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May 26, 2015 by Betsy Bird

What Makes a Picture Book Mega-Hit?

May 26, 2015 by Betsy Bird   13 comments

It’s not that it’s impossible to predict the “next big thing” in children’s literature, but it’s also not exactly a hard science.  Indeed, whenever a publisher starts spending beaucoup de bucks on a given title (hardcover f&gs, a serious marketing campaign for a debut author, etc.) I cringe a bit.  They’ve made their bets and they’re willing to bank on them.  I, on the other hand, make my own kinds of bets.  As a Materials Specialist it’s my job to figure out how many copies of any given title should be added to my library system.  Sometimes it’s a no brainer.  And sometimes I’m far off the mark.

Now picture book blockbuster hits, for whatever the reason, are where I fall down the hardest.  It’s not just that I can’t see them coming.  It’s often that I’m blind to whatever esoteric elements are in play, making those books big time hits.  With that in mind, today I’m going to talk about some of the top picture book blockbusters to come out in the last ten years.  Please note that I’m avoiding picture books with TV or other media tie-ins.  These are the folks who got where they are on their own merits.

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BookWithNoPictures

The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak – It’s not the first time someone did this idea (the Elephant and Piggie title We Are In a Book does something very similar to what Novak does here) but I’ll admit that I haven’t ever seen anything exactly, precisely like this. With that in mind I bought a reasonable number of copies for my library system.  Then it took off like gangbusters.  Folks who’ve never even heard of Novak were pulling it from the shelves.  I’m not going to say it’s the most successful celebrity picture book of all time, but it sure comes close.  Wowzah.

DayCrayonsQuit

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers – Though it’s by no means as pro-union as Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, one does wonder what the anti-union folks out there think about Daywalt’s smash success.  Definitely didn’t see this one coming.  I figured it was a bit wordy and long for total and complete New York Times bestseller domination but about the time it was on the list for 4+ months I knew we had a genuine blockbuster on our hands.

FancyNancy

Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glaser – You know, it’s very cool in some circles to disparage FN, but as crazy huge hits go, I’m a fan.  It’s a lot smarter than folks give it credit for.  You can trace its initial popularity to its sheer untold gobs of pink fanciness, but it sustains its hold on the marketplace in large part because of the writing.

GoodnightGoodnight

Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld – No idea.  None.  We see fun construction equipment picture books all the time.  And we see popular subjects mixed with the bedtime book genre all the time too.  Robots go to bed.  Dinosaurs.  But for whatever reason, this hit all the right buttons.  I can’t account for it.  Consider me broadsided by its success.

LittleBlueTruck

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Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry – I don’t think I realized, until this very moment, that the illustrator of the book is the same woman behind Kathi Appelt’s lovely 2015 title When Otis Courted Mama.  Huh!  In any case, this is a case of a book that’s a huge hit everywhere in the country except NYC.  I only know about it because it’s always on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list.

PeteCat1

Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean – This is one picture book that can credit its massive success to its creators’ self-promotion.  It’s also one of the rare self-published books to go mainstream and then blockbuster success.  Doesn’t hurt matters any that there’s a catchy little YouTube song that goes with it.  Other books have tried to replicate its success.  So far, no takers.

Pinkalicious

Pinkalicious by Victoria & Elizabeth Kann – Originally when I wrote this piece I quoting a legend that said that this book happened when the editor heard about Fergilicious and suggested a pink alternative. Turns out, it’s far from true.  Editor Maria Modugno set me straight on the matter:

“Pinkalicious was signed up before Fancy Nancy and publishing schedules being what they are, it came out after and benefited from that built -in market. The book came unsolicited when Victoria Kann brought in an illustrated dummy of a story written with her sister Elizabeth that was based on an experience with one of their daughters. I loved that the story was based in reality but then catapulted into fantasy. We worked together on the book to get it ready for publication.

I’m the original editor of Pinkalicious and I don’t think I could tell you who Fergie is.”

 

PressHere

Press Here by Herve Tullet – Rarer than the self-published picture book that becomes a massive success?  The imported picture book.  Translations don’t usually yield the kind of crazy popularity enjoyed by Tullet’s best known title.  Still, the King of Preschool Books managed to make his sense of humor, style, and originality work here in the States.  No small feat.

Now what did I miss?

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picture book blockbusters

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    May 26, 2015 at 9:09 am

    I don’t know what sells, because I’m a school librarian, but I know what fifth graders always want to read to their reading partners, and what books are always on the return cart. Based on that, I’d say you missed SHARK VS. TRAIN, SCAREDY SQUIRREL, DIARY OF A WORM, and any ELEPHANT AND PIGGY book.

