Well, I think a lot about how we could kind of raise the status of the picture book in society. I think, you know, in the last kind of golden age of picture books where – like the late thirties through maybe the early seventies, where the real – like the forties, fifties and sixties – so great. And the picture book had a different status in society, too. It was talked about in kind of just general interest cultural publications.
The New Yorker, The New York Times, not just in a section six – every six weeks, but just in general – would talk about kids’ books. It was just part of the discussion. And they’ve kind of fallen out of that place. And it’s interesting to me, because comics have kind of gone in the exact opposite direction. The rise of art comics, the graphic novel, and I think just thinking about visual literacy – an argument was made – and that argument carries weight with picture books, too – that comics work in a way that’s complicated and artful and really exciting.
But the picture book hasn’t really benefited from the increased status that comics have kind of earned for themselves. But I look at the way that that happened with comics, and I think that it took basically just a small band of people who appreciated comics and people who made comics really showing that this was an art form and talking about it and talking about how it works.
It’s so hard. I think we get very nervous talking about art in this country. It’s hard to teach art. It’s hard to talk to about art. But it’s not impossible. And in fact, I think it’s one of the – the more you do it, the easier it gets. And I think – I think talking about especially visual art, how visual art is made, how visual art works – and this is coming as somebody – like I cannot draw anything, paint anything, create anything that would delight you visually in any way.
But I’m a very visual person, and I create things that are artfully done. And I think if we had a better appreciation not just for the arts but for visual art, how it works, talked that – talked about it, it would be a great first step to understanding how sophisticated, or at least meritorious, the picture book is.
