Quick Take
A new documentary takes a deep look at the art and craft of creating children's picture books, giving respect to an often overlooked genre. "Story & Pictures By" will be screened at Santa Cruz High on Sunday as a co-presentation of UCSC, Bookshop Santa Cruz and the County Office of Education.
For millions of children (and former children) from around the world, the first engagement with a work of creative imagination — a work of art — comes via the picture book. For many kids, the picture book is nothing less than a window into the realm of magic, a tangible manifestation of the make-believe world that is such a rich and nurturing part of their daily lives.
Yet, the artists, writers and editors who create picture books get far less attention than the authors of other kinds of books — with a couple of notable exceptions that prove the rule, like Maurice Sendak and Dr. Seuss. What’s more, the trend of celebrities publishing children’s books leads many to the assumption that creating a good picture book is easier to pull off than, say, writing a good adult novel, that it’s something you can crank out between movies or albums, with the help of a decent artist-for-hire or two.
Now comes a documentary that pays due respect to picture books, their authors, and the sophisticated interplay between children and the literature that they love. It’s called “Story & Pictures By,” directed by Oakland-based filmmaker Joanna Rudnick. And its message is something that Bookshop Santa Cruz, the Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz County Office of Education can readily endorse.
In fact, those three entities are collaborating to bring the film and its director to Santa Cruz for a screening on Sunday. “Story” — a deep dive into the psychological and emotional connections between children and the books they love, and how writers, artists and editors nurture that connection — will be presented Sunday afternoon at Santa Cruz High School as a benefit for Santa Cruz County public school libraries. Rudnick will be at a post-screening discussion with Barbara Lawrence, librarian and media teacher at Gault Elementary School.
In a phone interview, Rudnick said that her film is not a business or marketing story. “I actually don’t go into the industry,” she said. “It really isn’t about the industry, it’s about the art of picture books, the ways in which we underestimate them, and how we came to where we are now. Who are the boundary pushers in the picture-book world? And who’s continuing that legacy?”
The film focuses primarily on three bestselling picture-book authors — Christian Robinson (“Last Stop on Market Street”), Yuyi Morales (“Dreamers”) and Mac Barnett (“Sam & Dave Dig a Hole”), each held up as an example of an artist producing meaningful works of art that understands children and doesn’t talk down to them.
Rudnick was drawn to the subject as a parent reading to her own children when they were younger. “I began thinking about the picture book as an art form I knew very little about,” she said, “and, like most people, I had underestimated them.”
While exploring the art of the picture book, she often heard the idea that writing a picture book must be easy. “Then, I looked into what makes a picture book stand the test of time and really connect with children. And I thought that we underestimate children in much the same way we underestimate the picture book. I wanted to make a film that pushed against that.”
There are, of course, a handful of picture books that have attained a kind of immortal status all over the world and across the spectrum of generations — “Where the Wild Things Are,” “Goodnight Moon,” “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” and many others. But, Rudnick reminds us, we are today living in a golden age of kids’ books, with many fine younger artists producing often underappreciated great work, some working alone, some working in collaboration with others.
“We don’t really think of picture-book makers the same way we do of other fiction writers,” she said. “I never hear someone talk about a picture-book maker in the same way they talk about a writer who’s just won a Pulitzer — even if that picture-book maker won the Caldecott. These are the people speaking to our children, and reflecting the times we’re living in to our children. Why don’t we celebrate them more?”
“Story & Pictures By” will be screened Sunday at 3 p.m. at Santa Cruz High School. Organizers suggest donations of $20 and up, and all proceeds raised will be used to buy children’s books for Santa Cruz County public school libraries.