The New York Times reports that the picture book is dying, attributing it to the recession and parents eager to graduate their kids into chapter books. The piece is a bit messy, has a linkbait headline, and one of the key sources says she was misquoted—but the intriguing bit to us was the obvious answer to the demise was ignored: the destruction of the production and distribution channel. How people make, find, and read stories—with or without pictures—is rapidly becoming digital and networked. Of course “picture books” and the stores that sell them are declining. So is the New York Times. But art + story combos are thriving online.
Naturally, we were fired up. And naturally, we took to Twitter. Here’s what we said:
