Apparently, the first Saturday in September is World Beard Day, a day for pogonophiles to celebrate the trademark of male fantasy writers (and others).* I didn’t see this in time to come up with something more clever to commemorate the day, so I’ll just feature a couple of books that focus on that particular expression of facial hair—Bearded and Bearded Too by Jeremy Billups.
* There’s a great line in Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore about them, but I don’t have the time to look it up now.
Picture books about bears are everywhere — I have a hard time believing many kids get out of the picture book stage without exposure to at least 4 of them (and that’s before they’re at the Pooh or Paddington stage). But how many of those bears have been bearded?
Enter Jeremy Billups and his little book.
This is the story of a little red-haired girl (no, not that one) traveling the world with her bearded bear, having all sorts of adventures, and meeting a bunch of different animals. There really isn’t a lesson, moral, or much of a plot — just a bunch of quick looks at the pair. A few quick lines and a picture on each pair of pages.
The art is simple and arresting. They just pop off the page—this is one of those times I wish I had the necessary vocabulary to describe why I like the drawings, but I don’t. I bought a print of what turned out to be page 16 before I even picked up the book to flip through. I’ve bought a handful of prints this year, and it’s my absolute favorite — I like it even more now that I’ve read the book. Also, If you ever see a better picture of someone making buffalo wings, I’ll eat my hat.
Oh, and the endorsements on the back cover are a lot of fun. If that doesn’t convince you to try it out, I can’t imagine what will.
Great art, cute story, fun rhymes — everything you want in a picture book. Even better — animals with beards are the best animals that aren’t dogs. This is a charming little book that’s sure to please.
Pick up a copy of Bearded for yourself!
Jeremy Billups has just given us a sequel to 2015’s Bearded—the story of a red-haired girl and her bearded bear traveling and having adventures.
I want to start off talking about the art—I know, I know, I’m usually a word guy—but these are “Picture Books,” right? There’s just something about the way that Billups draws these books that really works for me. Unlike, say, the art in Sea This and Sea That, with all the detailed backgrounds, there’s a lot of whitespace around these drawings, which makes them jump out at you (which is the point of the white space, I know—I’m not good at talking about this stuff). I will admit I’ve flipped through the book a couple of times without glancing at the words (something I assume the target audience will do more often than me).
But that’s not a reflection on the cute rhyming tour of the world seeing bearded animals (a guitar-playing orangutan, cab-driving markhor, and so on). There’s a dash of education in there, because some of these animals aren’t your typical Picture Book fare, too.
And, hey, a celebration of beards! I’m always down with that.
Not much to say about this, really. It’s a fun follow-up to Bearded that should please the ears and eyes of the picture book readers in your home.
