Picture Books Unpopular With Overzealous Parents: Are They Dying A Fast Death?

New York Times:

Picture books are so unpopular these days at the Children's Book Shop in Brookline, Mass., that employees there are used to placing new copies on the shelves, watching them languish and then returning them to the publisher.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[VeganCupcake]

02:12 PM on 10/20/2010

My 4-year-old and I love both picture books and chapter books (and by chapter books, I don't mean The Phantom Tollbooth. What preschooler enjoys heavy metaphor?). Picture books tend to be the ones we read over and over, and talk about them even when we aren't reading. But we also adore simple chapter books, especially ones in a series with recurring characters, like George and Martha, Minnie and Moo, and Dav Pilkey's adorable Dragon. He discovered the chapter books on his own at the library; I'm not pushing him toward the more difficult books. I'm just happy to be raising a great reader!

[scooterliberal]

02:55 PM on 10/12/2010

This is very upsetting. Even more upsetting and also telling, is how few comments there are to this article. What's the matter with you people? None of you read anymore except for electronic words on a screen? Pathetic. The age of literacy is quickly disappearing and no, e-books are just not the same.

[BebeLush]

12:43 PM on 10/12/2010

Can you imagine Green Eggs and Ham without pics? *shudders*

[Woods Shade]

10:00 AM on 10/12/2010

Oh, that would be such a tragedy... picture books are what first gets children interested in books, period. As children grow older they naturally progress to start reading - they want the challenge. Some parents should quit playing their agenda, and let kids be kids. - ex Library Aide.

[lee4713]

11:48 PM on 10/11/2010

One of the parents "quoted" in this article is very angry because she was taken completely out of context and made to seem "overzealous". Typical journalist cut and paste.

[thebigbike]

10:58 PM on 10/08/2010

For illustrated childrens' books to die this death of a thousand cuts is TERRIBLE and incredibly shortsighted considering tha tthe lasty 25 years have been an absolute Clilmax of great books, and great illustrations, from the most realistic to the most fantastic, from Lynn Curlee to Sergei Goloshapov, and the Dugins from Russia, Giselle Potter and Cynthia Rylant and Lane Smith and J. otto Seibold, and how to miss Jules Feiffer and William Steig and William Joyce ( pre -rollie pollie ollie) I could fillup about 10 of these windows with a list Michael Neugebauer's North-South Books have had an unbelievable number of fantastic books sigh....