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A review by casbah
The Bambino and Me [With CD (Audio)] by Zachary Hyman
Transitional picture books for little sports fans? You love to see it! Maybe now that Babcock is gone Hyman will have the time, energy, and joy to write the transitional chapter book that I personally feel he would excel at.
That latter comment being said, my wish for transitional chapter books by Hyman might be because the illustrations were not my jam at all. I am begging publishers who are buying picture books about sports sans illustrations to hang up the oil paintings for the next decade. Absolutely freaking sick of them by this time, the last month of the 2010s. I'd love to see this text/author in the hands of an illustrator who does not rely on caricatures to get the author's point across; I found their expressions too distracting and over the top. That may be some kids' jam but I'm old and don't like illustrations of people looking like they're constantly screaming in my face. (I also read Hockey Hero, same author & illustrator, in the same sitting -- not doing a formal review because I try to review picture books sparingly, given that I read so many of them. It was hella cute though and I just did not like the illustrations.) Jason Chin, Adam McCauley, and Devin Asch come to mind as interesting candidates for Hyman to work with. Jon J. Muth if we want to go for broke. You get the image I'm trying to create, right?
I once went to a conference in which someone who worked in the publishing industry gave a keynote speech about diversity in publishing. She mentioned that publishers read everything, from reviews to regular yahoos on Twitter. So if Penguin Random House is reading this, a review by some jackass in California who only picked up this book because the concept of "professional NHL hockey player and award-winning picture book author" is an intriguing one, please get a better illustrator for this author. His potential is not served by hyper-realistic oil paintings. Thank u for listening. Let's do that transitional childhood literacy.
That latter comment being said, my wish for transitional chapter books by Hyman might be because the illustrations were not my jam at all. I am begging publishers who are buying picture books about sports sans illustrations to hang up the oil paintings for the next decade. Absolutely freaking sick of them by this time, the last month of the 2010s. I'd love to see this text/author in the hands of an illustrator who does not rely on caricatures to get the author's point across; I found their expressions too distracting and over the top. That may be some kids' jam but I'm old and don't like illustrations of people looking like they're constantly screaming in my face. (I also read Hockey Hero, same author & illustrator, in the same sitting -- not doing a formal review because I try to review picture books sparingly, given that I read so many of them. It was hella cute though and I just did not like the illustrations.) Jason Chin, Adam McCauley, and Devin Asch come to mind as interesting candidates for Hyman to work with. Jon J. Muth if we want to go for broke. You get the image I'm trying to create, right?
I once went to a conference in which someone who worked in the publishing industry gave a keynote speech about diversity in publishing. She mentioned that publishers read everything, from reviews to regular yahoos on Twitter. So if Penguin Random House is reading this, a review by some jackass in California who only picked up this book because the concept of "professional NHL hockey player and award-winning picture book author" is an intriguing one, please get a better illustrator for this author. His potential is not served by hyper-realistic oil paintings. Thank u for listening. Let's do that transitional childhood literacy.