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      May 26, 2015 at 9:13 am

      I wondered if I should include series or not, since I think Elephant & Piggie always get on the bestseller lists as well. In the end I figured I’d go with the standalones (though I did include Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious – so clearly I have no consistency here).

  2. Anonymous says

    May 26, 2015 at 9:35 am

    I should also add I WANT MY HAT BACK and THIS IS NOT MY HAT.

    This may be the wrong place to bring this up, but I am a little worried about the picture book market today. We are fortunate to be living in the age of a genius like Mo Willems, but I think that too many picture book creators are walking in his footsteps–trying to create very short books for young children, incorporating plot twists and a good laugh at the end. All that is well and good, but some of the new picture books I see today are one-trick ponies–once you know the plot twist or the funny ending, the book isn’t as good to read over again. I miss longer, meatier, more emotional books, like LILY’S PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE and THE AMAZING BONE and THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS.

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      May 26, 2015 at 8:40 pm

      This is an interesting question that’s come up quite often in discussions here in NYC. The shift appears to be away from longer one-on-one readalouds to shorter books that read well to large groups and have a kicky ending. As a children’s librarian I’m grateful for the latter, but as a parent I yearn for the former. In many ways the books you refer to are out there but the marketing dollars are behind the shorter titles. Still, I’ve seen some rather lovely longer books lately. Things like Oliver Jeffers’ Once Upon an Alphabet, Grandma Lives in a Perfume Village by Fang Suzhen, Lillian’s Right to Vote by Jonah Winter, My Wilderness: An Alaskan Adventure by Claudia McGehee, Poems in the Attic by Nikki Grimes, Toys Meet Snow by Emily Jenkins, Whale Trails, Before and Now by Lesa Cline-Ransome, When Dad Showed Me the Universe by Ulf Stark, and The Whisper by Pamela Zagarenski to name a few. But they require a lot of reading to find, absolutely true.

  3. Anonymous says

    May 26, 2015 at 10:01 am

    I agree! Advice often given to picture book writers at conferences is: write from the heart, craft beautiful stories, don’t write to trends. Then the very agents and editors that say these things compliment your work in rejection letters or critique sessions make the same comments but then finish by saying: “your work isn’t commercial enough — it’s too sweet, too poignant, try injecting humor (into a poignant story??), write a surprise ending (instead of the shelter dog finding a home, he is put down??), or my personal favorite, could it stretch into a series? I get that the publishing business is all about trends and MONEY, but the lyrical writing (another phrase describing my work) that hooked me in childhood is drying up. It’s enough to make a writer quit writing, but of course, I WON’T!. I’ll still write from the heart because if I don’t my writing won’t be authentic, and if I die unpublished, I’ll have been true to myself.

  4. Anonymous says

    May 26, 2015 at 3:12 pm

    Can you explain the love for Skippyjon Jones?

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      May 26, 2015 at 8:34 pm

      Ah, that’s an easy one.

      No.

    • My Boaz's Ruth says

      May 26, 2015 at 10:12 pm

      Skippyjon Jones, from what I have read, “Feels” like my kids. Bouncing off the wall, good hearted, lots of energy, and gets to be THE hero. And fun word-play.

  5. Chana says

    May 27, 2015 at 10:36 am

    How about DRAGONS LOVE TACOS? 68 weeks on the NYT Bestseller List. Seems like a one note joke to me. What am I missing?

  6. Maria Modugno says

    May 28, 2015 at 3:36 pm

    Pinkalicious was signed up before Fancy Nancy and publishing schedules being what they are, it came out after and benefited from that built -in market. The book came unsolicited when Victoria Kann brought in an illustrated dummy of a story written with her sister Elizabeth that was based on an experience with one of their daughters. I loved that the story was based in reality but then catapulted into fantasy. We worked together on the book to get it ready for publication.
    I’m the original editor of Pinkalicious and I don’t think I could tell you who Fergie is.

    Maria Modugno

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      May 28, 2015 at 9:53 pm

      Ah ha! I’m perpetuating lies and slander, I see. I shall update the post accordingly. Thank you for setting the record straight.

  7. Christina Soontornvat says

    May 29, 2015 at 1:10 pm

    I’m glad you stuck up for Fancy Nancy! I’ve always thought (in the first book at least) that it was so well written and that dear little Nancy has got her heart in the right place. I think she wrongly gets swirled together with a lot of other fluffy PB heroines who don’t have nearly as much character.

  8. Ken Baker says

    June 1, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    Great post. Thanks for your wonderful insight.

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