Picture Books by E.B. Lewis

I just came across two wonderful books by artist and illustrator E.B. Lewis. In one, he created images that deepen our experience of the Langston Hughes poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. In This Little Light of Mine, a visual story that illustrates the meaning accompanies the African-American spiritual, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." Lewis's masterful watercolors convey warmth, depth, and majesty. They speak to the soul and show us how powerful the combination of word and image can be.

You can find out more about his work at his website. Make sure your browser has a wide window open as the navigation is at the far right.

A report on E.B. Lewis's keynote at the New Jersey Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Conference on Tara Lazar's blog.

Picture Books as Inspiration

Whenever you read or hear advice to writers, the one constant piece of advice seems to be: read. For the kind of simple bookmaking I do and advocate, my advice is to read and look at (we are usually working with the visual as well as the written) picture books. I just started taking my own advice and once a week or so visiting a small section of the picture books in the children's room at my local library. The books are filed by author's name. I've been picking a letter and browsing through. I choose whatever catches my eye and seems to fit my mood. I'm interested in what the story is, how it is divided among the pages, the style of the illustrations, and how they're integrated with the text.