Top 50 Illustrators borrowed from UK public libraries
The books we read or are read to as children can stick with us for our whole lives. See how many of these books you recognise from your own childhood or from reading to children more recently. Do any of them take you back?
On May 20th this year, PLR UK (Public Lending Right, the branch of the British Library that gives authors and illustrators payments when their books are checked out at libraries) published its annual list of the Top 200 Borrowed Authors at public libraries, for the period covering July 2018 - June 2019. They also had two more lists, of the Top 50 Children's Book Authors and Top 50 Adult Authors. Children's books are an essential part of libraries; when children are small, they can get through an incredible number of picture books, and a little older, keen readers will race through series of books, sometimes at more than one book a day. Almost no one can afford to buy - or have shelf space for - this many books. Libraries also provide warm, friendly places for the people looking after children to bring them, and that's where children begin to learn how to browse books, and select the ones they think will be most interesting. (I've met grownups who don't have the skill of browsing; bookshops intimidate them because they don't know how to select a book just by letting their eyes wander over them until one catches their attention.) Browsing's an important skill. And what is essential when children are trying to select a book? ... Pictures!
People are influenced by book covers and book design and illustrations for the rest of their lives, but when they're young, it's THE primary factor in getting a child to want to read a book. And when they're cuddled up in a grownup's lap, it's the pictures they'll read, to the sound of the grownup's reassuring voice. So the work of illustrators is absolutely essential, and as part of the Pictures Mean Business campaign, I very much wanted to see a PLR list of Top 50 Illustrators. And after some repeated requests by @Cecilmgo and me on Twitter, PLR obliged and on August 25th, published the list of illustrators, which you can read here on their website.
When the list was first published, I got the sense that most of the people who looked at it were illustrators, wanting to see if they were on the list, happy when they were and upset or annoyed when they weren't. (I think the authors may have been doing this, too, because the list is missing a No.41 and no one queried it.) But the list isn't just something to make us feel competitive, it's a chance for everyone to find out about these illustrators who are backbones of the industry, not necessarily only the ones who are fêted by the big book charities or put in shop window displays because they appeal to grownups with money to spend. These are the ones actually being checked out at libraries, very often on request of children themselves, or repeatedly checked out because children get very attached to them. It doesn't speak for the whole book industry, but it's an important thing to scrutinise.
I'm going to post it here so we can have a more in-depth look at it. I've made a few notes in red, which we'll get to later:
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On May 20th this year, PLR UK (Public Lending Right, the branch of the British Library that gives authors and illustrators payments when their books are checked out at libraries) published its annual list of the Top 200 Borrowed Authors at public libraries, for the period covering July 2018 - June 2019. They also had two more lists, of the Top 50 Children's Book Authors and Top 50 Adult Authors. Children's books are an essential part of libraries; when children are small, they can get through an incredible number of picture books, and a little older, keen readers will race through series of books, sometimes at more than one book a day. Almost no one can afford to buy - or have shelf space for - this many books. Libraries also provide warm, friendly places for the people looking after children to bring them, and that's where children begin to learn how to browse books, and select the ones they think will be most interesting. (I've met grownups who don't have the skill of browsing; bookshops intimidate them because they don't know how to select a book just by letting their eyes wander over them until one catches their attention.) Browsing's an important skill. And what is essential when children are trying to select a book? ... Pictures!
People are influenced by book covers and book design and illustrations for the rest of their lives, but when they're young, it's THE primary factor in getting a child to want to read a book. And when they're cuddled up in a grownup's lap, it's the pictures they'll read, to the sound of the grownup's reassuring voice. So the work of illustrators is absolutely essential, and as part of the Pictures Mean Business campaign, I very much wanted to see a PLR list of Top 50 Illustrators. And after some repeated requests by @Cecilmgo and me on Twitter, PLR obliged and on August 25th, published the list of illustrators, which you can read here on their website.
When the list was first published, I got the sense that most of the people who looked at it were illustrators, wanting to see if they were on the list, happy when they were and upset or annoyed when they weren't. (I think the authors may have been doing this, too, because the list is missing a No.41 and no one queried it.) But the list isn't just something to make us feel competitive, it's a chance for everyone to find out about these illustrators who are backbones of the industry, not necessarily only the ones who are fêted by the big book charities or put in shop window displays because they appeal to grownups with money to spend. These are the ones actually being checked out at libraries, very often on request of children themselves, or repeatedly checked out because children get very attached to them. It doesn't speak for the whole book industry, but it's an important thing to scrutinise.
I'm going to post it here so we can have a more in-depth look at it. I've made a few notes in red, which we'll get to later:
( Collapse )
