Previously I posted briefly on “Which Books Started You Reading?” and “Pictures Worth a Thousand Inspirations”
Today I’ll continue to honor the fantastic artists that helped make some of those books memorable and twigged my interest in art and drawing. Some picture books I enjoyed for the words alone. Some I ‘enjoyed’ because the drawings and paintings, so quirky or beautiful or curious, made up for a lame story.
The best children’s books, of course, are the ones where author and illustrator were paired off on equal footing.
These are 3 more of those that made me sit up and dream big.
Shirley Hughes: 
This British artist/author won my admiration when I was a new mother and began to read to my little’uns. Again, her characters have that little bit more than the average, a little more life, character and a spice I can’t well explain. The pictures speak for themselves. And her stories also. They transmit a warm, comfortable secure feeling that make perfect bedtime relaxants. Like warm milk with honey. I have her books on my shelf of artists volumes. 
(Click on the above picture to appreciate full size details.)
Susan Perl: This artist didn’t so much illustrate whole picture books, as illustrate early readers and story anthologies, as well as adult periodicals. My Mom and I would look out for her illustrations when getting library books. The children in her drawings were often big-eyed, with big heads and tiny peaked features. There was something sweetly “cherishable” about them. Nuf said:
Michael Marchenko: I never think “Michael Marchenko” without thinking “Robert Munsch.” They are an example of the perfect team, in my eyes. 
Michael Marchenko’s artwork mirrors, echoes and enhances Munsch’s stories. He captures his essence.
Thus the illustrations are as alive and full of humour, they are as vivid as the writiing. So although I of course wasn’t introduced to these newer books as a child I enjoyed reading them to my children, who were as engrossed in the stories as the illustrations and always asked me “Don’t turn the page yet.”
Authors and artists like these planted a dream inside my very core, and it’s taken me years but I’m on the path now. The dream has become a tangible goal.
Who were your childhood favorites, authors and illustrators that struck a cord?
Ink & Attic 