Children’s Illustration: Barbara McClintock

As an young twenty-something illustration student I completely overlooked the value of children’s book illustration as an art form. One, I didn’t consider children an interesting audience for illustration work. Two, I didn’t consider a powerful secondary audience: the parents. As a father of three small kids, I see I was wrong on both counts.

Barbara McClintock is the latest discovery Molly made at our local library, and her work is phenomenal. The first we brought home was (aptly named) Molly and the Magic Wishbone. Molly then picked up Adèle & Simon and Dahlia, both good. Molly and the Magic Wishbone has remained my favorite. In it McClintock creates a world of realistic looking animals who nevertheless wear Dickensesque period outfits and poignant, believable human expressions in each scene.