In response to Julie Bosman’s front-page New York Times article in October 2010, called “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children,” poet and business, educational, and self-help writer Linda Eve Diamond launched National Picture Book Week last May. During the intervening months, Diamond has come to view that week, which included readings at libraries from Atlantic City, N.J., to Hollywood, Fla., and bookstores like Tattered Cover in Denver, as a starting point for a year-round celebration. Instead of holding a second National Picture Book Week this spring, she set up a new Web site that highlights the beauty of picture books to host a blog she began for National Picture Book Week.
“Many people expressed their appreciation of National Picture Book Week and its message,” says Diamond. “Picture books were not and never will be in danger. The idea of a week-long celebration exclusively for picture books was still new. Since then, celebration days, weeks, and months have popped up, inspired by the same concerns that inspired National Picture Book Week.” She invites others to submit blog posts about the beauty and value of picture books and to share photographs of picture-book related events.
