Our Personal and Picture Book highlights of 2020

2020- What a challenging year it's been! I'm sure many of us will be glad to see the back of it and will welcome 2021 in with wide open arms! 

But we at Picture Book Den wanted to use our final post of this turbulent year to shine a light on some of the positives, some of the rays of sunshine that we've noticed amongst the darkness. 

We've chosen our personal and picture book highlights of 2020 and, as always, we would love to hear some of your highlights too. 

Lucy Rowland:

Picture book highlight: Rain Before Rainbows, written by Smriti Halls and illustrated by David Litchfield.

"Rain before rainbows. Clouds before sun. Night before daybreak - a new day's begun".

This picture book is a perfect partnership of beautifully written, lyrical text and gorgeous illustrations and is all about finding optimism in the darkest of places. A perfect picture book for this year where rainbows have shone from so many people's windows as a sign of both hope and of our gratitude to all the key workers fighting this pandemic. 

Personal highlight: For me, 2020 has been about finding my feet as a mum and watching my tiny baby grow into a cheeky, playful one-year-old.  While lockdown was somewhat intense at times, (my husband was working 12 hour day and night shifts) I look back at it now as an incredible bonding opportunity for me and my son and I feel lucky we had this moment when the world stood still. 

Clare Helen Welsh:

Picture book highlight: While We Can’t Hug, written by Eoin McLaughlin and illustrated by Polly Dunbar.

"They could not touch. They could not hug. But they both knew that they were loved."

From Eoin McLaughlin and Polly Dunbar, the makers of The Hug, this picture book is such an accessible and age appropriate way to tackle the trials of our times. The characters in the story find out that there are lots of ways of showing people they love them… while they can’t hug. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful and wonderfully simple. I’m certain this text will have helped many families in 2020, particularly at the beginning of the year when social distancing was strange and new to us all. It certainly helped me!

Personal highlight: My personal 2020 highlight has been working as a full-time author. Leaving my much-loved teaching career has meant that I have had more time to spend with my family and to immerse myself in the picture book world. Some of you may know I’ve been running a seven week online picture book course for Write Mentor, and I’ve managed to squeeze in five this year! It’s been wonderful connecting and working with like-minded people and the wonderful writers that join are a huge part of its success. I’m excited that I’ve also been asked to be Write Mentor’s Picture Book Writer in Residence 2021. I’ll be creating video and text-based content to support writers who love picture books as much as I do. So, all in all, lots to be thankful for and lots to look forward to.

Pippa Goodhart:

Picture book highlight: Wow! It's Night-Time, written and illustrated by Tim Hopgood

This board book has gloriously beautiful pictures of life at night observed by the owl at a time when 'we are tucked up in bed'. Weather and creatures and stars are all felt and noticed, and as dawn arrives the owls fall asleep ... just as you hope your child will be after you've read the book. The back endpaper reveals that the book is also a counting one, and there are one mole, two foxes, three rabbits, four bats, and so on up to ten stars to spot and count. 

Personal highlight: The choice of book is a clue. Just as the world closed down, we had the joy of a new life in our family. Grandson Samuel lives not far away, and I'm able to give 'informal childcare', pram walking and lap jumping and gurning to elicit grins. And sharing his first book experiences. He is very much 2020's personal highlight. Workwise I've been lucky. School visits have gone, but online teaching writing for children via Cambridge University has grown hugely. I long for more time to do my own writing! Wishing everyone a happy end to this year, and blossoming into a better world next year.

Jane Clarke:

Picture book highlight: Wow! said the Owl, written and illustrated by Tim Hopgood

There seems to be a bit of a trend here, Pippa :-) This beautifully, but simply, illustrated book is all about Owl's joy and wonder at the natural world he sees when he stays awake all day. I've read it over and over and over to my four little granddaughters this year, (2 personally, and 2 in the States, via Skype). It's resonated with me every time, reminding me of the solace I've found in nature this year.

Personal Highlight: Well, it's been a teeth-gritting year, but (touch wood) loved ones have stayed afloat, and I've been able to keep myself relatively sane and busy with lots of walks and online yoga as well as writing.  My heart goes out to those of you who have not been so fortunate. My personal picture book highlight is seeing Lucy Fleming's illustrations begin to come in for  A Small Person's Guide to Grandmas – to be published by Walker Books – and being able to dedicate it to the fab 4 who inspired it.

Natascha Biebow:

Picture book highlight: Old Rock (is Not Boring), written and illustrated by Deb Pilutti

This year, I've attended a lot of nonfiction craft webinars and I'm on the lookout for books that will inspire my own writing. What struck me about this picture book was the voice and unique point of view. The story is told by the rock, an inanimate object, and it immediately draws readers into the (true-ish) story of his life. Is it boring? Well, rock seems to sit in the same place all day long and he never goes anywhere. Has he even seen the world?! Beware of assumptions, though! Young readers will be surprised and delighted by the quirky adventures rock has really had in his lifetime - because, of course, rocks are around for a really long time (some cool lessons in geology and history here!). Old Rock challenges his friends' expectations - we can't judge people by how they look, and indeed tell whether they are 'boring' or anything else just by looking. Like rock, we are all special and each have unique experiences. Plus, sometimes, it's just nice to stay in one place for a time and enjoy nature – not boring, just 'being'.

