When Kevin Henkes first became an author, he wrote picture books about real people mainly from a child's perspective. As his career grew, he realized that using animals as the main characters provided him with more possibilities and positive feedback from the audience. In every one of Henkes' stories, the main character is faced with an obstacle or emotion (worrisome, anger, braveness etc.) that a real world child might also endure. For example, in Wemberly Worried, the young mouse is constantly worried about something...spilling her juice, shrinking in the bathtub and most important: the first day of school. In Chrysanthemum, another young mouse is taunted by her classmates all because her name sounds like a flower. Henkes describes Chrysanthemum's emotions as 'wilted' just as a flower would be. Kevin Henkes uses this type of description in every children's book he writes. He shows children that it's okay to have all of these feelings, but most importantly; how to handle them.
Artistic Styles of Jerry Pinkney
"I wanted to show that an African-American artist could make it in this country on a national level in the graphic arts. I want to be a strong role model for my family and other African-Americans." This quote from Jerry Pinkney shows the artistic styles that he frequently obtains. Many of the stories that Pinkney illustrates includes African-American characters and tales. He mainly uses water color or pencil and paper for his vivid illustrations. His illustrations are very detailed and are always full of different water colors. He brings a multi-cultural viewpoint to the table, showing children different perspectives from a different culture. He uses the experience of going into an integrated high school to reinforce to children that learning about other people, same race or not, is still very important. Many people can distinguish his work from his signature image of the lion from the 2009 story of The Lion and the Mouse.