Eric Carle's Childhood

Theodor Seuss Geisel, more famously known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, “was a writer... cartoonist [, and a political illustrator] who had published over 60 books” (Dr. Seuss Biography) in his lifetime and has influenced nearly every American that has ever learned how to read. With children stories that hold deeper insight than most would expect to find in children books to stories that are pure nonsensical like Green Eggs and Ham that came from a bet (Biography). Dr. Seuss’s literary elements in his seemingly innocent works hold deeper meaning behind them and often paralleling to the events that were happening during his lifetime, like his book Yertle the Turtle. Dr. Seuss’s life had lead him into becoming an influential person in many people’s

William H. Johnson was a successful painter who was born on March 18, 1901 in Florence, South Carolina. Johnson began exploring his level of creativity as a child, and it only amplified from there because he discovered that he wanted to be an artist. After making this discovery he attended the National Academy of Design in New York which is where he met his mentor Charles Webster Hawthorne who had a strong influential impact on Johnson. Once Johnson graduated he moved to Paris where he was exposed to different artists, various artistic abilities, and evolutionary creations. Throughout Johnson’s time in Paris he grew as an artist, and adapted a “folk” style where he used lively colors and flat figures. Johnson used the “folk” style to express the experience of most African-Americans during the years of the 1930s and 1940s.

In the essay “Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa”, David Sedaris recalls stories from what he considers to be his dull upbringing and contrasts it with the distinctly unusual childhood of his partner Hugh, as well as refers to his own internal struggle to abstain from jealousy, in order to demonstrate how individuals experiencing very different childhood versions ultimately can relate to each other in a meaningful and constructive manner. Hugh did not have an average American childhood. Rather, he was an American living with African servants, chefs, and personal drivers. Growing up on another continent, Hugh’s childhood stories are loaded with incidents that Sedaris could hardly imagine experiencing as a child growing up in

Seuss was still able to make reading fun and enjoyable to children. Along the lines of his illustrations, Theodor Geisel was among the first authors to put illustrations equal with text, enabling his readers to follow the action and the story simultaneously. True to his eccentric character and unique perspective, Seuss basically drew things as he saw them. Surprisingly, he had strict guidelines on how to write children's books. There was only one illustration per page and nothing could describe anything pictured. That way, children can work out the story from the illustrations. In addition, his characters are unique. Although his characters may seem simplistic, Seuss' illustrations are inimitable. Through his drawings, word selection, and rhythm, Seuss created subliminal messages for his readers.

Picture books can have a very important role in a classroom, from elementary school through middle and even high school. They offer a valuable literary experience by combining the visual and the text. Maurice Sendak’s Caldecott Award winning book, Where the Wild Things Are, is a wonderful blend of detailed illustrations and text in which a young boy, Max, lets his angry emotions create a fantasy world.

Wells describes how she feels about illustrations as she says, “Children’s book illustration is much more than drawing, or painting, or using pens, and color. It’s about telling a story narrative, and not boring your reader,” (2014). One of the things Wells uses in a lot of her books she illustrates is something called mixed media. That is, combining and mixing different types of art

Furthermore, the illustrations paint a beautiful picture that I like to think is an insight into a child’s mind, which I is a key element in this book and what makes it so great. Since the book is narrated by a child the intentional simplicity of the words and the controlled chaos that is the illustrations breathes unadulterated life into a rather normal children’s book.

At 11, Wiley’s mother enrolled him and his twin in a small art conservatory program at Cal State, and in the summer of 1989, he was sent to Russia for training in classical painting. After excelling in this program, he went on to earn his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and his MFA for the Yale University School of Art. Although Wiley achieved things beyond his neighborhood, he did not forget the black struggle he was familiar with growing up.

Dr. Seuss has an interesting background that is often overlooked. Many fans do not know that the beloved children’s book author actually began his career drawing cartoons for magazines and advertisements (“The Advertising Artwork of Dr. Seuss”). In many of his advertisements and children’s books he has amazing elaborate machines that complete different tasks. This aspect of his artwork has many similarities to another famous cartoonist, Rube Goldberg. In this essay I will be comparing the artwork of Dr. Seuss to the artwork of Rube Goldberg.

His big break as a children’s book writer came as a result of his wife. She was a producer of a television show and invited one of the show’s guests home for dinner on night. After dinner she and Chris Van Allsburg showed him some of his illustrations as part of a casual after-dinner conversation. He was immediately impressed and gave the number of Walter Lorraine, an editor with Houghton Mifflin Company, to him and asked him to call him. When he finally contacted Mr. Lorraine, the man was so impressed with his drawings that he convinced Chris Van Allsburg that he should venture into children’s book writing.

Dr. Seuss greatly impacted children’s books. He changed the way that children’s books are written and illustrated with his original style. Many people consider Dr. Seuss’s unique style to be one of his greatest achievements (“Contemporary Authors”). Before Dr. Seuss’s books, children’s books were very bland and uncreative. After the release of his books, many authors follow his example when writing their books (“Theodor

The artist John Lythe Wilson I was suggested to look at and also an artist I believe can help me elevate my artwork and bring it to a level of appreciation throughout many perspectives. Wilson is an artist from Rock Hill, SC and did the bulk of his schooling in

I chose to read and comment on Barbara Kiefer’s “Envisioning Experience: The Potential of Picture Books.” Kiefer’s main point in writing this essay was to get the message across that children enjoy picture books that allow them to identify and make connections with the characters or the plots, and that while reading and analyzing the pictures, they gain a better sense of aesthetics and how to interpret them.

The Secret of Childhood by Maria Montessori Maria Montessori passionately reveals to us the inner workings of children as they develop into their full potential in an effort to assist adults in understanding and supporting this process. The ideas and methods shared have become the foundation for the Montessori model of education. In the introduction, Maria Montessori asserts “there is no real place for children” in today’s modern society where parents are working, cities are crowded and deemed dangerous, and the home is often filled with furnishings off limits to children. We are asked to consider where children feel they belong and are understood. Though Maria believed that great progress was underway when writing this book, with an

Theodor Geisel was among the first authors to put illustrations equal with text, enabling his readers to follow the action and the story simultaneously (Kaplan). True to his eccentric character and unique perspective, Seuss "wanted to draw things as [he] saw them (Kaplan)." Surprisingly, he had strict guidelines on how to write children's books. There was only one illustration per page and nothing could describe anything pictured. That way, children can work out the story from the illustrations.