Personal Highlight: It's been a tough year to be creative, with so much unexpectedness, worryingness, juggling and far-awayness from family and friends. My personal highlight was winning the Irma Black Award, voted for by children all around the world, for my debut nonfiction THE CRAYON MAN: THE TRUE STORY OF THE INVENTION OF CRAYOLA CRAYONS in the Spring, and recording the acceptance speech in my garden with my son's help. I am reminded of the beauty of nature's colours, the wonder of our world and inspired to keep going by the children who need our stories. I have been lucky enough to do some virtual school visits and connect with family via techonology. It's kept me going, even as I try to write new stories.

Political Picture Books - Garry Parsons

My seven year old son has been gripped by the US election. His enthusiasm being mostly ignited by watching coverage on CBBC’s Newsround, the topical news program from the BBC. 

Newsround offers clear bite sized chunks of information from the world stage in a clever and informative way. While my son continues to enjoy rhyming ‘Trump’ with ‘dump’ and repeating the hilarity of someone in the highest office having a name the same as what we might call a fart, he was able to absorb a surprising amount of information about politics, particularly around the notion of fake news and was able to form his own opinions on who appeared credible and who did not.

With this in mind we looked to the library bookshelves for politically themed picture books to expand on this new knowledge.

Finding books which dealt with the real aspects of how the political arena operates was limited, we found just two.  To understand the workings of an election The DK Children’s Book of Politics and Usborne's Politics for Beginners have between them, all the factual information a young voter might need covering elections, voting and government as well as issues on freedom of speech, feminism and my sons current favourite topic, fake news. The Usborne book includes tips on how to debate and importantly, a glossary.

But for a wider feel of politics and a more general understanding of some of the big issues we face in the world there are plenty of pictures books to help young voters. 

Picture books can be surprisingly political and sometimes strongly politicised but many carry their messages of social justice in beautifully subtle and imaginative ways. Social issues are an inherent part of children’s literature and as we've looked at many times at the Picture Book Den, picture books have the unique ability offer a safe place to explore complex social issues through imaginative writing and clever illustration. So covering a myriad of topics from gender equality to civil rights, the arms race to the protection of the environment, here are a few of the favourites we found on the shelves in the library.

The first two picture books we enjoyed take a look at the presidency itself. In 'Madam President', Lane Smith lays out the civic minded qualities needed by any future president through the day in the life of a little girl as she imagines being the president herself.

from Madam President by Lane Smith

Sofia is a Mexican American girl who who becomes the voice of change for her community in Andrea Beaty's 'Sofia Valdez, Future Prez', illustrated by David Roberts. Taking on the dangerous Mount Trashmore, she campaigns for improvements for her local area and courageously takes her plans to the city hall.  

from 'Sofia Valdez, Future Prez' written by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts

One of Dr Seuss’ lesser known picture books 'The Butter Battle Book', 1984, is an anti war story, particularly addressing issues around arms races and nuclear weapons, told through the Yooks and the Zooks who share a love of buttered bread. Difficulties arise between the two groups because they enjoy the bread in different ways which results in the threat of mutual destruction, but told in Seuss's joyful and funny rhyming text and familiarly wacky illustrations.

from The Butter Battle Book by Dr Seuss

In Yertle the Turtle, Seuss tackles dictatorship and oppressive cruelty. Yertle is the king of the pond but is tired of the stone that he uses as a throne and commands the other turtles to stack themselves “in a nine turtle stack” so he can see farther and expand is kingdom but to the detriment of others. Luckily, a simple but courageous ‘burp’ from Mack at the bottom of the stack topples Yertle’s empire.

 

 

from Yertle The Turtle by Dr Seuss

From the empowering ‘Little People, Big Dreams’ series of autobiographical picture books, 'Rosa' depicts the life of civil rights activist Rosa Parks whose courageous refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus to a white man lead to the end of segregated transport in America.

 

 

One of our favourite household books is 'No Room For Napoleon' written and illustrated by Adria Meserve. Napoleon is a dog with big ideas but bad manners. When he lands on an island paradise he insists on inflicting his vision for the island which escalates to building himself a fortress, destroying the island environment and forcing out the friends who live there. A story about appreciating good citizenship, environmental issues and the meaning for friendship.

 This list would not be complete without reference to David Robert's 'Suffragette The Battle for Equality'. Beautifully illustrated picture book carting the history and making the centenary of the first women winning the vote in the UK.

from 'Suffragette The Battle for Equality' by David Roberts

And considering the plight of current British politics, take a trip to 'The Little Island' for a powerful story about building bridges not walls and nurturing respect not resentment. By Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Robert Starling, a story for our times.

Garry Parsons is an illustrator of picture books.

@icandrawdinos