Read Me A Story!

When I was a kid, we called them “storybooks.”   I never thought of them as picture books, but of course, they were.  The books I loved as a kid had colorful illustrations on every page, but they also had lots of words and a real story to tell.  My sisters and I shared many Little Golden Books when we were growing up.  And some of them were pretty “wordy.”  Just for kicks, I decided to count the words in one of my favorites (since I still own a copy) - The Shy Little Kitten, written by Cathleen Schurr and illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren (© 1946).  It has 800 words on 24 pages.  That’d be 200 more than the maximum allowable word count for a 32 page picture book these days.  

One of my daughter’s favorite books when she was young (she’s now a teenager) was the award-winning Stellaluna, written and illustrated by Janell Cannon and published in 1993.  The word count for that story comes in at about 900, and that does not include the “Bat Notes” in the back of the book. I read that story over and over again to Victoria – she never tired of it.  You can do that when a story has some complexity.  Complexity is interesting, it stands up to repetition (demands it!) and it often takes some words.

 My daughter and I spent countless hours reading and re-reading storybooks, and she is still an avid reader today. I don’t understand why the prevailing “wisdom” for picture books says that they should be “quick” reads and the fewer words, the better.  The combination of a compelling tale and great pictures is what defines the perfect storybook for me.  I think that not only is there room in the market for the longer picture book, but in our world of fast-paced electronic communications, there is actually a greater, counterbalancing need for them.  

Of course, I have a dog in this fight, as the longer picture book is the kind of book I want to write. But I also have two young great-nephews (5 and 6 mos.), and as I peruse the bookstores looking for books to sit and read with them,  I am hoping that the pendulum swings back in favor of the “storybook” once again, and soon!  I want books that will take more than 3 minutes to read.  I want compelling stories that we can read and re-read and talk about together.  I want to be ready the next time my nephew says: “Read me a story!”