Side by Side; Five Favorite Picture-Book Teams Go To Work

Bibliographic Information
Marcus, Leonard. 2001. Side by Side; Five Favorite Picture-Book Teams Go to Work. New York, New York. Walker and Company. ISBN 0802787797
Dewey; 070.5 Classification; nonfiction
Audience: 4th-8th grade
Reading Level; 5.8

Plot Summary
Students do not often stop to think about how a books comes to be. They focus on the end product. This book takes a look at five author/illustrator teams. Each team is discussed in light of how they met, how they work together and how they produce the final product that meets the expectations of both members. The teams that are spotlighted include; Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski (Louis the Fish), Alice Provensen and Martin Provensen(The Glorious Flight), Jon Scieszka, Lane Smith, amd Mollie Leach ( The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales), Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney (Sam and the Tigers),and Joanna Cole, and Bruce Degen (The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses). Each chapter ends with a list of other books by the team.There is a glossary and an index at the end of the text.

Critical Analysis
The books begins with an introduction that establishes the focus of the text. There are no illustrations on these two pages just simple text that explains the concept of two people working together to create what they hope will be a work that appeals to the public. Each section is laid out in a similiar fashion. The book cover that is the focus of the chapter on one side of the page text and a picture of the collaboaration teams on the other side. The pages are neat and well organized. With a few minor exceptions all of the illustrations are supportive of the rich details in the text. A few of the illustrations are colorless and faded and essentially add nothing to the text. The format is inviting and readable but I think students will probably not chose this book on their own in elementary school, it is more suited to middle or high school. The use in elementary school will most likely be teacher directed.

Awards
2008 NCTE Children'sAssembly NotableChildren's Books
2008 Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
2007 Texas Woman'sUniversityLibrariansChoice 100 Best Books of the Year

Review Excerpts
Booklist starred (November 15, 2001(Volume 98, No. 6) "It will nicely complement guided exploration of children's book creation."
Publishers Weekly (November19,2001) "Readers snared by their interest in the teams behind favorites... will appreciate the insights into the inner workings of bookmaking and may well end up appreciating the books more fof the energy ingenuity it takes to create them."

Connections
Teachers and librarians could collaborate on several lessons to introduce students to writing and illustrating an original work. Students working in groups should chose and an author/illustrator to research and report on. Following this they could write and illustrate a book in the fashion of the team they reported on and publish the final results. Leonard S. Marcus has a website that gives biographical information as well as information on his other books. The address is; http://www.leonardmarcus.com.