Susan E. Meyer

There’s always an innate risk one takes when picking up a “greatest compilation” type of book, but this Meyer’s straightforward (and clearly loving) approach to the subject of children’s book illustrators is laudable. She makes a clear case for the inclusion of each artist in the volume, and she freely admits that there are a plethora of other fantastic artists in this genre who she chose not to touch on, mostly due to her focus is on the classical era of children’s illustration (the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, when the genre really began to present strongly). This focus is a logical one, since the newer generation of illustrators is far too wide ranging to even attempt to collect in this sort of publication - we would get lost down the rabbit hole dealing with Seuss alone, much less all the other artists who continue to innovate in the field. Her presentation of each artist is nicely concise, drawing on their biographies and drawing connections between them when appropriate without getting bogged down in too many factual details or becoming too academic, and then including numerous reprints of their artwork spanning from recognizable to more rare pieces. Even though I was familiar with most of the artists, her presentation still felt fresh and made reading this book truly enjoyable - it felt at times like rediscovering old favourites while getting something completely new at others, and definitely lead me to a greater respect for the genre and a reinvigorated interest in many of the artists.… (more)