Edit ‘germinating/david_roberts’ by redwizard

Edit ‘germinating/david_roberts’ (by redwizard at 11 Apr 25 14:14 UTC)

Hyphae affected: germinating/david_roberts

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+I haven't written one of these in a long time. When I had the idea to make posts like this I thought, maybe, I'd write one of these on a regular interval, but that just wasn't in the cards. If you're a subscriber to this community, then you understand what I mean. In thinking about what to write next, I realized I didn't just want to pull up from the Rolodex of kids authors and educational figures and slap together a series of snippets from a Wikipedia article. We all know who Levar Burton is, or Mr. Rodgers, and there is endless content about their work and its impact. I figured, when I came across something that really struck me, I'd know, and that's what would drive me to write. Often times, authors get a lot of the praise when it comes to children's books, and with good reason, after all. A great children's expresses its themes and message through a deep collaboration between artist and author, that is, unless you're [[https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/7846f6fe-879f-4e7f-88ed-d848742b613a | B. J. Novak]] (this is a great book). Some authors are also great artists, able to fully realize their own vision both in words and visuals, as evidence by the last [[https://hexbear.net/post/3096305 | Story Time]] post I wrote. Then there are the artists, who bring such a unique style to any story, that makes you want to read their books regardless of the attached authors.
+
= David Roberts

-I haven't written one of these in a long time. When I had the idea to make a post like this I thought, maybe, I'd write one of these on a regular interval, but that just wasn't in the cards. You of all people should understand what I mean. In thinking about what to write next, I realized I didn't just want to pull up from the Rolodex of kids authors and educational figures and slap together a series of snippets from a Wikipedia article. I wanted to write about people in the kids space that, I thought, were more interesting than not. Often times, authors get a lot of the praise when it comes to children's books, and sure that is with good reason. A children's book is a good combination of art and story, that is, unless you're [[https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/7846f6fe-879f-4e7f-88ed-d848742b613a | B. J. Novak]]. Some authors are also great artists, as evidence by the last [[https://hexbear.net/post/3096305 | Story Time]] post I wrote, and in some cases it is the art that really sets a story apart.
+<<image of David Roberts and his artwork>>
+
+[[https://imginn.com/dr.illustration/ | David Roberts]] is a British illustrator most famously known for his work on a series of books known as "The Questioneers" done in collaboration with author [[http://www.andreabeaty.com/ | Andrea Beaty]]. I, however, was first introduced to David Roberts' beautiful watercolor art in a book that I featured in the predecessor to our [[https://hexbear.net/post/2472029 | Story Time]] posts, inside a book called "Someone Just Like You" (written by [[https://www.helendocherty.com/ | Helen Docherty]]). Something about Roberts' art really struck me. It was fun and silly, vibrant and chaotic. Every character was unique in some way, they also seemed wildly authentic in their representation. Even though the subject of "Someone Just Like You", at its heart, is somewhat grim, it isn't heavy or even heavy-handed. The subtext of the book will likely be lost on young readers, but the message is one of international solidarity, something I think we can all get behind. I think much of what softens the subject of this book is the way in which Roberts' depicts these children. Their various and diverse representations do not feel forced, they don't feel like an afterthought, and in many ways, it feels like a great deal of care was invested in their presentation.

-[[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Roberts_(illustrator) | David Roberts]] is an illustrator most famously known for his work on a series of books known as "The Questioneers" done in collaboration with author Andrea Beaty. I, however, was first introduced to David Roberts' beautiful art in a book that I featured in our first [[ https://hexbear.net/post/2472029 | Story Time]] post, inside a book called "Someone Just Like You" (written by Helen Docherty). Something about Roberts' art really struck me. It was fun and silly, vibrant and chaotic. Every character was unique in some way, they also seemed wildly authentic in their representation. Even though the subject of "Someone Just Like You", at its heart, is somewhat grim, it isn't heavy or even heavy-handed. The subtext of the book will likely be lost on young readers, but the message is one of international solidarity, something I think we can all get behind. I think much of what softens the subject of this book is the way in which Roberts' depicts these children. Their various and diverse representations do not feel forced, they don't feel like an afterthought, and in many ways, it feels like a great deal of care was invested in their presentation.
+This will be a theme throughout David Roberts' work. A prime example of this for me is the book "Bathe The Cat" (written by Alice B. McGinty). This is a book that we all love in our house. It is a silly, goofy, wacky book, about a family trying to clean their house, and a Cat who does not want to take a bath. It is, by all accounts, a pretty simple story that could have been illustrated in a pretty typical way. This is how Roberts chose to depict the family in his story:

-This will be a theme throughout David Roberts work. A prime example of this for me is the book "Bath The Cat" (written by Alice B. McGinty). This is a book that we all love in our house. It is a silly, goofy, wacky book, about a family trying to clean their house, and a Cat who does not want to take a bath. It is, by all accounts, a pretty simple story that could have been illustrated in a pretty typical way. This is how Roberts chose to depict the family in his story:
+<<cover image of Bathe The Cat>>

-The story contained within these pages does not require the family to be depicted as they are, but they are anyway. It's honestly, very refreshing, and presents this queer coded family in a totally "normal" way, it normalizes their existence in a way that many children's books likely get wrong. They have a messy house, they struggle to get it clean before Grandma arrives, and they also wear their queerness out loud, as depicted by the various fridge magnets and children's art within illustrations. This queer forward depiction of the family was apparently to much for some, [[ https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2023/04/14/republicans-in-saline-county-join-the-book-banning-club-take-a-look-at-what-theyre-mad-about | finding itself on a banned book list in Saline County, Arkansas]].
+The story contained within these pages does not require the family to be depicted as they are, but they are anyway. It's honestly, very refreshing, and presents this queer coded family in a totally "normal" way, it normalizes their existence in a way that many children's books likely get wrong. They have a messy house, they struggle to get it clean before Grandma arrives, and they also wear their queerness out loud, as depicted by the various fridge magnets and children's art within illustrations. This queer forward depiction of the family was apparently too much for some, [[ https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2023/04/14/republicans-in-saline-county-join-the-book-banning-club-take-a-look-at-what-theyre-mad-about | finding itself on a banned book list in Saline County, Arkansas]].

@@ -34,3 +38,3 @@ Roberts is an author in his own right, and many of the themes he expresses throu

-After discovering Roberts was both the illustrator of Bath The Cat and Someone Just Like You, I went through our library and found as many books as I could that featured him as an artist. Obviously, Bath The Cat and Someone Just Like You, I highly recommend. One of my other favorites is The Cook and the King by Julia Donaldson. Donaldson is a very popular author, and her story of a nervous chef and a lazy king is made all that much better through David Roberts' artwork. [[ https://app.thestorygraph.com/series/2637 | The Questioneers Picture Books]] are all fantastic stories and I highly recommend you read them. Many of these characters are based on historical figures, and one that touched me deeply (and I had to pause reading it because it made me emotional) was [[ https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b0689db3-d1f6-4be5-b670-1be8fa909407 | Aaron Slater, Illustrator ]]. Here is the afterward of the book for you to read.
+After discovering Roberts was both the illustrator of Bathe The Cat and Someone Just Like You, I went through our library and found as many books as I could that featured him as an artist. Obviously, Bathe The Cat and Someone Just Like You, I highly recommend. One of my other favorites is The Cook and the King by Julia Donaldson. Donaldson is a very popular author, and her story of a nervous chef and a lazy king is made all that much better through David Roberts' artwork. [[ https://app.thestorygraph.com/series/2637 | The Questioneers Picture Books]] are all fantastic stories and I highly recommend you read them. Many of these characters are based on historical figures, and one that touched me deeply (and I had to pause reading it because it made me emotional) was [[ https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b0689db3-d1f6-4be5-b670-1be8fa909407 | Aaron Slater, Illustrator ]]. Here is the afterward of the book for you to read.