The Out-of-Print: A Proposal (with a Rabbit hOle Twist)
While at The Rabbit hOle in Kansas City (a must-see hands on interactive museum for anyone with a love of children’s literature), I came across this small sign in the gift shop:
Put simply, these are books that have inspired exhibits or are referenced in the museum in some way, but are completely out-of-print. All of them are egregious, and Perez and Martina by Pura Belpre is the one that strikes me as particularly ludicrous.
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Obviously, these should all still be available. However, I had a nutty idea. What if in addition to being back in print, some of these were also re-illustrated by contemporary creators? Imagine Eric A. Velásquez tackling a Belpre text. Bryan Collier doing a John Steptoe (possibly because I love the idea of Collier having two entirely different books called “Uptown” in his back pocket). And what if the entire Everett Anderson line (or at least the ones that have aged the best) came back with art from Oge Mora?
How about you? What out-of-print titles would you like to see out there again, and who (if anyone) would delight you to see re-illustrating them?
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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 Kirkus, 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 BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen. It’s been reissued in paperback, but as a public librarian, I typically only add hardcover picture books to our collection. I can’t imagine improving on this title in any way – save for maybe including back matter with photographs and a description of the authors’ farm that inspired the book.
love this remix idea, and in true improv fashion, (yes, and…) wondering about out of print (and out of copyright) illustrations and how maybe they might get new text? Hmmm…
Now THAT is thinking outside the box!
My kids LOVED Tooth Gnasher Superflash! What if Calef Brown illustrated it? That would be amazing. AND Daniel Pinkwater loves Calef’s work…hmmmmm
Oo. Hasn’t Calef Brown actually done other Pinkwater books? It’s too delicious an idea.
Although they are so closely tied to the outsider vibes of his books and I wouldn’t want to see them replaced (particularly those done by or with Jill Pinkwater), the illustrations in Daniel Pinkwater’s most far out titles (Tooth Gnasher, 2nd Grade Werewolf, Devil in the Drain) are ones I’d love to see some contemporary illustrators tackle.