INSPIRATIONS FROM THE BOOKSHELF Annie Parsons
I’m Annie, an author/illustrator and public library worker from Virginia, USA. My stories have humor, heart, and lots of traditional media like watercolor and collage. I self-published my first picture book, a retelling of the folktale Stone Soup, in November 2024.
As I write this, I’m on my lunch break at the library, and I’m sitting at a picnic table under a blossoming cherry tree. A rare picturesque moment in a hectic life!
Which genre do you write/illustrate for?
My main passion is picture books, but I’ve also gotten to illustrate covers for middle grade and young adult novels.
What inspires you to pick up or buy a book from the library/bookstore or buy online?
For books about art, I love to rummage around used bookstores. I look for books with large, full-color images to study. My non-fiction collection includes a few instructional books, some biographies of my favorite illustrators, “art of” books for animated movies (great for studying scenery and expressive characters), and several books on art history.
A picture book can always
grab me with color and texture. If a book looks like the artist made it with
funky materials, I’ll want to try to reverse-engineer it.
Are you inspired by books from multiple genres or those written and illustrated by the same author/illustrator?
Jarvis comes to mind as someone whose work seamlessly spans multiple genres and age groups. He has some beautiful picture books and board books, and his early chapter series Bear and Bird is so earnest and fun for emerging readers.
Do you bring your
inspirations into your work? If yes, how much of the inspiration do you bring
into your works?
I don’t think I could avoid bringing my inspirations into my work, even if I tried! As I mentioned above, I try to replicate my favorite artists’ techniques and handling of materials in my sketchbook. Then I’ll usually try to find my own spin on those techniques before I add them to my bag of storytelling tricks.
How do you keep your work fresh, original and unique and avoid it looking like your inspiration?
I think the key to uniqueness lies in the way an artist combines their influences. There’s nothing new under the sun, but I try to pull inspiration from several wildly different sources and smash them together into something fresh. For example, my main inspirations for Stone Soup were the Realist movement, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and the 1997 made-for-TV adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Hopefully nobody has come up with that particular cocktail of visual references before.
Does your book shelf have all the books that you love or inspired you?
Definitely not! Maybe one day when I’m independently wealthy and I’ve built a replica of the library from Beauty and the Beast, I’ll finally have enough room for them all. But the dangerous thing about working in a library is that I’m always seeing the latest and greatest children’s books, as well as reading the classics over and over. So I fear that my wishlist will be expanding into eternity.
Which are the main few books that have inspired your work and yet not on your bookshelf?
Other than his autobiography The Art of Eric Carle, I don’t have any Eric Carle books in my personal collection, which is wild because he’s one of my main illustration heroes. I’d also love to add more of Gyo Fujikawa’s books to my shelf. Her entire world is so soft and beautiful.
For more recent author/illustrators, I’ve followed Anoosha Syed’s work for years and have loved her last few picture books, particularly the all-collage Lost Stick.
Are there any books that have inspired you in a way that you really wish you worked on a text like that or you wish you thought of the unique way of storytelling?
Corey R. Tabor’s picture books Mell Fell, Ursula Upside-Down, and Simon and the Better Bone all play with the literal, physical book in the reader’s hands. They ask you to turn the book, hold it in different ways, and imagine the gutter as part of the story. They’re so clever!
Also, I haven’t gotten a hold of this series yet, but I’d love to go back in time and steal the idea for Grace J. Habib’s Suki Cat board books, because I have a real gray cat named Suki. Grace’s artwork is so adorable.
*Header image: Ell Rose and Tita Berredo
All other images provided by Annie Parsons
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Annie Parsons is an author, illustrator, and educator from Southwest Virginia. She works in a public library, where she hosts story time every week. When she's not drawing, reading, or making up stories, Annie enjoys playing video games and cooking with her family.
You can find Annie’s work on her website annieparsonsart.com, social media (@anniedrawsthings on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest), and newsletter Annie’s Story Studio (annieparsonsart.substack.com).
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