Jim!: Six True Stories about One Great Artist: James Marshall by Jerrold Connors

Publisher: Dial Books

Publication Date: May 20, 2025

Reviewed from library copy

ISBN: 9780593859346

James Marshall is one of the best-known children’s picture book creators and this picture book biography of him captures exactly why. Through six short stories, Marshall’s approach to his work, his collaborative nature, and his personal life are shown with a suitable style. The stories begin with how Miss Nelson Is Missing started. They move on to his dislike of the words “cute” and “zany”, share how he met his partner Billy, show him alongside other children’s picture book creators that readers will know, The book ends with Miss Nelson Is Missing in just the right way. 

Funny and heartfelt, this picture book biography approaches a biography of Marshall by using his own illustration style and his signature small blurbs of text. The result is a merry and lovely book that captures Marshall’s life and his impact on children’s literature while always keeping the audience of young children at the forefront. 

You just know that Marshall himself would have loved this. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Outside In and the Inside Out: A Story about Arnold Lobel by Emmy Kastner

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: September 23, 2025

Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley

ISBN: 9780593692509

This picture book biography of the beloved book creator Arnold Lobel captures the spirit of his work. It begins with wet socks, offers a myriad of potential silly reasons for wet socks, and then moves on to Lobel as a child who loved stories though his classmates didn’t appreciate them. It’s the story of a boy who loved the absurd and became a man with a gorilla suit in his closet and a plastic goose on his wall. Lobel tried to do corporate work but soon started listening to the stories in his head. He became an illustrator of other people’s work first and then began to write his own. Some of them were illustrated by his wife while others like Frog and Toad he did himself. Soon his inside was being shared outside with everyone. 

Kastner has done such a marvelous job of capturing the spirit of Lobel on the page. She offers a nod at his new love later in his life while not lingering there but rather on the stories that he created for us all to love. Her art style echoes his, offering us glimpses of beloved characters. 

A true homage to a master storyteller. Appropriate for ages 4-6.