It’s hard enough working on a book yourself, but collaborating with an illustrator can mean an additional level of difficulty, as it requires coordination and more planning before publication.
Explaining why she felt the need to create a guidebook championing children’s books and unpacking some of the science behind them, Gray tells ArtsHub, ‘There are some really problematic contradictions in the public discourse about picture books. We ascribe them the role of teaching children to read, supporting their lifelong love of reading, developing their moral worldviews and keeping them entertained at bedtime. Those of us who grew up as readers can identify favourite picture books and speak to their importance in our lives. And yet, somehow we often still view them as lesser in the literary world and encourage our kids to move on from them to “proper books” as soon as their reading skills can handle it. To me, that just doesn’t make sense.’
