I’m calling my blog THE LADY HERMES. No, it’s not one that will link to eBay where you can buy Hermes (the high status one pronounced air-mez) knockoffs cheap. If you read my book "The Robber Baby and Other Greek Myths," you’ll find that the robber baby is the god Hermes, messenger of Zeus, but also the god of secrets, lies and dreams—in other words, the god of storytelling. But he’s also the god who watches over travelers (and I am one of those), and the one who invented the alphabet, therefore the god of reading and writing (another passion of mine). So as an author and illustrator of books for children, he seemed a good mentor.

Picture books are a challenging art form. They appear simpler than they are. Maybe that's why the response of many who see them is “Oh, cute!” often with the addition of “I’d like to do one of those when I get a chance.” Yet for all who love the form, they are neither cute nor easy. I hope that by writing some of my thoughts concerning my own books those of you who introduce small children to their first adventures in reading will understand what goes into them, what I hope they do.

These days a lot of bad picture books are published. Many are by celebrities, perhaps lured into the field by the well-publicized money made by the Harry Potter books. It has never been easy to find out about good books for children, for much of the review media is limited to trade journals aimed at librarians, not the general public. Blogging has changed that, bringing news of books to a wider audience, and this is great.

While it won’t be a regular feature, from time to time, I'll review those I’m impressed by.

For those of you who are writers and illustrators wanting to enter the field of writing and illustrating picture books I’ll try and share some of the knowledge I’ve picked up in more than 40 years in the field. I’ve seen a lot of changes, as you can imagine.

Blogging is a challenge as well as a terrifying commitment! So wish me luck, and please visit often.