Jon Klassen is a Canadian writer and illustrator of children’s board books and an animator. His award winning Hat Trilogy of children’s books have sold over more than million copies and been translated into almost 30 languages. Here, he picks his top five sturdy and durable board books for infants.
Spring Is Here by Taro Gomi
This book opened my eyes to what could be done uniquely in board books. It is like a song, or a circular visual poem. I don’t think it would be possible to do something that feels like this in a regular picture book.
Bus Stops by Taro Gomi
I knew I was going to choose more than one Gomi book. It’s a great example of the quiet tone a board book is able to maintain because the intended audience is so young.
Hippos Go Berserk by Sandra Boynton
Boynton is something of an institution in the US. Behind the drawings that seem so unassuming, there is a calculated page rhythm and an exacting, uncompromising precision to everything she makes.
Do You Want To Be My Friend? by Eric Carle
There are myriad Carle board books to choose from. I chose this one for two reasons, both of them superficial. The first is that the edition I have is basically the size of a picture book. The other reason is because Carle hand-lettered the title on the cover, something he very rarely did and he was so good at.
My Friends by Taro Gomi
All three of these Gomi books are doing different things structurally, and all of them are beautifully constructed and illustrated. You could teach a class using these three books of his.
