Children’s books can’t be hard to write, right? At least that’s what many aspiring writers and readers wrongly believe. After all, the script can be construed during one evening and you don’t even need to worry about the illustrations. That’s someone else’s job. Well, the reality is that it does take a talent to think of a memorable story, but I do understand where the misconception comes from looking at the books like “Mine”
It is a cute picture story. It really is. Two children and a puppy are trying to establish their rule over a bunch of toys. Everyone claims that the toys are “MINE”. The assertive interaction between the little guys, who still need to master their art of sharing, leads to amusing incidents, which are quite fun to observe and surely relate to. In other words Patrice Barton created a series of wonderfully expressive and engaging pictures. She was the one who told the story in images. But wait a minute, the official writer is Shutta Crum. Does she even deserve to get a credit ( and most likely the royalties) for writing the book, if the script consists of just two words: “mine” and “woof”? Hmm, if that’s the case, then writing children’s books could not be easier indeed.