John Green, dad to now-three-year-old Henry and future dad to Eleanor-or-Alice, is moving into the sort of books his own kids can understand this decade. Dutton just announced a three-picture-book deal with Green and Jon Klassen, who will illustrate the (purportedly hat-free) trio. The first book, due out in Spring 2014, will star a puppy-sized elephant who frets whenever his mother, a potbellied pig-sized elephant, leaves the room. Green says the idea came to him during a game of peek-a-boo with Henry. “I realized that the first step to imagining people complexly is to understand object permanence,” he explains.
Green hints that the picture book will contain a few nods to
Nerdfighter parents. “I can neither confirm nor deny that the puppy-sized
protagonist will shout ‘French the Llama’ when his mom comes back,” he says.
“This is first and foremost a picture book for young children, though. If
there’s one thing I can promise, it’s no one will use French as a verb.”
It’s so easy for celebrities outside of the picture book
world (and yes, Green’s writing is very much outside the picture book world) to
write one as a novelty, but I don’t think that’s what this will be. It seems
like he respects picture books and understands that they take more than five
minutes and a vague sense that childhood is charming. Green has a long track
record of taking on widely varied projects and approaching them thoughtfully,
and I trust him to do the same with this.
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