A Splash of Red: Adding Full Color Where There Was None
You hear that tiny siren? It’s alerting you to a mini trend in children’s literature.
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Two popular series previously illustrated in black and white are being reissued in color. Will more follow?
(On a slightly different, but related note, A Fuse #8 Production wrote a great post about re-illustrating picture books. Click here to read it.)
Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne
Both series appear to be slowly re-releasing each book in full color.
I see this as a positive thing – not a necessity, but a nice option.
Publishers, I’m sure, don’t mind selling the same books again with this new “added feature” (it reminds me of Special Edition DVDs with added content), but full-color illustrations warrant it, I’d say.
Will you be adding these new editions to your collection?
Is there a series going full color that I failed to mention?
Is there a series that should go full color?
Filed under: Articles
About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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Does Ricky Ricotta count? They are dynamite.
Those are great! I didn’t include them because they got a full on re-illustration rather than just coloring the original art. That reminds me that Fuse #8 had a great re-illustration post – I need to add that link
I fully expected this post to be about the recently re-colored versions of David Macaulay’s books (Castle, Cathedral). I didn’t realize that MTH was getting the full-color treatment. I won’t go out and buy them on purpose, but when my library’s copies need replacing, that’s a nice option to have.
My students also love the new Ricky Ricotta books! 🙂
My students are going to go bonkers when they see the re-colored versions of Raina Telgemeier’s comic versions of the Babysitter’s Club. What a terrific way to build on the immense popularity of Sisters and Smile. (see http://goraina.com/2014/10/announcing-baby-sitters-club-gns-in-color/)
They have not had a noticeable reaction to the re-colored versions of Junie B. Jones and Magic Tree House. But those are such perennial favorites that it would be hard to notice a bump. They just haven’t been talking about them.
I forgot about the Junie B. Jones full-color edition! Do you know if all the books will be re-released in color?