Mr WiSe dEaR It's often said that a good picture book resonates on two levels--for the child and for the adult reading to the child. What's not said is just HOW a picture book goes about doing this.
I believe there are issues that surface in childhood that continue throughout our lives, and that when we're eighty, we're still negotiating these basic issues:
--separation, loss, and reunion;
--dependence vs. independence;
--insecurity (which includes feelings of jealousy, envy, and rivalry) vs. security;
--delayed vs. instant gratification.
The stories that have the most powerful effects on both child and adult are ones that deal with at least one of these lifelong struggles. Though a child's experiences are different from a 20-year-old's, and a 30-year-old's are different from a 40-year-old's, the same feelings are at the core.
Harriet Ziefert. You Can't See Your Bones With Binoculars. Blue Apple, 07_08_1987. Rockheads. Houghton, 2008.