Here is a truly sad...

...development: "Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children."

The picture book, a mainstay of children’s literature with its lavish illustrations, cheerful colors and large print wrapped in a glossy jacket, has been fading. It is not going away — perennials like the Sendaks and Seusses still sell well — but publishers have scaled back the number of titles they have released in the last several years, and booksellers across the country say sales have been suffering.

The economic downturn is certainly a major factor, but many in the industry see an additional reason for the slump. Parents have begun pressing their kindergartners and first graders to leave the picture book behind and move on to more text-heavy chapter books. Publishers cite pressures from parents who are mindful of increasingly rigorous standardized testing in schools.

“Parents are saying, ‘My kid doesn’t need books with pictures anymore,’ ” said Justin Chanda, the publisher of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. “There’s a real push with parents and schools to have kids start reading big-kid books earlier. We’ve accelerated the graduation rate out of picture books.”
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“They’re 4 years old, and their parents are getting them ‘Stuart Little,’ ” said Dara La Porte, the manager of the children’s department at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington. “I see children pick up picture books, and then the parents say, ‘You can do better than this, you can do more than this.’ It’s a terrible pressure parents are feeling — that somehow, I shouldn’t let my child have this picture book because she won’t get into Harvard.”
 
I find this really discouraging. I read picture books to my sons for years and it was one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had.
 
Once a week or so, I'd go to the library and come home with an armful of books such as, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?; Corduroy; Curious George; Goodnight Moon; Harold and the Purple Crayon; If You Give a Mouse a Cookie; Madeline; Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel; The Snowy Day; The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Where the Wild Things Are; and of course, Where's Spot (above). And that's only some of the ones I can remember.
 
I was often very impressed by the creativity and artwork I found in many picture books. It would be a shame for others to be deprived of this experience.