What a year it’s been for picture books. Sometimes it felt as though every single box I opened presented me with a newly inventive variation on this oh-so-important art form. Since most children encounter both fine art and letters for the first time in picture books, it’s heartening to see how robust this slice of the industry is.
The metafictive picture book is still going strong, with such format-bending outings as Deborah Underwood and Claudia Rueda’s Here Comes the Easter Cat, Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky’s Circle, Square, Moose, and Jason Chin’s Gravity.These and others offer a satisfyingly mind-bending experience that attracts attention to the book as artifact as well as deliverer of story or information.
