Monday, May 20, 2013

20th May Dan Yaccarino (1965)

It is American author illustrator, Dan Yaccarino's birthday. To be honest I hadn't really noticed his work until I bought his book The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau for the library. I loved it so much I then went looking for more of his work. And then lately two new books that are just so special and popular with my young audience who love 'robot books' arrived. They are Boy and Bot by Ame Dyckman and Dan and Doug Unplugged  by Dan Yaccarino alone. The illustrations in these two make robots seem so endearing, yet expressive and fun. He has been quoted as saying:

“The images in a picture book are the driving forces that tell the story. The words tell only what the pictures can’t.”  

And this is so true in his books. Look at the final almost textless pages of Boy and Bot to see the power of his pictures at work. Happy birthday Dan Yaccarino and may there be many more picture books for us to enjoy!



PS What a coincidence? Today someone asked to borrow Would I Ever Lie to You? which we don't have so I looked up the author and learned that it was Caralyn Buehner, and now I have just read on Anita Silvey's almanac that today is her birthday too. She was born in 1963. So now I need to research her books some more.

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