Oliver Jeffers Interview

Over at the Guardian, they posted a nice article about author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers. Snippets, you say? Coming right up!

In some ways, Jeffers's drawing is childlike - almost schematic - but it is never demeaning or condescending. Together, the plangent simplicity of the drawing and the powerful emotions of the boy make these stories genuinely moving. With a gentle humour and an airy touch, free of extraneous detail, he celebrates the emotional freedom of the child whose imagination is not yet weighed down by the limitations of reality.

Whew. High-falutin'. But I love that the Guardian takes the artistic aspects of children's illustration so seriously, even if it does make a point of assuring its readers that it's okay to respect Jeffers because he also paints real paintings and does installations (which always make me think of plumbing, but then I'm a Philistine).