpretation than grown-ups.
While Mac makes a persuasive plea for great books for kids, I often make an argument that grown-ups take time to read kids books from time to time, especially picture books. Great picture books are every bit as immersive and enjoyable an experience as adult books can be.
When I worked the public desk helping parents navigate the dizzying array of picture books, I would often point out that “let’s read it again” is a common refrain from kids, so they should be sure to include in their check-out pile a few titles that they themselves would enjoy spending quality time with. Apart from Mac Barnett’s own titles, a few others that I like to recommend include Jory John & Pete Oswald’s “Food Group” series, starting with The Bad Seed and The Good Egg. These are definitely books that present a ‘lesson’ but have plenty of humorous turns of phrase and details in the illustrations designed to resonate with the adults sharing the story.
If you like thrills and spills I enjoy Mel Fell by Corey R. Tabor. In this book Mel, a young kingfisher, falls out of her nest high up in a tree, the tension and humor building as she speeds past each branch on her way down. I won’t give away the ending, but I will point out Tabor creates a surprise in the reading experience about half-way through that never fails to delight.
A recommendation of a different nature is A River by Marc Martin. This title made the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books list in 2017 and for a long time after I had a copy on my office table. In it a young girl gazes at a river outside her window and imagines all the different places it must flow in rich, detailed illustrations. From time to time, I found myself flipping through it between meetings and realized traveling through these imagined landscapes from page to page helped me process and reset during busy workdays.
I know picture books can be intimidating to many adults; if you’re curious, just ask a librarian at any of our Santa Cruz Public Libraries branches for their favorites and you too can take a breather with a good book, regardless of your age.
Christopher Platt
