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Richard Scarry and the Question: Who is Your Favorite Children's Book Artist?

By Blair07 | Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 1:28pm
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The Animation Cafe

This weekend I was sorting through some old books when I found "The Little Raccoon and the Outside World" by Lillian Moore, "Gus and the Baby Ghost" by Seymour Fleishman, and then I ran into one of my all time favorite kid's books; Richard Scarry's "Funniest Storybook Ever" and "What Do People Do All Day."

I sat down and perused them cover to cover and fell in love with the books all over again. Richard Scarry has to be one of the most inspiring artists that I've re-discovered lately. His work is so akin to animation with the design, movement, and creativity that he injects into each story.

There are so many fantastic books out that I have no clue about their existence, or just don't plain remember. So I was wondering...Who is your favorite children's book artist/author? What inspires you about them and why? What was your favorite book whe you were a kid?

And if you haven't seen a Richard Scarry book I would recommend checking them out because they are classic!

Blair07's picture
Submitted by Blair07 on

Thanks everyone for the responses, I am going to love looking up and doing some research on these artists and their work. Keep em comin:D

DSB's picture
Submitted by DSB on

Mercer Mayer. Ah Choo is a beautifully illustrated book.

Graphiteman's picture
Submitted by Graphiteman on

You should track down Scarry's earlier illustrations like his Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer and Smokey Bear.
Favorite Children's book illustrators? The good Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Bill Peet, P.D.Eastman and Mel Crawford(Very Verstaile could action adventure ans cartoony).

b'ini's picture
Submitted by b'ini on

We had Richard Scarry's "Busy, Busy World" and just loved it. Funny stories and great illustrations. I can still see the boa constrictor holding the plane together. Brilliant.

Subject matter played a big part in what I liked to look at. If it had a horse on it, I loved it, so I grew up loving CW Anderson and Sam Savitt - even before I knew their names I could recognize their style.

I liked Tolkien, so I liked Alan Lee and the Brothers Hildebrandt. Does anyone know who did the illustration of the Earthsea Trilogy? I always like that.

Some other favorites are Don Wood (Quick as a Cricket, Big Hungry Bear), Shel Silverstein, Jan Brett, and Istvan banyai.

Looking at them now, having had to google some names and images, I seemed to be attracted to more realistic style than abstract and liked a lot of details.

grumbleboy's picture
Submitted by grumbleboy on

I bought this book for my kids when they were a bit younger and fell in love with this guy's work:

I believe he's done a number of graphic novels as well.