People of the Picture Book

Tomorrow the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, will open an exhibit titled Monsters and Miracles: A Journey Through Jewish Picture Books:

this ambitious exhibition explores the evolution of Jewish picture books from illuminated manuscripts, alef-bets [books of Hebrew letters], and Passover Haggadot to stories that consider monsters [golems, dybbuks, and wild things], life in the shtetl, and the role of migration in Jewish life.

There are a slew of related events, including some at the nearby National Yiddish Book Center, which helped to assemble the material on display.

The exhibition catalogue is described as:

Showcasing more than 100 illustrations and texts from time-honored classics and popular favorites, this catalog of a new exhibition guides readers through the colorful history of the Jewish picture book, from the sixteenth century to the present. . . . paintings, drawings, computer-generated images, papercuts, and collage—and an eclectic collection of texts, from illuminated Haggadot to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are to Lemony Snicket's The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story.