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Dad Memoirs

A great thrill of fatherhood has been using the Amazon gift card to splurge on picture books. Here is what I went with, and I guess it's my canon (though I hadn't realized this, earlier):

*Henkes: "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse"
*Lobel: "The Complete Frog and Toad"
*Waber: "The Complete Lyle Lyle Crocodile"
*Ungerer: "Eight Picture Books" (including "The Three Robbers")
*Keats: "The Snowy Day"
*Van Allsburg: "Two Bad Ants"
*Marshall: "The Complete George and Martha"
*Dr. Seuss: "The Cat in the Hat"
*De Paola: "Strega Nona"
*Steig: "Dr. De Soto"

It's especially fun to buy books for a baby, because there's none of the guilt generally attached to a spending spree. You don't have to worry about being overly self-indulgent. You can say to yourself: "I'm buying these for my child."

 My adult love of picture books began with the writer Amy Bloom, who made her Yale students read and analyze "The Cat in the Hat." Her message was clear: A good picture book is often better than a good work of "serious literary fiction." Children are a brutal audience; children are much more honest, and less forgiving, than adults are. For adults, Tolstoy can write three hundred dull pages about threshing. Would children stand for that nonsense? Children would not.

For children: You must be economical, you must have memorable, boldly drawn characters, you must have a fast-moving plot. You must write with total authority.

I'm also delighted that picture books require their own architecture: Though you *can* display picture books in a normal bookcase, wouldn't you rather construct one of those canvas shelving units, where the books can be flat, with their cover art on display? Picture books are a way of sneaking art into your home. Affordable art!

Joshua, I swear all of this is for you. I do. I do. Pinky swear...

P.S. It pains me that my family does not own Waber's "Ira Sleeps Over." Not yet, at least. Stay tuned.

P.P.S. I have started stockpiling Beverly Cleary and Roald Dahl, as well, for the middle years. You can find these two hanging out, in book form, on New Jersey stoops and in yard sales, on a good day.
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