In fairness to Charles Solomon, his book is in appreciation of Little Golden Books, not scholarly criticism. (Given that I purchased the book in Downtown Disney, I expected nothing less.) On its own terms, the book succeeds very well. I loved my Little Golden Books growing up and feel they played a large role in shaping me, as a reader, a writer, and the librarian I eventually became. I was shocked to learn in library school that Little Golden Books were generally disparaged--and never believed that particular company line. So, it was good to see professional artists who believed as I did--that Little Golden Books were not as "pedestrian" and "badly done" as many profess to believe--and that, as an early and widely available introduction to art and literature, they have played an important role in our culture.
I recently finished an excellent book about the illustration in Little Golden Books: "The Art of the Disney Golden Books" by Charles Solomon. Little Golden Books were an important part of my childhood, & I very much enjoyed not only the art and the commentary, but also reading comments by others who feel that they were both shaped and inspired by their Little Golden Books. When I finished the book, though, I was hit by a realization that I don't remember ever seeing a disabled child (or adult) pictured in a Little Golden Book.
In fairness to Charles Solomon, his book is in appreciation of Little Golden Books, not scholarly criticism. (Given that I purchased the book in Downtown Disney, I expected nothing less.) On its own terms, the book succeeds very well. I loved my Little Golden Books growing up and feel they played a large role in shaping me, as a reader, a writer, and the librarian I eventually became. I was shocked to learn in library school that Little Golden Books were generally disparaged--and never believed that particular company line. So, it was good to see professional artists who believed as I did--that Little Golden Books were not as "pedestrian" and "badly done" as many profess to believe--and that, as an early and widely available introduction to art and literature, they have played an important role in our culture.
0 Comments
|
AuthorThe content on this website mostly comes from my perspective as a youth services librarian with disabilities. The further I travel along life's road, the more entwined these two parts of my identity become. Librarian: I have an MLS from Rutgers University and have working in public libraries for nearly 20 years. The focus on my career has always been youth services. Disabled: I've been disabled more than twice as long as I've been a librarian. My experience started at birth when I was immediately diagnosed with cleft palate. Also present was a non-verbal learning disability (NLD) for short. This was not formally diagnosed until I was 19, leading to years of frustration. My Tourette Syndrome was not present at birth, but surely started young as I don't ever remember living without it. The Tourette was also not diagnosed until adulthood, further compounding my frustration. Coincidentally, I was also diagnosed with IBD (more commonly known as Chron's\Ulcerative Colitis) at the age of 19. That was another easy diagnosis--as with cleft palate, they look and they see it. Archives
September 2015
Categories
All
|